It’s Ash Wednesday! Today marks the beginning of the Lenten season of the Catholic church.

It’s around this time when seasonal Catholics, including myself, start to participate in the traditions of the Church. I’ve also noticed that it is the season where a few non-Catholic Christians begin to question Catholicism. From my perspective, many young people (many of my peers) do not understand Catholicism…even some Catholics! Like I said, I am a seasonal Catholic, but it never used to be like that.

*Cue life story *
My family is Catholic. I was baptized in the Catholic church; I was confirmed as a Catholic; and I hope to be married in a Catholic church. I believe that my grandmother (my dad’s mom) kept my family Catholic and continues to do so. When I was in elementary school, my mom would make me go to church with her all the time. But then we stopped going for many years. With a little push from a few friends I went back. I knew that my local parish, that the Church, was/is my home. I became involved with our parish’s youth group right away. After a couple of years, I became a youth leader. I even became a lector (person who reads scriptures at the podium during mass)…and a pretty decent one too. I spent almost every weekend at Church, even most weekdays. My favorite activity was Praise & Worship! I was considered a “church girl,” big time.

It was during high school when I believe that my relationship with God was at its strongest. Today, as a recent college graduate, my Catholic traditions/values and relationship with God is almost non-existent. I understand that everyone goes through it. This whole ‘growing-up-and-finding-yourself’ thing. But I’m not going to use that as my excuse. I was physically present at mass on Sundays, but my mind and my heart were in the wrong place. So I stopped going. I’d only go to mass for holidays: Christmas and Easter. Sadly, I put so many things and people before God. Though I’ve had my back turned to Him for a while, I know that He never left my side. My Lord, Jesus Christ, has carried me through everything. I have never doubted Him or lost faith in Him.

In my weakness, He is strong.

With the start of Lent, I want to change that. ‘Tis the season of fasting, sacrifice, prayer, and penance. But it should always be that way. I saw a few posts on Facebook and Tumblr in which people were stating their concerns about Catholics just sacrificing something just because. This is a legit concern. Sacrificing carbs and sugar for Lent doesn’t necessarily scream, “I’m preparing for Holy Week and the resurrection of Jesus!” This is one of the many reasons that Catholics are ridiculed and so closely observed. Unfortunately, because of the way society thinks, the mistake(s) of one person reflects the group(s) that he or she claims to be a part of. Publicly noted sins and crimes (i.e. sexual abuse) are heightened when the accusations are made against a religious leader or someone else that society puts on a pedestal, whether they’re guilty or not.

“Lord, look not at the sins of your people, but at the faith of your Church.”

This year I am choosing to not tell the whole world what I am abstaining from. If people ask I will share; just no status updates on Facebook about it.

Now, for those who don’t know why Catholics practice Lent…I’m sorry but, it would take me days to have it even make a little sense. Mainly because I’m not very good at explaining things. There are a few words/phrases I could use to describe my reasons for participating in Lent: love, bettering my relationship with God, recognition, tradition…the list could go on and on. Jesus sacrificed His life to save us. Sacrificing something, even those “evil” carbohydrates and soda, means something. But if you’re giving up some food with the ulterior motive to lose weight, I beg you to rethink that. If you’re giving up a type of food because you consider it to be a luxury that you take for granted every day, I support you. Lent is about conversion and turning our lives over to Christ. Our goal is not to steer away from sin just for the duration of the Lenten season, but to remove sin from our lives forever. I owe it to the Lord, Jesus Christ, to at least try.

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2. kristtiiinnnn said: thank you for sharing and explaining B!
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