First Friday of lent today, huh? Yeah, meat is not on the menu. I followed this tradition when I lived with my parents, and then I kinda forgot about it. I’m trying to go back to the tradition, so I have tuna to make a soufflé, and I’ll try not to eat too much today. Small sacrifices, for those who believe in what we’ve been taught.
When reading the church bulletin I found a list of ideas for “Fasting.” It isn’t about going hungry for hours or days. It’s about giving up some of those things that give us so much pleasure. But also those things that aren’t good, but we indulge in. And I’m not talking about smoking, drinking or eating sweets. I’m talking about spending great part of our time holding feelings of resentment toward others. Gossipping, saying bad things about people, trying to find a way to get back at them for whatever we consider they did wrong.
Why do we become judges? And why do we like to dwell on feelings of anger and hate? Forgiveness doesn’t help the person we forgive. It helps US! Even more, why do we like to look at the mistakes of others rather than looking in and realize we are not perfect? One thing is responding like the human beings we are, when someone hurts us, and another thing is deliberately using actions and words to damage that person.
Lent is a period of reflection. And I don’t pretend to be self-righteous on this post, I just wish people (including myself) stopped for a moment to think carefully about their day to day actions. In my convictions, I know God is merciful, but how much is too much when it comes to living in this world? We can make it heaven, or we can make it hell.