What I consider to be luckily, my family consists of very religious Catholics. That being said, this season is especially important to us. For those of you who don’t know to what I am referring, I am speaking of Lent. Traditionally, for these 40 days, Christians are supposed to abstain from meat on Fridays and also give up something for the entire Lenten season. For me, I’ve given up sweets. For someone with a giant sweet tooth, this is a difficult thing to do.
But last Sunday, my priest said something that really hit home. He referred to the story of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. At the end of these 40 days, during which Christ had been starved and dehydrated and weakened by the desert conditions, the devil visits him and tries to tempt him with power and other enticing things, but Christ shows his strength of will by denying each temptation.
So, my priest asked, how can we hold ourselves to any lesser standards? Well, I thought, he was the son of God and I am just a lowly, sinful human. But then my priest turned around and addressed that very thought like he was reading my mind. “We are all children of God.” We are asked to emulate the way that Christ lived his life and, through that, find salvation.
Well, then I’m screwed. I thought back on the past year and tried to figure out which of the 7 deadly sins I’d committed:
Extravagance? I’m not going to lie; I have way too many shoes to plead innocent to this one. Gluttony? See note about “giant sweet tooth” above. Greed? I think I might be safe on that one. Discouragement? Well, exam week just passed and I’m pretty sure I was about as pessimistic as it gets. Sloth? Most of my Saturday mornings consist of sitting on my couch watching Law and Order marathons, so… Pride and Envy? I’m pretty sure that those come with the high school territory.
I mean, think about it. Who, in our current society, isn’t screwed?
Now wait a minute. You are engaging your mind by absorbing intricate knowledge of the law and cop jargon by imbibing in Law and Order. The soundtrack alone should be played for infants en womb. Give yourself points for that!