Let's Get Real

For those among us foolish enough to spend any time on social media, there's a good chance you've come across a meme of a snowbound landscape saying that one was giving up winter for lent.  Cue chuckle.

Frankly, there's so much wrong with this "joke".  First, should Lent be something that we use for cheap gags?  Second, has anyone really thought of what would happen without winter?  Goodbye snowpack, hello summer water shortages.  Third, has a meme ever changed anybody's mind or contributed to deeper thought about something?  In this age of 280 character tweets and snarky Facebook memes, Lent is a radical concept.  We take 40 whole days, not minutes, to reflect on our sins, rather than what somebody else is doing wrong.  Lent isn't about us and our desires, it's about God and what God wants from us.

Lent is a time for us to get real, to take seriously our lives, to set priorities that will bring us closer to Jesus.  If you're looking for something extra to give up this Lent, set aside the dopey meme.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shortest Day

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.  You've probably heard by now about the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which should be quite a sight.  Of course, this being 2020, the sky will probably be overcast obscuring this celestial event. But rather than be pessimistic, I will indulge in some optimism, some hope, that we will be able to see what has been dubbed "The Christmas Star" - even though Christmas isn't until the 25th and Jesus was likely born in March.  Still, it's the thought that counts, right?  Advent is all about hopeful anticipation, and we're coming to its glorious conclusion. I choose to welcome Christ with an open heart.  What about you?  Will you join me?  Will you look heavenward, confident that, clouds or no clouds, Our Lord is coming to be with us?
Read more

Stop the Yuletide Madness!

"Felize Navidad," move over. Justin Bieber's singing "Little Drummer Boy." I kid you not. I don't make this stuff up. Really. Just four seconds of the hour's musical wunderkind singing "Little Drummer Boy" this morning made me desperately long for the morning of December 25 and the return to regular programming on the radio. Of course, this may be a sign from above, offering us yet another reason for us to reclaim Advent from the wider culture!
Read more

My Pal Richard Dawkins

The New York Times ran a profile of evolutionary biologist and uber-atheist Richard Dawkins in this morning's Science Times section. Prof. Dawkins, an Oxford don, knows a lot about biology and is a brilliant scientist, but knows squat about religion; his rants against God show an understanding of religion and theology that are as simplistic (and, dare I say, simple-minded) as the approach to science shown by a number of religious and political figures on the right. None of this is news, really. But it is puzzling. Why does somebody like Dawkins abandon any sense of intellectual nuance when discussing something of which he disapproves? Surely he can do better than his standard "religion is the source of all evil" schtick (especially since it was religion, of the Roman Catholic variety to be exact, that invented the enterprise of which he is currently a part). Today's story makes me wish there were compelling religious figures who could command the same level of pres...
Read more