It's LENT LITE For Count Raoul... But It's Still Lent

Lent Lite

Lent ended for me today; Palm Sunday.  I know it goes a bit longer for most folks, but I’m comfortable with my decision and can justify it to the Pope, should he ask.  First, know that I am Episcopalian, so the pontiff doesn’t really scare me as he might my wife.  Patti is a Catholic and follows the faith, faithfully.  But she’s no fanatic, just a really good Catholic.  Ok enough about her.  Who’s got the keyboard here? 

My Sunday school memory says that Lent is a time of reflection, confession and abstinence honoring the forty days and forty nights that Jesus spent in the desert being teased and tempted by el Diablo…. The Devil himself.  Nothing to eat or drink for over a month and Lucifer himself offering the world for the mere act of denouncing your father.  That’s pretty tough stuff.  But Christians know the worst for Jesus was still to come.  Let’s focus on the forty days.  Ash Wednesday to Easter is more like 47 days.  Wha?  That’s too long to be good.  And let’s remember, Palm Sunday, today, is the day Jesus came in from the desert and rode a donkey into Jerusalem as the faithful laid palm fronds in his path.  So he was free to eat right?  He probably had some chocolate of Palm Sunday wouldn’t you think?  Me too.

I’ve gone all the way to Easter Sunday honoring Lent, but those years I gave up my reflection, confession and abstinence on Sundays each week.  Yes it seemed like a cheater’s way to limp to the finish and it just plain denies the fact that Jesus and the boys had a big old feast on Maundy Thursday getting ready for a night of prayer in the garden.  Banquet then prayer… not how I would have done it, but those were different times.  Maybe there was occasion for a nap.

So let me confess right now, that I don’t confess.  Not in the way the Catholics do.  Yes, Lent is about reflection (I do that) confession (no) and abstinence (more in a minute) but the confession part just seems too personal.  I confess to God but he already knows everything.  So I’m confessing to my readers… I don’t confess.

From my time as a kid, Lent to me was really about giving up something minor that you enjoy.  My parents taught me that it was a small way of feeling the pain Our Savior endured in the desert.  I could to that.  Kids of course go for the easy stuff.  Giving up chewing gum but convincing yourself that bubble gum is something different so it’s ok.  It’s a weak response of course, but it did remind us of the season.  I was proud to give up a bit for six or seven weeks.  It made me feel like a believer.

So in 2014 I went long and gave up some of my true passions.  Sweets came first.  I love sweets and to forgo them is always a true sacrifice.  I tried to replace the hard candies and Junior Mints with fruit and even cheese.  Not bad, but not chocolate.  I also gave up whiskey.  I wish I could say that I gave up alcohol entirely but I’m a sinner, not a saint.  I cannot do that, but I did give up whiskey, both brown and clear allowing myself only coffee, water and white wine for refreshment.  Not really suffering, but I did miss my lemonade, Gatorade and bourbon.   And I gave up ‘unaccompanied bread’.  That’s a personal favorite and quite a sacrifice.  I was still allowed a sandwich because it is bread accompanied by meat and cheese.  But that glorious hot manna lay before you at a good restaurant just after you order but before the first course arrives would have to be sent back.  I skip dinners out during Lent because I love the bread so much.  But that’s over.  Lent is over.

Now we are in the beginning of Holy Week; the most important week of the Christian year.  I hope every Christian gets to honor it in some way.  We live in a world that too often uses religion as an afterthought.  I’m guilty of that.  But my modest Lenten sacrifice has made me remember my lessons for another year.  Happy Easter Everyone!