Preparing the Home and Workplace for Lent
We've see over the last two Sundays that it's already time to prepare for Lent, which arrives next week. Our focus has been an interior one. Today we turn to exterior preparations.
Interior preparation comes first of course. As we noted that last two Sundays, you've got to have some plan for how you will pursue your special Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, almsgiving. It's only when we've more or less settled on that plan that we can then try to assure that our plans aren't derailed by the circumstances and surroundings of our daily lives. Since the two places where we spend most of our time is our home and our workplace, we'll focus on these today. First we'll look at a simple example of sprucing up the homestead for Lent, starting with an illustration from personal experience.
When our kids were young we did talk to them about Lent and about "giving things up." Each of us (not just them) would mention some thing or things we'd give up. It wasn't a grilling or "shaming" routine, just a pleasant conversation. Dad (me) would then suggest a couple of items that we'd all eschew as a family, for example, chips and chocolate - two favorites to be sure. So Mom and Dad would squirrel away these items, keeping them out of reach to ease their tempting lure. (No reason to torture yourself here!)
That's a simple example of fasting; here's one related to prayer: We'd pray the Stations of the Cross every Friday evening. Since we had shelves and shelves of books, Mom got out copies of the Stations we would be using and placed them where they'd be easily accessible. This way when Friday rolled around, we didn't have to search for them, and we could get down to business.
There was more, of course. We adjusted our shopping and dinner plans (yes, we planned our week's meals to some extent) so that our Friday fast and abstinence could be observed faithfully. The point here: Make whatever changes in your home that will, even if only in little ways, support your efforts to observe Lent well.
What about the workplace? Naturally, most of us won't be placing little Stations of the Cross around our work space. (These days you'd likely be told that you'd committed some sort of micro-aggression...or is it a macro-aggression?) But, again, some little and/or simple preparations might be made. For example, you could take the trouble to plan your lunches such that they reflect some commitment to fasting. In years where I've observed partial abstinence throughout Lent (except for Ash Wednesday and Fridays' total abstinence), I've identified good sources of non-meat lunches that I could easily access (typically places with fresh salad bar offerings).
Another idea: One year my work had me walking past a church that was open during the afternoon. Typically this occurred once a week. During Lent I decided I'd stop in for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. And if I could carve out the time (depending on what was going on), I had the Stations of the Cross downloaded on my smart phone and just went ahead utilized the phone to pray a particular version to which I'd developed a special devotion. Had I not had this set up, it's more than likely I'd be fumbling with searching, reception, etc. and maybe not get things squared away in time (my window of opportunity was limited). I could also pray the Stations on my train commute on some days.
Think about your plan for almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, your workplace, your commute, etc. Use your imagination. I'm sure you'll find ways to prepare the workplace consistent with your personal plan to pursue your Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Interior preparation comes first of course. As we noted that last two Sundays, you've got to have some plan for how you will pursue your special Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, almsgiving. It's only when we've more or less settled on that plan that we can then try to assure that our plans aren't derailed by the circumstances and surroundings of our daily lives. Since the two places where we spend most of our time is our home and our workplace, we'll focus on these today. First we'll look at a simple example of sprucing up the homestead for Lent, starting with an illustration from personal experience.
When our kids were young we did talk to them about Lent and about "giving things up." Each of us (not just them) would mention some thing or things we'd give up. It wasn't a grilling or "shaming" routine, just a pleasant conversation. Dad (me) would then suggest a couple of items that we'd all eschew as a family, for example, chips and chocolate - two favorites to be sure. So Mom and Dad would squirrel away these items, keeping them out of reach to ease their tempting lure. (No reason to torture yourself here!)
That's a simple example of fasting; here's one related to prayer: We'd pray the Stations of the Cross every Friday evening. Since we had shelves and shelves of books, Mom got out copies of the Stations we would be using and placed them where they'd be easily accessible. This way when Friday rolled around, we didn't have to search for them, and we could get down to business.
There was more, of course. We adjusted our shopping and dinner plans (yes, we planned our week's meals to some extent) so that our Friday fast and abstinence could be observed faithfully. The point here: Make whatever changes in your home that will, even if only in little ways, support your efforts to observe Lent well.
What about the workplace? Naturally, most of us won't be placing little Stations of the Cross around our work space. (These days you'd likely be told that you'd committed some sort of micro-aggression...or is it a macro-aggression?) But, again, some little and/or simple preparations might be made. For example, you could take the trouble to plan your lunches such that they reflect some commitment to fasting. In years where I've observed partial abstinence throughout Lent (except for Ash Wednesday and Fridays' total abstinence), I've identified good sources of non-meat lunches that I could easily access (typically places with fresh salad bar offerings).
Another idea: One year my work had me walking past a church that was open during the afternoon. Typically this occurred once a week. During Lent I decided I'd stop in for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. And if I could carve out the time (depending on what was going on), I had the Stations of the Cross downloaded on my smart phone and just went ahead utilized the phone to pray a particular version to which I'd developed a special devotion. Had I not had this set up, it's more than likely I'd be fumbling with searching, reception, etc. and maybe not get things squared away in time (my window of opportunity was limited). I could also pray the Stations on my train commute on some days.
Think about your plan for almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, your workplace, your commute, etc. Use your imagination. I'm sure you'll find ways to prepare the workplace consistent with your personal plan to pursue your Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Comments