Bring Thy Glory, Lord Jesus! We Await Thee!

So, today is Ash Wednesday. For those of you who are absolutely clueless as to what that means, it means that today is the first day of Lent, which means that after today, there are 39 days left till Easter. For those of you who are absolutely clueless to what Lent is, it is a period of abstinence, reflection, and drawing closer to G - d (kind of like Ramadan, but we don't break our abstinence at the end of the day. There are actually many differences and similarities, but I really don't know enough about Islam to go into that discussion).

For many people, Lent is just something that is done every single year before Easter and they give up something because they have to because the church says so, not really drawing closer to G - d or really thinking about what G - d did and why Easter even exists. They do Lent because it is Tradition. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tradition, but there is something wrong when tradition is what it's all about and people put tradition over G - d. I have a problem with that. I know many people who are Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, a lot of the people in my family are Catholic and there a few people in my family who are Russian Orthodox and at Lent it's a bit obvious (well, I think it's obvious) who is giving up something because they have to and who is giving up something because they want to draw closer to G - d. For some people, it's like a show, who can complain the loudest, who is the "most holy," while others don't really talk about it because they feel it's something that's between them and G - d or they don't talk about it all because "it's none of you business, thank you very much ((that's the edited version of what a Catholic classmate said to me in a college English class))."

Now, I'm officially not Catholic, but I do have Catholic tendencies. I do follow the tradition of Lent not because it is a tradition that my family has done generation after generation, not because my family has done for centuries (literally, centuries), but because it brings a different dynamic to my Christian faith, there is a beauty to giving something up and learning to live without something and "suffering" a little bit and seeing G - d through the hunger and desire for the thing and learning to rely on Father more. The things I'm giving up are sugar, beef, and pork, things that I've already been giving up for a month or so, but feel that I should continue to live without. I do not bring this up because I want pity or because I want to make myself look pious and have people think, "Oh, she's setting lofty goals." No, that's not why I mention what I'm fasting, I mention this because I want the accountability. It's easier to fool one person than to fool five or more people.

There are many things that can be said on this topic, but I won't go there. I leave this topic to be contemplated by others who are more willing to tear it apart and put it back together in a tactful manner.
I leave you with this: The prayer that G - d listened to was not the prayer that was prayed by the proud, conceited religious man, who prayed so that people would look at him and say, "Oh, he is so holy and loves G - d." No, G - d listened to the prayer that was the most sincere, and not only was it the most sincere, but it was prayed by the least respectable person.

Paz