Rejoice in the preparation of Lent.

A Reflection of our discussion at Young Adult group last night.

Why not use these last few weeks to horde, horde, horde all the burgers, ice cream and omelletes that we can? Let's let Lent be Lent, and enjoy these few weeks before Lent--particularly this fast-free week.

Hmm.... It doesn't work that way. Last night at our Young Adult group, Father discussed Lent and how even now we must prepare by practicing self-control and moderation. Just as the Church calendar prepares for Lent with the Triodion, we too must "practice." Father, who played football in high school, made a great athletic analogy for this pre-Lenten preparation. He said,

"If I'm preparing for a football season, and I've got two-a-days, am I going to load up on food and lie around doing nothing in the weeks beforehand?" (two-a-days, or daily doubles, are known to be intense days of work and preparation for athletes; practices are held twice in one day),

The answer, to anyone who has been through the intensity of two-a-days, is of course 'No way!' You get in shape in the days and weeks prior to; you eat better, you get sleep.

So is it with Lent, and our mental and spiritual preparation for this beautiful treasure. If I gorge on whatever I want, whenever I want, right up until the last possible minute on Cheese Fare Sunday (as I have in the past...!), then I lose the first two, three weeks of Lent. I'm struggling throughout most of it, wondering why the heck I can't "get into Lent." And by the time I've finally settled in the fast, it's Holy Week, and I feel like I've accomplished little to nothing. Then Pascha comes, and I wonder why I'm lacking in joy. I wonder why I'm lacking in joy.

Lent, as Deacon mentioned in is his beautiful homily on Sunday, is a time of learning... or re-learning that which we never truly learned in the first place. May we all learn, may we all rejoice, rejoice, in our struggles this Lent.

Forgive me.