Happy Fat Tuesday/ Mardigras!
Most Christians use this day to eat up the last of their sweets and enjoy their last meat-filled supper before the start of Lent tomorrow. I'm excited about Lent and look forward to it every year. For Ash Wednesday tomorrow, we shall be be attending services at a local parish here in Montreal ( oh yeah, we are here for the week while Peter is on business!). It was cool attending Mass in French on Sunday at St. Joseph 's Oratory where St. Andre' s tomb and heart are resting, and I'm looking forward to Mass and being blessed with ashes tomorrow ( though we really don't know what in the world everyone is saying... It's all French to us...).
Peter and I had our pre Lenten discussion to decide what sacrifices and deeds we would like to do as a family this year.
We always base our Lenten practices on our Time, Talent, and Treasure.
This year, we are going to bake fasting bread for ourselves, our friends, and parishioners who would like to participate in the bread fasting. We will ask for a donation for the breads and then we will donate the funds to two local food pantries. Thus we will use our TIME to bake the bread, our TALENT for baking and sharing this recipe, and our TREASURE, using our money to purchase the ingredients and give away the proceeds from the donations.
For more personal sacrifice, we will keep our phones and gadgets in the kitchen overnight so they aren't the first and last things we use at night and in the morning. We will refrain from extra tv and movies during the week. On Fridays, we will pray the Stations of the Cross and the sorrowful mysteries as a family and make dinner very simple. Lastly, we participate in our parish's Baby Bottle Drive where we collect our change and donate it to a local Pregnancy Care Center.
Peter and I will talk about how we are doing at the end if each week and add to or revise our practices as we see fit.
I'm excited about Easter! The sacrificial journey and the celebration of Easter Sunday remind me of how my hard life on Earth will end in happiness in Heaven.
What sacrifices and practices do you and your family hold for the Lenten season?
-Michelle
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