Lent... again.

Lent is not a revelation to most of us.  Rather, it's all too familiar - an old acquaintance we encounter periodically.  Sometimes it's a joy, sometimes a trial, mostly it's just part of the familiar annual routine.  We think about our spiritual routine and seek to revitalise it.  That can be a sad sort of "New Year's Resolution" experience - we mean well, but it really won't last very long once normality kicks in.

To be honest, that's where I am. My best intentions have been gangin' aft agley with boring speed since Wednesday.  I hope to pray as I have intended.  I am reading the Parish Lent book (and enjoying it - it's called "Joy" by Peter Waddell).  We are eating a lot less meat (none on Wednesdays or Fridays).  And I will go to confession before Easter.  Hopefully a little growth and insight will ensue.  In God we trust  - and in the grace that is always more ready to hear than we are to pray.

Our Lady of Lourdes, 11th February.

 An act of consecration to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Virgin Immaculate, you appeared 18 times to Bernadette at the grotto in Lourdes to remind Christians of what the truths in the Gospel require of them. You call them to prayer, penance, the Eucharist and the life of the church. To answer your call more fully, I dedicate myself, through you, to your Son Jesus. Make me willing to accept what he said. By the fervour of my faith, by the conduct of my life in all its aspects, by my devotion to the sick, let me work with you in the comforting of those who suffer and in the reconciliation of people that the church may be one and there be peace in the world. All this I ask, confident that you, Our Lady, will fully answer my prayer. Blessed be the Holy and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. St. Bernadette, pray for us.

Devotion to Our Lady and her Incarnate Son apart, it is the call to work with the sick (which as a support worker with autistic adults I could be said to do) and the call to reconcilliation that makes this act of consecration so appealing to me.  Perhaps a good discipline for Lent, n'est pas?