Ashes

So today is the official start of Lent, Ash Wednesday. This starts my official commitment to this blog and I have been thinking all day about what to write about and it finally hit me.

Because I go to a catholic university these "holy days of obligation" are a big deal and so are the traditions that go with them. For instance today you are only supposed to eat one meatless meal (what happened to a day of fasting?) and then you have to go to mass and you have to get the ashes on your forehead, on outward symbol of your observation of the day.

But,

I'm not catholic.

I am an episcopalian and further more I am not even sure that is what I am. All that I know for certain is, that I am not catholic.

This, for me at least, means that I mostly just observe the people who are going through the motions of this holy day.

They are proudly telling you that they are going to give up this food or that, all the while complaining that they just cannot do the meatless day because of the terrible options in the caf. (Sidebar: fish is totally still meat, I have no idea who dictated that but it still counts as meat. We aren't fooling anyone) Furthermore, does giving up a food or social media really make you suffer as Christ suffered in the desert?

To me, the whole you must go get ashes, you must go to church, you must not consume meat, you must give something up seems archaic. It makes Lent just an obligation people must follow as opposed to an experience they want to have.

After all, Christ chose to wander the desert so he could prepare for his crucifixion and spend introspective time with God. He didn't give up chocolate or Facebook. He started a journey into himself, a journey to deepen his relationship with God the Father.

That is the whole purpose for me doing his blog as my Lenten commitment. I want to take a journey, into myself, into my relationship with God. I don't feel like we can get much out of going to mass because we have to, giving up something because we have to, and not eating meat because we have to.

So this is what I leave you with, is your Lenten commitment going to help you grow and deepen your relationship with God and your knowledge of yourself or is it something you are doing simply because you have to?

Let's keep the real purpose of Lent alive.