Lent 2012!

Lord knows I'm going to need something to keep my mind off facebook these next few weeks... So looks like I'm revisiting the good ol' blog!

For those of you who are participating in this oftentimes grueling, and always exciting time of the year, I've found and been advised a few great methods to fasting/sacrificing that I thought I'd share!

1. Pick something measurable. This means minutes of prayer, numbers of daily masses a week, hours of weekly exercise, numbers of cups of coffee a day, etc. Less room for wiggle, less temptation to wiggle!
2. If the idea of giving something up doesn't hurt a little when you think about it, it's not even worth it. Part of the whole idea behind sacrificing something for Lent is to help us be one with Jesus in his sacrifice for us. Choose something that will make you mindful of this sacrifice, and take it on joyfully! Nothing says this better than Romans 12:12,
"Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer."
3. Sacrifice isn't the only Lenten behavior. Also consider adding something- trying to do a profound act of service for your community every week, or saying a decade of the rosary each day, or even doing a random act of kindness daily is another great way to draw closer to God during Lent.
4. Don't take on the world! Something that works really well for me is sacrificing one or maybe two things, and then taking on one thing aimed towards helping me grow spiritually.

Don't know if those will be particularly helpful for anyone, but who knows! This year I'll be giving up anything with sugar on the ingredient label as well as facebook. I've done facebook pretty consistently for Lent, so I think adding something is a good idea. I am also going to be following "The Word Among Us" throughout Lent, which I am super excited about!

Throughout Lent I also hope to continue my new habit of getting to the chapel at Mason every day for some prayer alone time- the word among us will be probably be incorporated into that time. I've been reading Mere Christianity and I am totally blown away with each page turned. C.S. Lewis is incredible. Hoping to encourage my sister to start a blog so we can keep up with each other more :) Woo! God bless!

-Annie/Annika/Whatever you want to call me... as long as it's nice.