{"id":434,"date":"2011-02-26T16:35:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T21:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=434"},"modified":"2011-02-26T16:35:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T21:35:29","slug":"getting-ready-for-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/getting-ready-for-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Ready For Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Getting ready for Lent might seem like a strange title for an article.\u00a0 After all, Lent is a season of preparation, a time of seeking conversion.\u00a0 In Lent, we work to open our hearts to God.<\/p>\n<p>So, what do we need to do to get ready for Lent if it is supposed to be a season of preparation?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Each Lent, we are called to make a sacrifice for the season.\u00a0 We generally give up something we like for Lent and then, after Easter, resume our normal practice.\u00a0 An example might be giving up our favorite food.\u00a0 Giving up our favorite things is a good thing.\u00a0 It says that our relationship with God is more important than our favorite <em><strong>thing <\/strong><\/em>(Jesus says in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/nab\/022711.shtml#gospel\" target=\"_blank\">this Sunday&#8217;s reading<\/a>, &#8220;But <em>seek <\/em>first the kingdom of God and his righteousness&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>We can also make another type of sacrifice.\u00a0 We can actually do something extra to deepen our relationship with God.\u00a0 The sacrifice here is saying we are willing to make (more) time for God in our lives.\u00a0 An example of this is people who don&#8217;t come to daily Mass on a regular basis but make a point to during Lent.<\/p>\n<p>We could also do something during Lent to help other people.\u00a0 We might volunteer at a community kitchen or a hospital.\u00a0 By caring for others you can show that you hear Jesus&#8217; commandment to love your neighbor.<\/p>\n<p>So, to get ready for Lent think about what sacrifice you will make.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Peace,<\/p>\n<p>Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting ready for Lent might seem like a strange title for an article.\u00a0 After all, Lent is a season of preparation, a time of seeking conversion.\u00a0 In Lent, we work to open our hearts to God. So, what do we need to do to get ready for Lent if it is supposed to be a &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/getting-ready-for-lent\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Getting Ready For Lent&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,66],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-70","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}