Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, a day on which we are reminded of our mortality – - from dust thou comest, to dust thou returnest.  The Lenten season, a time of spiritual reflection and private contemplation.  A time, also, for sacrifice and corporal acts of charity.

New Year’s resolutions are one thing, intended to make us a better person, or lose weight, or quit smoking, or be a better spouse or parent.  But Lent, that’s something more, something deeper, more profound.  We choose something for these 40 days that represents true sacrifice, personal denial, and a spiritual cleansing.

So, let’s make our list, shall we?  How about . . . we won’t go out to dinner, and instead give the money we would have spent to a local food pantry.  Yep, that sounds good.  Oh, wait.  We can’t afford to go out to dinner anyway, things are that tight and I’m not so sure about my job security.  And, heh, we’ve been to the food pantry this month already, as a client.

Okay, then, let’s try . . . giving up in between meal snacks and desserts, and donating the money saved to the local Hospice service for home care needs of the dying.  That sounds pretty good, too.  Shoot, now that I think about it, we can’t afford those snacks and desserts anyway, and gave them up months ago when Mom lost her job.

Well, what else?  Oh, here’s something . . . . I’ll devote more time each day to prayer, asking God to lend a helping hand to those in need.  But, then again, I’m already supplicating mightily and my knees have the sores to prove it.  I guess saying you’re going to do what you’re already doing isn’t really anything new or Lent-worthy as a sacrifice.  And, heck, I’m praying for myself as it is because I’m in some pretty deep need now that I’ve fallen behind on my mortgage payments.

There’s got to be something.  Hey, here it is . . . I’ll volunteer time at the homeless shelter helping folks with finding clothing and a hot meal.  But, then again, now that I’m working two part-time jobs, seven days a week, just to feed my kids, I really don’t have the time to give. And heck, we may be at that homeless shelter sooner than later ourselves.

Wow, this Lenten sacrifice thing is a real conundrum.  There’s nothing on the list we haven’t already given up or learned to live without.  We’re scared and angry and living day to day not knowing what to expect.  We wake up each morning with a prayer that we make it back to our beds safely when evening arrives, and that we can feed our kids and keep a roof over their heads in the meantime.

Lent.  A period of sacrifice and tending to one’s soul.  A time for spiritual reflection, private contemplation and corporal acts of charity.  The liturgical calendar says it lasts 40 days, Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.  The real world calendar and everyone’s day planner says it’s going to be a lot longer than 40 days this year.

That’s a pretty scary thing to contemplate.  Rudyard Kipling’s poem Recessional has a refrain that seems apt at the moment:  “Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet.”  That’s as good a Lenten pray as any, I suppose, and fervently offered up by so many today.