Lenten Thoughts

Every year on Ash Wednesday I am reminded of Homer Simpson. It's strange, I know.

I am reminded of Homer Simpson because spiritually I am just like him. Every week I go to church and I put in my time. Okay, I'll admit, most weeks I go to church but often there is a sense of putting in time or doing it because it's the "right" thing to do and not necessarily because I feel a higher spiritual calling. And then we come to Lent and I am reminded of just how "Homer" I am.

Stay with me here.

This year I resolved to be a better Catholic. I read Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly and I thought, "I can do this!" I was excited about the possibility of being more involved with my faith life, paying greater attention to the mass, allowing myself to be carried away by the ritual of the church, keeping a "mass journal," and really absorbing the readings each week. I really wanted to give it a shot and I was doing well until classes started. Then as soon as things got busy, I just kind of chucked faith out the window and started to focus on school. And then several weeks ago the bishop of our diocese made our priests read a letter that he wrote, right after the gospel (where the homily is supposed to go), damning the Obama administration and their policy on birth control. And I just kind of checked out after that. Note to bishops: I would prefer if you would please keep politics out of the mass.

That brings us to Lent.

Last night we attended the 9 PM Ash Wednesday mass at the Newman Catholic Chruch on campus. We were joined by hundreds of other students (one thing about attending mass at Newman in Champaign is that there are no children - especially at 9 PM) some dressed in their sweatpants, others in their pub crawl t-shirts or "Chief Illinwek" apparrel, but all were there for a common purpose. And I thought of Homer Simpson.

I thought of Homer because I too would rather be in bed. I would rather be watching television and drinking beer. But I wasn't. I made the choice to go in spite of my desire to be elsewhere. Our priest last night said that Lent is a time to "reboot" yourself in your faith. It's a time of sacrifice and a time of spiritual thought. "Why am I here?" "Why do I go to church?" These are questions to ponder as we spend the next 40 days depriving ourselves - which reminds me, I still don't know what I'm giving up for Lent. My inner Homer didn't think about it at all this year.


So perhaps this blog post is the beginning of my Lenten journey.