Lent - The Season of fish sticks and beans

It seems just moments ago we were wishing each other the greetings appropriate to the holidays and now it seems that the season of Lent is knocking at the door.  Wednesday next is the day we call Ash Wednesday and marks the forty day period that the Church provides us to prepare for the Solemn Easter Tridium, the celebrations of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter vigil. For some of us this period of time is remarkable only due to the fact that we Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on  Friday's of Lent. The Church also mandates fasting on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.

Lent literally means "spring."  What does the word "spring" bring to mind?  To me it brings to mind the ground thawing out after a chilly winter and new growth breaking the soil and plants opening up their leaves to catch the warm rays of the sun.  It is a mystical season that restores life where once there had been no sign of it. So it is with our lives and the season of Lent. 

When I was a boy I hated the season of Lent. In our household it was the season of fish sticks. There is nothing nastier on God's green earth than fish sticks. It was also the season of giving up something, usually candy if you were a kid, and that was a painful thing to do. Remember too that back then no one told the kids that Sunday's are not counted in the forty days of lent and you could gouge yourself with all the candy you wanted on Sundays!  No, Sister Emerita and her fellow sisters kept that as a Canonical Secret so we kids would not get out of the habit of giving up candy. In our household my father was an agnostic so Lent was not really part of his year but he put up with the fish sticks and vegetarian beans that was the staple of Lenten Friday dinners. We kids tried to remain faithful to our promise to give up candy but it was hard.  Why even in the school I went to the lunch time candy table was set up so you could get your sugar fix that would last you until three o'clock. Sales were off a bit but some kids still bought candy and we were told not to judge them because it was just possible that they were doing something else for Lent.  This was hardly likely because we knew who was buying the stuff and Eddie McIntyre and Albert Winkler were hardly the holy type that would eat candy and then go home and beat themselves with rosebush canes! 

Lent also brought with it a shortened school day on Friday.  This was not greeted with glee by most of us.  School would let out at about two or so in the afternoon and we would adjourn next door to the church where we would undergo the Stations of the Cross. This entailed forty minutes of  standing, genuflecting, kneeling, listening as the fourteen stations of the cross were prayed.  For a young boy this was a tedious rite and personally I longed for the joys of math class to break this prayer marathon. Actually I understood the Stations of the Cross much better than I understood the New Math that the good sisters were teaching so that is how desperate I was. 

 Not everyone hated the Stations of the Cross.  Jackie Gleason (no not the TV and film star) who had perfect posture and never went around with his hands in his pockets as the nuns always reminded us, usually served as one of the altar boys that accompanied Father around the Church as walked with Jesus to Calvary.  I always thought that Jackie wanted to actually be crucified on those Friday's, as we got closer and closer to the Crucifixion you could almost see the stigmata appearing on the boy. The ritual finished usually about a quarter to three so the good sisters gave us the opportunity to kneel for fifteen minutes before we were marched out of church one row at a time, keeping silent until we felt the sun and cold Chicago air on our faces. Then all hell would break loose as the weekend had officially started! 

On Saturday, we went to confession.  There were four priests and all of them spent four hours or so hearing confessions. We did not do this as a class, but we saw all of our classmates waiting in line.  I wonder how bored the priests must have gotten with several hundred children confessing that they had disobeyed their parents or swore or something of that nature.  They probably rejoiced when they got an adult parishioner that confessed that he had committed adultery, murdered a bishop, and burnt down two schools!  

Then on Sunday morning we would all gather at the 9:00 AM children's mass and sit with our class for Sunday Mass.  When the time was right the ushers would pass the basket and our children's envelopes filled with part of our hard earned allowance, nickles or dimes, would go into the basket. On Monday morning the totals were posted for each class with the names (but not the amounts) of those kids who contributed.  If a name from your class was missing, it was assumed that they had skipped Mass and were in big trouble and should be very careful until they could confess their sloth next Saturday at confession. 

So we are once again coming into the Lenten season. My boss, who knows I am a Catholic asked me what I was giving up.  I told her that I was giving up nothing this year. I explained that I would be trying to do something special for Lent, something positive, something that will help others during this season in the Jubilee Year of Mercy.  

What I am going to do personally for my own spiritual growth will be to forsake some TV time to do some Bible or other spiritual reading and to do this daily.  I will resolve to eat less so as to share the hunger the needy feel every day of their life. I will resolve also to do something about that hunger by making donations to organizations that fight hunger. I resolve to be kinder, to swallow my pride and to turn my other cheek when I am insulted or ridiculed.  I will also resolve to be a better ambassador for Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.  I will engage in dialogue with those who write hateful things about the Church but I will not criticize them, I will just criticize their words. 

I want for myself this Lent to be something special, a time of growth for my soul.  I invite you whether you be Catholic or Protestant to do the same.  It really just requires that you keep your eyes open, your pride in check, and to be open to the Spirit working in your life.   

God Bless you and may the Crucified One light your way this day.