Lenten Misery Misses the Point

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Detail, "The Fight Between Carnival and Lent", Pieter Brueghel the Elder. (1559) In this bit, Lent's winning.

Brian H. Gill's fictional 'Totally Depressing News Network: TDNN'.It's Lent and I'm a Catholic.

So how come I'm not sitting in some dark corner, reflecting on doom, gloom, and how perfectly rotten I am?

Or at least moaning and wringing my hands over the world's dreadfully dire state: as illustrated in my news feed.

Basically, it's because neither will help me line myself up with Jesus: doing prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Work on lining myself up, that is: it's a job that lasts as long as life does....

More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

(Being miserable is not the goal of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent; following Jesus is. Plus a look at the history of fashionable melancholy.)

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