Dust to Dust
Lent is upon us. Things are different for me this year. With the cave man diet in full swing, there's virtually nothing dietary for me to give up. So instead of accentuating the sacrifice part, I'm going to concentrate on development. I'm going to read the Pope's new book (once it arrives) and some Guardini. I'm also going to select one mystery of the Rosary and concentrate on it throughout Lent. I'll read about, think about it, research tangents that come up in my reading. I've long speculated that a person could become an expert on many things by becoming a thorough expert on just one thing. If he really masters on thing, after all, he would have to have knowledge of many things that are connected to that one thing. In order to further my economics knowledge, I have on occasion selected a somewhat-technical investment piece, then concentrated on every sentence--looking up words I didn't understand, relating each sentence to each other, researching things that didn't make sense. The "accidental education" (Henry Adams' term) with such an approach edifies: it produces random information, but not entirely so since all the information is related to the topic that interests you. I'm hoping to experience that process by focusing on just one mystery. I'm going to use one of the sorrowful mysteries, but I'm not sure which one yet. I'll select it tonight. * * * * * * * 40 Ideas. I got the Rosary idea from this article at National Catholic Register: 40 Ways for These 40 Days. It's the second suggestion. Other good ideas: Cultivate silence. Turn off the iPod and DVD player. Shut off talk radio in the car. Hide the remote control. . . . Read the life of a saint about whom you know little, and identify a quality of theirs to emulate. . . . Change your computer's wallpaper to something that reminds you of God, and find a desk decoration that does the same. If you don't like any of the suggestions at that link, consider this suggestion from the new website, Catholic Lane: Spiritually Adopt a Radical Liberal for Lent. I saw it yesterday. Unfortunately, the link isn't working right now. * * * * * * * Abstaining Then. The Transapline Redemptorists (anyone know much about them?) put up this short post about historical abstention practices. I learned a few things. Consider:
The ancient discipline of Lenten Abstinence was that:
We abstained from three kinds of food:
Abstinence from meat.
Abstinence from eggs.
Abstinence from all dairy products
Sounds pretty rough. I have a hard enough time just with the meat thing.
