Lent is upon us!

Believe it or not we enter into Lent today! Where did the time go? I feel like I finally recovered from the Christmas Season and now we enter into preparation for Easter. I will be honest my favorite Catholic Holiday is Easter, but the less anticipated part of my beloved holiday is the 6 weeks leading up to it. Don't get me wrong, there is great joy and beauty in experiencing the 40 days of the desert with Christ as we prepare our hearts for the Resurrection, but my temporal body at times feels differently. The past few years I did small sacrifices, but the main priority was to add some component of prayer into my daily life that had previously been lacking. As I have contemplated and prayed about what to "give up" this year my first thought each time has been CHEESE. Sigh. Now if you know me even in the slightest you know I am a huge lover of cheese. I practically have it with every meal I eat in some capacity so the thought of giving it up brings a little tear to my eye and makes my mouth salivate. But isn't that the point? The purpose behind Lent and the 40 days of sacrifice is not to give up something that is easy for us to, it is a call to die to the body and experience the great suffering Christ did in our own very insignificant way. Sacrifice means to offer. The Church in her wisdom knows that we need a time to remove ourselves from the business of life and temptation to regain joy. Let's not look at this as a curse but as a beautiful opportunity to unite ourselves with Christ.