Love better - a strategy

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of Lent. I have been thinking about my theme (“love better”) and some of the things I have been planning to observe the discipline Lent. Here’s how my list is looking:

Love the environment better. Avoid the use of disposable paper and plastic. That means remembering my reusable cloth grocery bags, getting out the cloth napkins at home, and bringing a reusable coffee mug to work. Hey, with a reusable mug I get a discount on my coffee!

Love God better. Add evening prayer to my routine; pray the Rosary more; attend daily Mass. Some people might think these are “only rituals,” but ritual practice is an essential element in human faith (more on that some other time). And anyway, they mean a lot to me and keep my mind and heart centered on God.

Love other people better. Donate to charitable organizations, avoid mocking and sarcasm, and pray for people who annoy or frustrate me. Make a hospice visit once a week, if possible. Don’t complain (that’s probably the hardest thing on my list!).

Some "sub-strategies" include:

• Create more time and space to read, pray, and visit by turning off the TV (I think this will help with both "love God" and "love other people"). Bert and I have to agree on this one, as it doesn’t really work if only one of us decides not to watch television. We have agreed to watch only the evening news, one (shared) favorite show per week, and maybe a video on date night.

• Eat only healthful foods, fast regularly, eat “humble” meals (a humble meal could be soup and bread). I have to put this under “love other people better” because it isn’t about getting fit or losing weight – the intent is to take the focus off my own self-gratification, to remember that a lot of people go to bed hungry every night, and even to save some money that can go to charitable organizations.

Hmmm. Overall this seems like a pretty well-rounded list, if maybe a little overwhelming to remember. But these are all practices that I want to develop anyway. That’s one of the great things about Lent: it provides the motivation to take six weeks to develop really positive spiritual, emotional, and physical habits. The idea of Lent is not punishment but freedom – to be relieved of everything that distracts us from God and prevents us from living in the reality of kingdom of heaven here on earth.

Who doesn’t want that?