The Importance of Getting In and Staying In Shape
Our post for this past Sunday somehow bubbled up thoughts about staying in shape. We were talking about the celebration of Septuagesima Sunday in the traditional liturgy of our Holy Church. It marks a tme of preparation for Lent. Our venerable tradition has us look forward to Lent before it "shows up" on Ash Wednesday. We say "shows up" because in many of our Novus Ordo parishes, things just hum along in these days before Lent. It's still "Ordinary" time. The priest wears green. In the traditional liturgy, he wears purple. It tells us it's time to prepare. We want to be "in shape" when Lent finally arrives. Why? Because we're called on to actively participate in those Three Pillars of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving - and to do something special in each area. If you take these seriously, you know you've got to be in shape to pursue them with serious intent. So with those thoughts about getting into spiritual shape as Lent appro...