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| Violet: Transitioning to Lent ~ Easter |
So last Sunday (Septuagesima on the old calendar) I proposed a Lenten fast from complaining, blaming and grumbling. Today is called Sexagesima Sunday which is roughly sixty days to Easter. Collectively these three old-fashioned Sundays, with the strange Latin names, is get-ready-time. Head's up - Lent is coming!
The Catholic way still attends to some kind of Lenten dietary observance - at least the abstinence from meat on the Lenten Fridays, and the Ash Wednesday and Good Friday fasts. But my proposal might stand a better chance of impacting us for the long term. The check-list below might sound absurd, but really, (if we're paying attention), it's us who are absurd with all our complaining, blaming and grumbling. Like living in a room of bad air.
We complain about:the traffic
the parking lot
the neighbors
the relatives
We grumble about:
the prices
the taxes
the weather
the food
We blame:
the waitress
the government
the electric company
the boss
We complain about:
the long lines
the technology
the temperature
the colleagues
We grumble about:
the mail delivery
the satellite reception
everything being made in China
the news anchor
We blame:
the president
the politicians*
maybe even the pope
the newcomers
We complain about:
the young people
our spouses
the addicts
the gays
We grumble about:
the railroad
the crowds
the teacher
the high school rival
We blame
the Muslims
the Jews
the Mexicans
the French
We complain about
the homeless
the new world order
the left - the right
the waiting room
We grumble about
the too long red light
the aches and pains
the person behind the counter
the ethnicity of law breakers
We blame
the police
the ineffective cold remedy
the people who should know better
and God himself
OK - we get it, we get it! Oh, one more: the priest, his sermons and his bishop!
It's pathetic really: so much air used up, so much energy and time. The suffering of our inner discontent! So for Lent - let's just cut it out. Read a happy book. Start some tomato seeds in the house. Get a garden ready. Turn off all the bad news/sad news. Practice silence - not moody silence though. Make our own book of counted blessings. Read the Gospels and high-lite in bright yellow every verse that's happy news. Consciously inhale and exhale compassion and kindness on everyone you meet or even think about. Pope Francis' Mercy Jubilee will make sense then, because when all the pulpit words go silent, bottom line is: Mercy means kindness.
*Maybe we can allow some criticism of politicians - after all, Jesus called Herod a fox. Luke 13:32
It's pathetic really: so much air used up, so much energy and time. The suffering of our inner discontent! So for Lent - let's just cut it out. Read a happy book. Start some tomato seeds in the house. Get a garden ready. Turn off all the bad news/sad news. Practice silence - not moody silence though. Make our own book of counted blessings. Read the Gospels and high-lite in bright yellow every verse that's happy news. Consciously inhale and exhale compassion and kindness on everyone you meet or even think about. Pope Francis' Mercy Jubilee will make sense then, because when all the pulpit words go silent, bottom line is: Mercy means kindness.
*Maybe we can allow some criticism of politicians - after all, Jesus called Herod a fox. Luke 13:32
