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My Lenten Observance

Here's what I am going to try to do this Lent.

1. Read the Liturgy of the Hours, all seven daily hours (though not necessarily at the appointed hour, due to work), in Latin.

2. Forsake all alcohol.

3. Forsake red meat (pork and beef) throughout Lent, and all meat on Fridays. When given the choice, I will forsake all meat throughout Lent, and will observe, if eating alone, a diet of bread and water on Fridays.

On this last rule, I expressed to my wife that I wished to give up all meat during Lent, and she insisted that it would be too difficult both from the point of view of practicality (vis a vis what is already in the freezer) and socially (my faith has frankly become a point of concern among my friends and family, and to avoid causing them concern, I will, when eating with them, eat whatever they are eating, while sticking to the normal Catholic rules of no meat on Fridays).

Lest you think these observations to be too "pharisaical" and harsh, I would point out that I am actually well known to be a glutton and a drunk, so they are definitely "on point". I also medically suffer from mild diabetes and high cholesterol, so observing a much plainer diet and including more fish also will have some health benefits. It's not all being done just because I think myself Holier Than Thou (which will be my new blog tagline for awhile).

I will report, on the other side of Easter, how my observance went.

UPDATE: Joseph Fromm at Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit has what the Vatican is doing this Lent. I sure wish I had thought of "Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" as a site name.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on February 5, 2008 10:46 AM.

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