The season of Lent. When I was a kid, we were always encouraged to give up something that we really enjoyed. I wasn’t always so good about following the rules but I had enough Catholic guilt that, when I broke those rules, I felt horrible until I confessed. Not that I went to confession to do this, I usually found a friend to confess to. Like, when I was in the fourth grade, I gave up chocolate ice cream for Lent.  About 2 ½ weeks into it, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I snuck up the street to Dairy Queen and bought myself a chocolate ice cream cone.  I was too afraid to eat it there, assuming someone would see me and I would get caught. So, I ran home and hid behind our neighbor’s garage to eat it. By the time I got there, it was almost completely melted, but I chowed it down as fast as I could, ice cream dripping down my arm and onto my sleeve. I was able to make it into the house and upstairs to the bathroom without being seen… a clean getaway, so to speak.

That afternoon, I was feeling so guilty that I went up the street to my friend Linda’s house and told her. Her response?  “You could go to hell for doing that, you know?” It was comforting.  Needless to say, I wasn’t going to church to confess that lest the priest confirm this information.

I’ve grown up enough to realize that’s not what it’s all about.  It’s not about whether or not I can go 40 days without chocolate ice cream. It is a season of penance and atonement and giving alms.  In his 2014 message for Lent, Pope Francis said, “we could also say that there is only one real kind of poverty: not living as children of God and brothers and sisters of Christ.” I find myself seriously lacking in this capacity most days of my life.

I have struggled with my faith quite a bit the last couple of years. I’ve been trying to find my way back but it has not been an easy journey. My hope for myself (and for anyone else feeling this way) is that, this Lenten season,  I’ll be able to make a little more time for prayer, a little more time for reflection and try to see and appreciate God’s grace in my life and see that He has blessed me and that I am not alone.  I have many great things in my life. I have two beautiful boys and a wonderful husband who adores me. I have a roof over my head and food to feed my family.  I am blessed. This Lenten season, I truly want to try to live more like a child of God.  I will pray for myself but I will also pray for others. Maybe that is the best way I can give alms this Lent. I will try to do more but I think it’s a good start. (I’ll also make a point of staying away from Dairy Queen.)

May you all be able to see God’s blessings in your life, now and throughout the year.