Lent?

Let's talk about it!

I got asked quite a bit on Ash Wednesday what I gave up for lent and I love that. I love that I am surrounded by family and friends in my life that care enough about me to ask. This season is such a beautiful time in the Catholic faith and one that comes with a chance to realign your spiritual relationship as well as becoming more Christ-like as you work on becoming the best version of yourself.

Talking about faith can sometimes feel… uncomfortable? intruding? I'm not quite sure either but I hope by the end of this blog you might feel a little more compelled to want to incorporate something more into your relationship with God. Talking about my faith out loud is something that I'm learning to do as I go but everyone starts somewhere so please have grace with me! I’ll share what I’m doing for Lent shortly (or you can scroll ahead), but while I have you here, I wanted to share a little about my faith journey, what this season has been teaching me and maybe you’ll learn something new while I have you here, too!

| Lent is a 40-day liturgical season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in the Catholic Church, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending before the evening Mass of Holy Thursday. It is a period of penance and preparation for Easter, symbolizing Jesus Christ's 40 days in the desert.

I’m not 100% positive if it’s the stage of life I’m in or my frontal lobe being fully developed now - or, maybe the crazy things that are happening in our government and how much social media is exposing us to nowadays, the loss my family and friends have recently endured but i’ve never felt like I’ve needed this lenten season more. I’m excited to dive deeper into my faith and learn but also continue to work on deepening my spiritual relationships by being more confident and outspoken during this season.

I came across something the other day that went a little along the lines of: “If you aren’t praying over your home, your kids, your spouse, your family, your friends - who is?” I began to wonder how many of the people I come into contact with on a daily basis may not have anyone praying over them. Not just the people within your walls but on the street. Even if you pick one person you crossed paths with every day, that is one more person that God is going to rest his hand upon. While we are at it, if you are actually praying about these people - your family and friends included, the people closest to you… why are we not being louder about it?

I’ll never forget when a group of my college buddies came up to the spring calf dragging, some hands - some I wouldn’t consider fingers (first timer things and we love them all). Though, something happened this day that has always stuck with me. My mom and I are catholic, so was the young man whose truck we were fueling up and I only mention this because this day I truly realized I was a practicing catholic. As we were finishing up at the tanks and saying our 'see you soons' and safe travels, he very seriously looked my mother in her eyes and said “Are you not going to pray over me before I go?”

This was the first time my mother and I had ever been apart of something like this and I’m glad that we experienced it together as it really was so simple and quick but he made a difference in my life that day. He was willing to do the hard thing, speak up and ask, and because he did he changed my life for the better. I personally wish I was more confident about this myself as I do silently say a prayer over any of my family/friends that leave whatever meeting spot we are departing from since that day but I know because of him how much more room for improvement I have.

Ash Wednesday is a day where we are reminded that we are dust and to dust we shall return. A time where we should be called to take action as our time here on earth is not endless - so what are you living for? Who?

We receive ashes in the symbol of a cross on our foreheads to be reminded tomorrow is not promised and this day should be used as a wake up call.

Why don’t catholics eat meat on Friday’s? Abstaining from meat on Fridays is a tradition of sacrifice and remembrance, honoring the day Jesus gave His life.

It isn’t because we wanted singled out in school, grabbing the colored school lunch tickets in the morning in front of the entire class with “FISH” plastered across the front… the "YOUR catholic" echos were also always quite humbling. However, I'd say i’m finally entering my ‘catholic is cool’ phase and I’m loving it.

Sooooo, what is Bailey doing during the lenten season?

Well, I always try and structure my season to go along with the 3 pillars of lent.

• Prayer: Increased focus on Scripture, Mass and reflection.

• Fasting: A form of self-discipline; What you essentially “Give Up.”

• Almsgiving: Sharing resources, time and talent with the less fortunate.

This year I am doing the following for my ‘Big 3’:

• Zero sugar (<1g)! Full cut. Forty days.

• 54-day Novena podcast (intentionally praying the rosary daily).

• Incorporating more of my faith into my social media - so I’ll actually have to hold myself accountable to writing more often I suppose.

However, I’m also:

• Working on cleaning up my language (cussing & negative thoughts)

• Going to go to confession 3x during lent.

• Picked 2 saints to learn more about and pray to that I’m super excited about doing for the first time! I may even blog about it?

  
  

Basically, I’m hoping to actually start taking the initiative of acting and doing instead of overthinking it and then it's too late.

Examples: Actually take the stairs, hold or grab the door for someone, check in on my people first, etc. I just don’t want to hesitate, I want doing good to actually become a habit for me and it’s something I have to practice daily.

Novena time!

My update so far is that I have had no sweet treats (including my 7brews), I have made time to pray the rosary for my Novena every day and I’ve definitely posted more faith based content. The fact I also sat down and made the time to write again is another pretty big step for me. One could say I’m starting to crawl out of my comfort zone and get my confidence back and with doing so here are a couple things I’ve noticed:

• My gal pals have been sweeties and have mentioned limiting or giving up their sweet treats to support me. I also had several people reach out to me and spoke their encouragement over me which is also why I felt a bit compelled to write about this as I had a lot of really great conversations within my close circle about religion lately. In times where I'm focusing on being a better version of myself I always like looking around at the people in this stage of my life and realizing how important the people you surround yourself with really does matter and I can't help but feel thankful for y'all.

• After praying my daily novena, on the days I have went on my runs I have honestly felt much stronger. I didn't stop for breathers and was able to finish my runs + went further than I was anticipating on each one and if anyone knows me, my mother is the track star - definitely not me. She will also be the first to tell you how miserable it was for her to coach me in middle school track. I say this to stress the benefit that incorporating my faith into my workouts has been one of the best decisions I have made where I have actually felt a difference.

• This one I don’t love admitting… I had several people that reached out to me and said “I didn’t know you were catholic.” Let me explain why this one hurt a little different. If something was to happen to me tomorrow, I hope anyone that I’ve had interaction with at some point or time that knows me or follows me - knows I have a relationship with the Lord, our God. My takeaway from this was that as uncomfortable as it may feel sometimes to post, write or speak about my faith… How much more guilt and shame would I feel if the first thing people said about me when I passed wasn’t “She had a strong relationship with the Lord, I know her soul lives on in Heaven.” Which is my top priority and goal here on earth, it’s about time that I start being serious about it!

  
  

To be fully transparent, the Sunday before Lent I had some tears that were slipping down my cheeks in the pew that day. They were singing that song, you know the one that goes a little like this:

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if You lead me.

I will hold Your people in my heart.

Every time we got to the chorus, I got choked up. Goosebumps down my arms, frog in my throat, the whole works.

Lent is teaching me that my journey isn’t meant to be hidden or perfect. It’s meant to be practiced. Out loud. In the small ways. Showing up. Staying dedicated. It all adds up and our time here isn’t something to take for granted. I don’t have it all figured out, but I do know that I want to live a life that points back to God. In my words, in my actions and in the way I love my people. More importantly, all of His people.

To all my fellow catholics, we are in it together and I'm praying over you this lenten season.

All the love for all y’all.

xx.

-BR