I’m Back! And so is Lent.

If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on m holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the Lord’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice- Then you shall delight in the lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth (Isaiah 58)

Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. (Luke 5)

I was blessed to be able to work part time after the birth of our children. After both children were old enough and spent their days in school, I liked to make sure that I had Wednesdays off. I often said that Wednesdays were sacred to me. They were my day to follow my own pursuit. This often meant they were what I called a “pajama day.” Now I know you might be conjuring images of bon-bons and Netflix, not so. “Pajama Day” for me involved swifters, vacuums, washing machines, magic erasers, mixing bowls, mixers, and ovens. For some reason I could attack a day undettered and with greater industry if I never stopped to “get ready.” I loved pajama days. The Sabbath is often a point of contrition for me in the confessional. I often turn God’s holy day into another Sacred Wednesday, MY holy day. I am great at justifying this. These activities are not work (for me), they are pleasure. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, points out to me not once, but twice, hold back your foot from following your own pursuit. Jesus then gives me the one-two punch, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. For Lent I often take on at least one fail safe fast: sugar, spending, etc. The question Jesus asks me today is whether my area of fasting is an area of righteousness or an area of sin. In prayer today what I saw was that because of past fasting and disclipline those areas of weakness have been made stronger by the grace of God, they are no longer substitutes for trusting and relying and talking with Him. During Lent, Jesus calls us to seek to strengthen where we are weak, where we fall short. Up to this morning I have still been contemplating my Lenten fast (yes, I know, it is day 4). Today Jesus invites me to fast from making the Sabbath into my Sacred Wednesday. As usual His timing is impeccable. First, because tomorrow is the first Sunday of Lent. Second, we just returned from our month in Savannah where for the first time in my life I actually got to explore what leisure really looked like (without a property or two that I was immediately responsible for). Jeff and I would spend extra time with our morning prayer, go to Mass at least a couple extra days, take walks just to get outside, read books, talk about our books and our prayer, phone friends to stay in touch. There was one other special project that Savannah made room for as well. I began to chronologically read back through my journals and to gleen out the “highlights” and transcribe them into a very special journal I am making. Tomorrow I am going to work hard to fast from working at my own pursuits. I am going to allow the Lord to guide my day. He knows everything that needs to get done in my life, I need to learn to give Him this day, trusting that by having a true Sabbath, I can learn to discern between what is really a need and what is really just busyness. Amen. Pray for me this Lent brothers and sisters, I am holding each of you in prayer as well.