Lent: grumble grumble

So today is Fat Tuesday. Or Mardi Gras. Or Carnevale, as it is known in my house. We don't do much to take advantage, seeing as how Fat Tuesday always falls on a TUESDAY, but there was one year when Phillip and I were in Italy and we happened to be in Venice aka Carnevale Capital, and someone got her face painted in St. Mark's Square, because she is four years old:

Quick! Call Jessica Simpson and see if we can borrow her ProActiv!

And, for the 28th Fat Tuesday in a row, I have no idea what I am doing for Lent. Here are my quickly-rejected ideas for things to give up:

• Sugar
• Okay, maybe just cookies
• One kind of cookie?
• The computer
• Okay, maybe just blogging
• Except you are not supposed to die during Lent, that is not the point
• Buying stuff
• Getting up with the baby in the middle of the night
• Ha ha
• Cable news
• Cable

Ho hum. How spiritually CHALLENGING.

For a while now I have been thinking that I am supposed to pray the rosary. With some, uh, regularity. Some of you may have told me this was an excellent practice to take up. I may have told some of you that really, I swear, I'm going to do it, honest. Except I haven't. Because 1) I am lazy and 2) I spend all my free time on the internet.

I am thinking- and that's all this is right now, thinking- that what I will do is give up 15 minutes (or however long it takes, I WOULDN'T KNOW) to say the rosary when the baby goes down for his morning nap. That's 15 minutes of prime computer time, people! BLOGGING time. I don't know if I can do it. Especially because that's been my plan for, like, MONTHS and have I actually gotten around to doing it? Why yes, all of one time, and I am pretty sure I fell asleep during the last decade.

In fact, if I were sticking to my plan, I'd be saying the rosary right this very second. Except Lent starts TOMORROW. Today we will be stuffing our faces with sugar and acquiring beads in scandalous ways and drinking spiked beverages at the moms group.

Comments

[Lisa]

Instead of the traditional "giving something up", I like the idea of doing something proactive (like starting a Rosary habit). The whole point of giving something up is to remove those things that distract us from our relationship with God, so perhaps leaving the computer and TV off for an hour (morning, evening, whatever) in order to do some spiritual reading or pray the Rosary is not such a bad idea. In theory. Harder to accomplish in practice. But it never hurts to try.

I have no idea what my "lenten resolution" will be yet, either. So don't feel too bad.

[Arwen]

Spiked beverages at the moms' group? Where can I find a moms' group like this?

[Kate P]

That's O.K., because Lent came up fast this year, darnit. (As it turns out, I'm going to be packing up and moving right before Holy Week.) Lenten sacrifice comes in different forms. A couple years ago, I dragged myself out of bed early to go to Mass on Friday mornings before work. It was hard, but it was a practice I wound up continuing for a long time after Easter and benefited me quite a lot. I don't think you get in trouble if you don't know exactly what you're doing the first week. Sometimes I just let the sacrifices come to me. (And usually something does come up.) But praying the rosary sounds like a great idea.

(Arwen, I was trying to figure out what are scandalous ways to acquire beads if there are nursing moms in the group???)

[Jess]

I like the idea of doing something extra instead of taking something away--and I also like the way you've twisted it around so that what you're taking away is time. And that really is a precious commodity, especially with a baby. Good luck!

[Angela]

I think that your Rosary idea sounds really fantastic. Also fantastic, a moms' group with sugar and spiked beverages ;)

[Liz]

I'm reading this as I eat my "lunch" of the cupcakes that I made for Carnivale treats for my students. Sigh.

It's hard to think of things to give up while pregnant. Nothing seems applicable. It's totally unrealistic to give up any sort of food (except for the ones I already have aversions to, but I don't think those count as sacrifice), and it's just as facetious to "give up" something like booze...

So the Rosary seems like a good idea - or some other sort of meditation. There's a sweet book of compiled meditations from Mother Teresa's A Simple Path. 10-15 minutes would be totally doable. You could even do it while you're lying in bed waiting for sleep... I think you just made up my mind! Thanks!

[andnotbysight]

What a great idea! I've been trying to think of things to do for Lent. I might just try saying the rosary every day, too. The rosary has been a huge help to me when I'm feeling anxious (I know you talked about trying the rosary to help with anxiety, and I know it's really been wonderful for me in that way). I used to say the rosary on the way to work--I lived 15 minutes away from work, and I could say the whole rosary (5 decades, that is!) during the drive. So, 15 minutes would be doable!

[Maureen]

WE ARE AS ONE.

I am totally going to say a daily rosary this year! Because I feel I no longer get that much benefit from giving stuff up. I'm giving up coffee, though, which will be un-enjoyable. I don't drink that much coffee, but I really enjoy what I have.

But anyway, I'd LIKE to go to daily mass or at least a weekly "daily" mass, but my church's only daily mass is at 7am, and THAT AIN'T HAPPENING. I could do it if I didn't have this needy 15-month-old, but there is no way I can get us both there. So I thought, "Daily rosary! Like I've been meaning to do for months and months and months!"

Also, fyi, the rosary only takes about 20 minutes. At most.

Also also, I am with Arwen and would like to know where I can find a mom's group that would not look askance at me for suggesting spiked drinks. I think they maybe would all die of shock. Maybe I'll try it next time I host though...

[annie]

We're working on the rosary thing too. It's just a matter of discipline, really...of which we have NONE. Case in point - right now is prime rosary time and my husband is in bed watching super tuesday and I'm sitting here in the other room reading your blog.

Starting tomorrow, the TV is being turned off during the daytime hours until Easter. perhaps then at least I'll get in a chaplet during naptime. It's a start. My husband told me that he was inspired by my no daytime TV and that he'd like to give up tv too, except that the only time he watches tv is when he gets home at night. I told him, "Then we'll NEVER have the tv on!" So, for the first time in my life, my selfishness has gotten in the way of someone elses' lenten fasting plans. He'll survive, though....right?

[el-e-e]

You could ease into it with just one decade, if you wanted to... and maybe by Easter you'd be doing the whole thing...

(I'm such a slacker)

I haven't even thought about Lent, eek, since I'm absolved from having to observe the abstinence/fast today -- wooohoooo, bonus of pregnancy!

[Maggie]

Dude. The Rosary? Way less of a pain once you get into the habit. I wear a scapular, which means that I have committed to pray the Rosary every day--but it started out as a Lenten resolution, and I've been doing it since my junior year of high school. Some days I totally love it and some days I would much rather be sleeping, thank you very much, but it's definitely a positive thing in my life overall. You should totally do it if you think God wants you to (duh, I'm profound). If it's too much for you to focus on all at once, try praying the decades separately...sometimes when I'm all "ugh, I don't want to pray my Rosary," I tell myself that I only have to do one decade right now and I will do the rest later, and then usually by the time I finish the first decade I'm ready to do the second one, etc. etc. and so forth. Not that I'm the queen of Rosary praying. But still. Let me know how it goes!

[Jennifer F.]

In fact, if I were sticking to my plan, I'd be saying the rosary right this very second.

Whew! I am not the only person who blogs about the things I'm not doing instead of actually doing them. :)

I gave up comments and looking at the number of visitors to my blog for Lent. Worst. Idea. Ever. I should have just done something easy like giving up food and water.