3 pillars

There are three traditional pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Each play on the most basic theme of the season, that of sacrifice. Sacrifice, as I've mentioned before, isn't limited to "going without."

Prayer
This is the pillar that is toughest for me. I am not good at prayer. I mean, there are prayers that I love (St. Theresa's Prayer, for example) and I am good at praying for people. God hears from me when someone I know and love needs strength, courage, guidance, wisdom, or peace. But prayer as conversation? Prayer as listening? I am not good. I "fill" empty or quiet time. I make my actions my way of letting God know who I am, what I know to be true, and who I want to be. And, sure, that's prayer too. Prayer can be action...but action is almsgiving (see below), so maybe this Lent I need to put more effort into developing a prayer life, into being still and letting God into my mind and heart.

Fasting
When I lived in L.A., I would--without fail--bring a meaty lunch to work on Fridays. It wasn't until lunch for the kids was cheese pizza or bean burritos that I'd realize my mistake. Frankly though, the "no meat" isn't the true meaning of fasting. For some people, no meat Fridays isn't any kind of sacrifice at all. And for me, any excuse to eat seafood is fabulous.

The purpose of fasting is to remember...to remember Jesus' 40 days in the desert. But it can also be used as a way to remember the 1st pillar of prayer. Maybe this Lent, every time I hear my stomach rumble in class or have a desire to run to the corner deli during a free period for M&Ms, I can take some time for God instead.

Almsgiving
This is my favorite pillar. Traditionally, people think of giving donations (to the Church, to Operation Rice Bowl, etc.) as almsgiving. It is that, of course, but almsgiving is so much more than that, so much bigger. To give alms is to give of oneself, to offer one's time, energy, efforts, and gifts to the other. Money is good, but money can be easy too...it can be mindless and can sometimes involve minimal sacrifice. To counter this, I've had friends who give their Starbucks money up for Lent. Instead of spending $3.97 on a drink at Starbucks every morning, they put that money in the Rice Bowl or the collection basket. The money represents something tangible, and, to me, grounds the act of giving back in something concrete.

But for me, giving alms is the act of doing something more for someone (even if it is doing more for oneself--blogging every day, for example!). I go back to work on Monday and I am going to try to be more aware of how I give of my time, energy, and talents to my girls and my fellow faculty. I will try to be more patient and not so quick to judge and/or go into the faculty room and blow off steam. My actions need to reflect the season, and what I will ask of the girls.

It is easy to move mindlessly through the day, mindlessly through the week, mindlessly through this season of Lent. My goal is to be conscious of how my actions come back to prayer, to fasting, and to almsgiving.