For the record: I don’t like Lent.  I also don’t like taking pills, liver (with or without onions) or exercise.  The ironic thing is that all the things I don’t like are good for me!

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When I reflect on all the blessings I have received (a good family, exemplar sisters, genes that have kept me healthy, wonderful friends and colleagues, love and mercy) the church asks little in return.  Forty days of a bit of penance; prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  It’s the least I can do.

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It is a challenge every year to come up with things to put on my bona opera (the list of good works that is submitted to the prioress for her blessing).  Afterall, from what can I fast that would make a difference when so many people of the world are underfed?  What prayer would turn things around so nations are compassionate and good to each other rather than going to war and deporting innocent people?  And almsgiving; my funds are meager to begin with.

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Prayer and forgiveness and acts of charity don’t necessarily change others.  Those things change me.  If after 40 days, I am better than I was, kinder, more empathetic, compassionate toward those who think differently than me, able to listen to the cries of the poor and do something about it, then Lent is more than worth my time and effort.

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It is the least I can do.  Maybe, I’ll grow to like it!