Lenten Sacrifice

As Catholics we are challenged to give up/do something for Lent to refocus our spiritual life by reflecting on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord. Of course the Church, in her infinite wisdom did not abandon us to our own interpretation of how to fast during this season. The Church challenges us to participate in three practices: fasting, alms giving, and prayer.

• Fasting - abstaining from something of your choice that will remind you of the sacrifices that Christ made for us during his Passion
• Alms giving - a time to give a little extra money or time to a charity, preferably for the poor
• Prayer - to focus more acutely on our we can align ourselves with Christ's life

I wanted to write a little about my Lenten journey not because I am tooting my own horn (because, as Scripture says, when you fast don't let anyone know...loose translation), but because I had a really incredible experience this year, and I want to share the idea for friends and educators in the future.

I briefly mentioned a few posts ago that I gave up purchasing beverages for Lent. This was inspired by a friend who invited me to join some cause on Facebook that challenged people to give up buying beverages for forty days and take the money you would have spent and donate it to this particular charity that provides clean drinking water to a poor community in Africa. The challenge was not tied to Lent, but forty days...common. I learned of this a week or so before Lent, and then Monday before Ash Wednesday my Human Geography professor challenged us to do the SAME thing. Clearly this is was God was calling me to do this year for Lent.

Tuesday before Ash Wednesday I pray intensely on how this fast and alms giving was going to look for me. I knew that I couldn't throw three bucks in an envelope every time a craved a drink because well, I crave coffee or beer way more than I actually buy it. So instead I thought about how many meals I eat with a coke, how many times I get a beer with dinner, and how many coffees I treat myself to during the school/work day. I came up with a good number, it surprised me actually that on the low side I probably spend $13 a week and on the high side $18. Well, I decided on $20 a week, because I like even numbers, $20s come from the ATM, and that is 1/3 of my free-to-do-what-I-want-with money per week (that includes my food too). Each week when I took my allowance from the ATM, $20 went straight to my LENT envelope. For a total of $120 by last Saturday. During the last few weeks I really prayed that God would reveal the perfect charity for me to donate this money to.

For the EDGE kids this Advent and Lent, I've arranged for us to go serve at Saint Francis Table, one of the biggest (and only) Saturday soup kitchens in downtown Atlanta. They serve 400-500 meals a day. Since we've (the middle school group, but not me) been down before, the director of the soup kitchen asked us to bring supplies to make and bag 500 bologna and cheese sandwiches. No problem. I asked for A MONTH for the EDGE parents to donate food. I received enough donations (from 2 families) to make about 100 sandwiches. I figured, this was the answer to my prayer. I would go to Wal-Mart and buy $120 of the items needed for the soup kitchen. No one would know it was me (except you all). The total was $118! Wow!

Saturday morning 6 middle schoolers, 1 high schooler, 4 parents and I piled into their vans, arriving at Saint Francis Table at 7am. The kids and I were put to work making our bologna and cheese sandwiches, making salad, scooping butter into bowls, setting tables, etc. At 9am we were sent upstairs to the Shine of the Immaculate Conception (the only Catholic Church not burned during Sherman's march to the sea) for Mass. It was one of the most beautiful liturgies I've attended in years. All of the songs and homily were centered around the Passion AND our call to serve. After Mass was over, the priest (who reminded me of Fr. Gene from UD) gaves us a pep talk regarding the work we were about to complete. He reminded us that the most important thing to do was smile!

After Mass we went back down stairs to receive our jobs for the afternoon of serving. Some of the boys were assigned to meet the "guests" as they are called outside and invite them in for lunch, others were to serve the guests their soup and salad, others were to refill the bread and butter baskets. The last group was to give the guest their to-go bags filled with the sandwiches we made, a muffin, and a bottle of water.

For two hours the guests we seated and served. We were instructed that we were to give the guests the same service we'd expect to find an a nice restaurant - refill their glasses, have a napkin and silverware ready, and let them eat until they were full. We were also told we had to dress nicely (ahead of time), not talk or text on our cell phones, and to call them "sir" and "miss". It was fun to serve and to talk with all the guests - some of them have been on the street for years and others are new. One of them was a recent college graduate who got messed up in the wrong crowd and was fired from his job. They were so appreciative and thankful for our service to them and the bountiful food we provided them. One of the guys told us how the Saturday meal is so good, it's what gets him from week to week and keeps him hopeful for his future. Beautiful.

The middle schoolers really learned to appreciate the life they have in our affluent suburb. I learned a lot about the value of time and money in so many ways. Obviously to be thankful that I have and do throw $20 a week away on fancy drinks, when others are looking for a clean sip of water. But also that my $20 and 6 hours can really make a difference in someone else life. I don't think I was ever really ignorant to the importance and need for this type of service work, I had just never made the effort to do it and therefore it was never *real* to me. The fasting and giving of my time and money in this new way has certainly changed my outlook on life and I look forward to serving at SFT in the future either on my own, with Eric, or taking the middle schoolers :) I think the coolest part is - yes I have done countless hours of service work and donate regularly at Mass and to other charities (as called for by our Church), but I have never put my time and money together in one project. That's where the impact was :)


PS: Eric came up with a similar Lent project on his own (funny how God works). This year he gave up his car, so he biked, ran, or took his motorcycle to work and church. He took the money he saved in gas and paid for one of the seniors to go on the Junior/Senior retreat a week weeks ago. I didn't know that's what he did with the money until last night when I shared with him what I did with mine on Saturday. It certainly gaves us both a new perspective as we were reevaluating our budgets last night.

God is good :)