Feasting and Fasting

I first posted this in my other blog in 2007. In the light of all that's going on around us and maybe within us too, it might be a good idea to revisit these thoughts:

Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent, denoting the forty days' preceding Easter in the Catholic liturgical calendar. The traditional Lent practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are interposed here with the Lenten Rule of the late Bishop Arthur C. Lichtenberg, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, 1959-1962:

May this season of Lent be a time to:

Fast from criticism, and feast on praise;
Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy;
Fast from ill temper, and feast on peace;
Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment;
Fast from jealousy, and feast on humility;
Fast from pride, and feast on love;
Fast from selfishness, and feast on service;
Fast from fear, and feast on faith.