Lenten Journey

I heard the phrase “the Lenten Journey” at Mass tonight. As if there wasn’t enough to think about right now with all of my church activities, searching for a job, running several websites and social media campaigns, editing a doctoral dissertation, working on (working on ignoring) my New Year’s Resolutions, and just trying not to go “stir-crazy” from being cooped up this winter…now I have to go on a journey.  Great.  Just Great.

Depending on whom I ask about this journey I just get more confused.  I polled several of my Facebook friends to see what they had to say about this journey I am supposed to embark on.  It was a mistake…a big mistake.  Once I weeded out the sarcasm and inappropriate suggestions of exactly where I should go, I found that no one actually knew where the Lenten journey was supposed to take me.  Apparently it is shrouded in a great mystery.

Is this Lenten journey really so mysterious?  Is it possible for just anyone to understand it?  I think, after much reflection, that the answer is a simple one.  As with most spiritual activities we make things harder than they really need to be.  I’ve heard it said that it is very difficult to be Catholic.  Or Christian.  Or Spiritual.  Or.  Or.  Or.

Being Catholic (or Christian or spiritual or anything else) isn’t difficult.  The difficulty lies within our ability to accept who we are when we view ourselves through someone else’s eyes.  The easiest way to explain this is to ask, “Who are you when no one else is watching?”  It’s pretty easy to be ourselves when there aren’t any other living beings around to approve or disapprove of our actions.  Much of our behavior is affected by expectations of others.

One of my very favorite quotes is from Dwight Moody, a leading evangelist from the 19^th century.  (Stern looking guy.  Big beard.  Didn’t smile a lot but was adamant about sharing the love of Christ through evangelism…usually by banging someone over the head with it.)   He is most noted for saying, “Character is what you are in the dark.”  Being Catholic is quite simply our character and the easiest way to be Catholic is to imagine ourselves in the dark.  I know that brings about bunches of imagery from popular media and pop-psychologists that insist on walking “out of the dark,” but I’m not using metaphor here (that begins in the next paragraph).  I really am referring to dark.  Not evil, or shade, or Friday the 13^th nonsense.  Dark.  Turn off the light dark.  That’s all.

So back to this Lenten journey.  A small part of me hopes that the journey will take me to Aruba (it is February in Ohio after all), but the reality is that the Lenten journey is a metaphor. Church leaders thrive on metaphor.  It helps them to explain how and why, using contemporary phrases, to explain the unexplainable…and confuse us even more.  The Lenten Journey is not a journey.  Or a vacation, a roadtrip, a hike, a skip, or even a shuffle.  A Lenten Journey can be taken in an auditorium with hundreds of people.  It can be taken on your sofa while watching Ellen DeGeneres.  Or it can be taken while locked in a closet…your choice, you choose.

The Lenten Journey is not about a physical change or a change in locale.  It is about an awareness.  Scholars greater than myself can elaborate on how Lent is the atonement for original sin by Jesus so that we can fully join him in paradise.  However, I believe that Lent is quite simply the acknowledgement and awareness by humanity of the power of forgiveness.  The Lenten Journey is the process of accepting that forgiveness, offering forgiveness to others, and learning the lesson provided by Jesus so that we can move on. 

Journey found.

Life is good.

Hello? Awesome calling...

One of the new projects that I have taken up recently is helping others to find awesome and be awesome.  I’m sure that in some way I have been inspired by Kid President who is contagiously optimistic and continuously enthusiastic.  I realized that I could take his advice and pay it forward.  Unlike Noah and his ark, I am going to do this one-by-one instead of two-by-two. 

Image Courtesy of Dreamstime.com

Recently I asked members of my parish to help with social media and the church website by submitting news and upcoming events.  This is particularly important because I am unable to be at EVERY event or activity.  My rationalization is “many hands make light work” and my load needed lightened.  The response was lukewarm...very lukewarm...cool even. 

I was discouraged until I decided to dump the general appeal and just start asking people for help in person.  Guess what I found out?  Most people thought that the request was for someone else; some unnamed person that was really good at writing, or reporting, or had something dramatically newsworthy to report.  No one seemed to believe that they had anything awesome to say. 

My mission became clear. 

God has spoken very clearly. 

I am to be an awesome cheerleader. (I added awesome – it’s true!)

I think that I have found the vein of happiness that I have been missing of late.  Cheering on others towards greatness…reaching their potential…spreading awesomeness one-by-one.

Let the awesome begin.

Life is good.