Lent? Not a big fan of this season, even though I’m very fond of purple, love soup and rarely pass up opportunities to ponder great mysteries. During Lent I am, as they say in some circles, “restless, irritable and discontent.” Please know that this not from giving up chocolate. I never renounce stuff like chocolate. I go for bigger challenges like giving up gossip or vengeance.
Absent from Lent is all the cozy joyful waiting that makes Advent my happy place at any time of the liturgical year. Present during Lent are readings that generate butterflies in my stomach — not in a good way at all.
I twitch whenever I hear John’s bad news about “the Jews” proclaimed from the ambo. I’m pretty sure I will never get used to hearing this and don’t think I should. I’ve toyed with the idea of jumping up during one of these readings and yelling, “Jews? Wrong! Epic fail!” as if I were an outraged GenY who has studied history. I never succumb to this fantasy of making a fuss during Mass. Instead, I typically turn my attention to plaques depicting the Stations of the Cross and focus on “the women.”
Challenging season, Lent. I die bit-by-bit with each passing day. This, in turn, generates the aforementioned restlessness, irritability and discontentment until I remember that’s kind of the point. I believe in the Resurrection. Thanks be to God.