Here we are in another Lenten season. For the last two years, I have not written much of anything, I have stopped attending Mass and I have almost (not quite) gone back to my pre-reversion ways. With everything that is going on in the world I have come to the realization that I better get my stuff together or I am going to be in real trouble when I receive the call from the Lord.

With that in mind, I am challenging myself to a Lenten fast, unlike any other I have tried. We always learned we need to give something up for Lent or do something difficult as penance or fasting like Jesus did when he went into the desert for forty days. My plan, or more precisely part of my plan, is to write forty blog posts in forty days. My hope is this will bring me back to the place I was a few years ago, the good place that is.

Now I could certainly write forty posts in forty days if I just wrote gibberish (some may think that I do that anyway) but I am going to try to be better than that. I will try to at the least, have some kind of reflection, or lesson, in each post, something relevant to God, Jesus, Catholicism, Christianity, etc. Can I do it? That will be the challenge, but this is where I need to start to get back on track. So let’s get started as you readers who are really astute well know I am already three days behind.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;”

The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Lk 5:31.

The line above is from today’s Gospel reading. Jesus has gone to Levi’s house for dinner. Now Levi was a tax collector and all his companions were tax collectors, and they weren’t very well liked. The Pharasees and the Saducces started their usual gossip saying such things as “Why does he want to eat dinner with them?”

Admit it, we have all done this. You are invited somewhere and the first thing you ask is “Who else is going to be there?” After you learn who will be there, then you decide if you’ll go or not. Unless of course you are like me and never get invited anywhere. Jesus’ answer to this is that the well don’t need a doctor, it is those who aren’t well that need one. His mission is to convert sinners into believers and what better place to start.

Who are we to judge others? Are we better than they are? Or when we judge them are we lowering our selves to their level? Every time we meet someone new, we should look at it as an opportunity to spread God’s Word. We don’t need to preach, we don’t need to be in their face, we just need to be good Catholics.

Okay, 39 more to go.