I Love Lent

I love Lent... I really do! In general I love all the liturgical seasons. Maybe it's because I get restless and I'm ready for a change. Or maybe it's because I like goal-setting and structured amounts of time. Or perhaps it's because I constantly need to return to the Lord. Every season or feast is a reminder of God's love for us and our need to return to Him.

I have always "enjoyed" Lent because I like a challenge. I know that I can always do more prayer, fasting and almsgiving in my life. While it can be overwhelming to make a lifelong change, it's very do-able to make a 40-day change. A few of my previous Lenten observances have even lasted beyond Lent, so there is hope for that too.

My infertility is another reason that I'm looking forward to Lent. I continue to struggle with this cross I am carrying. I know that Lent will help me unite my suffering to Christ and learn from His cross.

This morning I started praying about Lent and what I'm going to do. This year it's important to me to make a "good" Lent because of our pilgrimage. I have already started preparing my heart for this special trip and I want to continue that preparation during Lent. I still can't believe that soon we will be in Lourdes and that we will spend Holy Week in Rome! It's starting to feel a bit more real.

My husband and I are going to pray the St. Louis de Montfort preparation for total consecration (to Jesus, through Mary.) If we begin on February 20 it will end on March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation) which is the day we leave for France. We prayed this once before - leading up to our wedding. I'm so glad that we're going to do this again. Generally we try to pray together after dinner, so this will increase our prayer during Lent.

In terms of fasting, I generally give up sweets during Lent. I have a huge sweet tooth, so it's pretty difficult for me! But since I have been doing this every Lent for many years I also feel the need to give up something else. Last year I tried to limit my time on the internet. I feel God calling me to something similar this year... perhaps giving up Facebook??? That would be a huge sacrifice for me - I'm on there all the time! I need to pray about this more over the next couple of days.

I'm not so sure what to do regarding almsgiving. This is one area of Lent that I don't always focus on. Any suggestions here? Any advice on something to do besides simply making a financial contribution somewhere?

Yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. My hubby and I completed our novena and it was nice to pray it together. Actually, doing that novena is what got me thinking about Lent. As I mentioned, we prayed the novena for our pilgrimage and also for our friend L. Her due date was yesterday and thankfully she didn't go into labor during all the crazy snowstorms! The roads are still a mess, but it's so much better than the past week.

I'm hoping to get a few productive things accomplished today. My hubby had to go into work, so today is the first day I'm home alone. We had SUCH a great week relaxing together! It was so wonderful to be lazy and just hang out. I did start to get a little stir crazy, but I really can't complain. We never lost power, we had plenty of food and we can stream Netflix through our blu-ray player. It was so great! In a way, it was an unexpected vacation.

We started watching all of the old episodes of Lost in order. It's been so fun - we've made it through season 1 and most of season 2. It's hard to believe that this show started before we were married! I have a tendency to get confused, so it's been helpful for me to remember all the details from old episodes.

Yesterday we watched an episode in which Sun gets diagnosed with endometriosis. (Does anyone remember this???) It probably aired sometime in 2005, back when I knew nothing about endo. It was interesting to see how they portrayed it on TV. They don't mention what kinds of tests were run, but the doctor comes out and tells Sun that she has extensive endo blocking her tubes and she will never conceive. I immediately turned to my hubby and said, "There's no way he could diagnose that without doing a lap!" Ha ha... he just laughed at me and said, "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that you're a doctor now." :) In terms of the plot, she doesn't end up having endo - it's actually Jin who is infertile. But I found it interesting to see endometriosis mentioned on Lost. I wonder what I thought when I first saw that episode? No doubt I was blissfully ignorant back then.

Things are starting to get back to normal after our crazy snow-filled week. In seven days we have gotten the newspaper twice and the mail once. It's been surreal to be literally stuck inside the house. Unfortunately it will probably take awhile before the roads are really back to normal - they are still such a mess. It makes both driving and walking difficult. I had a little trouble getting out of our driveway when I took my hubby to the metro, so I will do a bit more shoveling this afternoon. I have a few plans this weekend - including our IF support group meeting. Hopefully everyone is able to make it without too much trouble.