Lent and a few thoughts around it.

Lent  comes around every year. With the first sense of spring, with the first daffodils and snowbells, with the increasing light and the birds singing and looking for nesting sites. 

“What are you giving up for lent” is a conversation topic. Lent is a bit like January, the good intention tend to not last very long as we amend and change our plans and intentions. At the market, people eye up the tiny little apple pies “ they don’t really count do they?” since they are not chocolate and so small and anyway, they are made with spelt and therefore not really bad for you. And so the “all refined sugar” changes to “only serious junk food” and lent becomes that little bit easier as we progress. As children we used to give up sweets and collect them in glass jars in the kitchen - until Easter, when this sweet stash was augmented by Easter eggs and the most amazing sugar crash negated in one easy day all the good that lent might have done in the sugar balance of any one body. 

Fasting used to be an integral part of the practise of Catholicism. We ate fish instead of meat, no food at all before communion and on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday you only ate one meal and very little else while lent itself was a long season of penance. In Ireland, we do penance and guilt better than any one else and have invented small little extra traditions like the barefoot climb of Croagh Patrick or the three day “no food and no sleep” event, commonly known as Lough Dergh. We ridicule many of these traditions today and tend to not take it very seriously. We have recognized that the no meat fasting originated in the catholic bishop’s monopoly in the fish industry and their wish to boost their profits. We laugh off our love of penance and our deal brokering with God as generations of mothers “did Lough Dergh” for exam success or other happiness they tried to buy for their children. But as we laugh at our ancestor’s love of penance and guilt, are we throwing out  more than we should? 

A season to cut out things that are bad for us, a season to review our habits and opt for positive change, a season to review how we treat ourselves and others – can that be a bad thing to do? Lent, like January, is a new beginning and as such is a wonderful thing. As we live in total comfort, it is good to cut out some luxuries and – instead of collecting them in a glass jar – share them with others and become aware of the abundance in our lives. Every religion has some kind of time of fasting and reconsidering and it is a great idea. I give up alcohol for lent every year – since I outgrew the sweets jar – and use lent to try and instigate an exercise regime and a healthier, more mindful lifestyle. This year, I also follow a suggestion of the Samaritans and attempt to de-clutter my life ( and my wardrobe space), packing a bag every day with things I do not need and give them away. Yesterday, it was the bottom of the wardrobe and today it is that evil little space behind the door. As with all good plans, it probably won’t be every day but it will be some days and it will make a difference. So maybe give lent a chance and give Catholicism one too. As one very “unchurchy” friend said on facebook, “Better an atheist than a hypocritical catholic”. So right, but I’d still much rather be a non-hypocritical catholic than an atheist. We made a terrible shambles of the church and horrific things have happened in the name of the church but the man who gave us the sermon of the mount and the simple – but so very difficult - rule to love our neighbour, is still the line I want to follow in my life and the line worth fighting for.