Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Ironing and Lent

 Happy Ash Wednesday.

 

ASH WEDNESDAY

Today is Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. The Church decrees that Ash Wednesday and Good Friday  are days of fasting and abstinence for all adult Catholics from 14-65 years.  It is only a minimum requirement laid down by the Church, but fasting, prayer and alms giving are essential tools in our journey of conversion of heart in this season of penance. For health reasons, the Church does not expect the sick and infirm to fast and abstain.

What does the Church mean by fasting?   The Church's expectation of fasting means to eat much less than would normally be eaten on these 2 days specifically, by eating one main meal and two light snacks. A traditional main meal dish on Ash Wednesday is either fish pie or vegetable casserole. It is highly recommended that we maintain fasting by not eating between these snacks and main meal on these two days.  Abstinence requires that we abstain from all meat and meat products.

We are entering into a holy season, a season of repentance and a season which provides us with the opportunity to have a conversion of heart.  We need therefore to not just obey the Church's decree in order to fulfill our obligation, but rather enter into it enthusiastically in the right spirit of mind and heart.

IRONING AND LENT


So, you might wonder what is the link between ironing and Lent?  I was ironing this morning. I decided to get it done as I had been putting it off. Today was the day to take some action.   As I was ironing, I turned off the music and allowed myself to be in my own thoughts.  It occurred to me as I was ironing that these tablecloths, serviettes etc needed extra care to iron out the creases.  In fact, they needed the moisture from the steam to restore them.  My soul can become dry and creased through sin, so in this season of repentance, the Church offers us a chance to beautify our souls by giving us moisture and steam to concentrate in ironing out the creases (sin).  Some creases are small and others are larger. Both need the iron to smooth out the creases. 

So, with these thoughts, it led me to consider the creases of my soul and what am I going to do about them during this holy season.

I hope you all get a lot of ''spiritual ironing'' done during Lent so that by Easter dawn your soul will have new life.