On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary of an ordinary lay slobovian penitent known as Yr Obdt. Svt.<\/p>\n
\n\n
- Become a lector. This would require schedule adjustments that would wind up being a penance for my family, not me.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Volunteer to become an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist. Same.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Volunteer to help with the parish youth group. Not addressed to my condition.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- After each Mass stay awhile and introduce yourself to someone you don\u2019t know. This is doable.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Join the\u00a0Knights of Columbus<\/a>. Already done.\u00a0 I wanted to find some way to help out with the pancake breakfasts, parish picnics, and so forth.\u00a0 And I like the guys who are in it.\u00a0 I was heartbroken when they dropped the Captain Crunch for Christ hats in favor of the British paramilitary beret look. I very much enjoyed the hilarious 19th century secret initiation rituals\u2013which no mortal man may speak and live!\u00a0 When I saw my buddy Gaylan the day after I was initiated and he asked how it went, I gripped him firmly by right hand, pulled him toward me, leaned into his ear and whispered, \u201cHAIL HYDRA!\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve said too much already.\u00a0 They are coming!<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Offer to be a Confirmation sponsor. Done this several times.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Volunteer to be an usher. Same problem as lectoring<\/li>\n
- Offer to help with funeral dinners. I did not know this was a thing.<\/li>\n
- Help with the RCIA program. I already do this.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be teaching the Resurrection in a couple of weeks.<\/li>\n
- Volunteer to do lawn work, cleaning or other needed maintenance for the parish. We have a staff guy who does that.<\/li>\n
- Begin to receive the Sacrament of Penance weekly.\u00a0 I go when I need to.\u00a0 Going when I don\u2019t need to just promotes scruples.<\/li>\n
- Give up foul language. I wrestle with this.\u00a0 I have a scruple about the biblical teaching against taking the name of God in vain.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t even say things like \u201cOMG\u201d and I do not swear in the biblical sense, nor say things like \u201cGod damn it\u201d unless I am speaking with exacting theological precision about, say, the Christianist\u2019s orgasmic love of cruelty and his zeal for kidnapping children at the border and disappearing them from their parents.\u00a0 And I *never* call upon God to damn a person.\u00a0 That is the most serious crime one can commit with one\u2019s tongue in my view.\u00a0 But I think profanity\u2013merely course talk involving bodily functions\u2013is trivial and resent the Puritan hyper-focus on this by Reactionaries who strain at gnats and swallow camels when you say a bad word, for example, in reaction to the kidnapping and sexual abuse of children by the \u2018divinely anointed\u2019 Trump Administration.\u00a0 I resent the disgusting Puritanism of these Christianist sadists and I think, along with Flannery O\u2019Connor that when people are deaf, you shout.\u00a0 The prim Christianist who care more about saying shit or fuck than they have ever cared about the victims of their sadistic cruelty deserve to at least suffer from a little profanity hurting their precious feels.\u00a0 At the same time, I also recognize there are innocents out there who are not guilty of this damnable hypocrisy and who are simply shocked at such language because they are gentle souls who just don\u2019t talk this way.\u00a0 So for their sake, I struggle with this impulse and have tried to dial it back, not for the sake of the Righteous monsters who use the unborn as human shields for their cruelty and who blaspheme the living God by invoking him to bless their sadism to the least of these.\u00a0 They profane speech with such lies far more profoundly than any trivial cuss uttered in fury at their obscene sins.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Give up gossiping.\u00a0 I could tell you so much about other people\u2019s gossip.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Read and study\u00a0Healing the Culture<\/a><\/em>. No time.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Study the life of a different saint each day. Sometimes.\u00a0 Not each day.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Cook dinner each night for your family if someone else normally does. We seldom eat together, alas.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Pray the\u00a0Chaplet of Divine Mercy<\/a>. I do this sometimes.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Carry extra food in your car, purse or backpack to give to street corner beggars. We keep various protein bars and such on hand for this.\u00a0 It works pretty well.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Begin practicing\u00a0socially conscious investing<\/a>. This requires money.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Spend a week meditating on each of the\u00a0seven principles of Catholic social teaching<\/a>.\u00a0 My next book after the creed book will be on this.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Make breakfast each morning for your family. Ha!\u00a0 No.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary of an ordinary lay slobovian penitent known as Yr Obdt. Svt. Become a lector. This would require schedule adjustments that would wind up being a penance for my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1075],"class_list":["post-107752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lenten-thoughts"],"yoast_head":"\n
Fasting Friday 5<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fasting Friday 5\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-12T07:59:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-20T15:05:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html\",\"name\":\"Fasting Friday 5\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-12T07:59:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-20T15:05:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fasting Friday 5\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fasting Friday 5","description":"On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fasting Friday 5","og_description":"On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2019-04-12T07:59:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-20T15:05:07+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html","name":"Fasting Friday 5","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-04-12T07:59:23+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-20T15:05:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"On this last Friday in Lent before Good Friday, here are the last of the fasting and penitential ideas from Deacon Nick Senger along with the commentary","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/04\/fasting-friday-5.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fasting Friday 5"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}