Saturday, March 04, 2006
(11:03 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Catholicism: Poorly Practiced
I've never been good at giving things up for Lent, but this year has been particularly egregious. On Ash Wednesday, I skipped chapel, then had a hot dog for lunch.[1] Friday, without realizing it, I had pasta with meat sauce. Every vice that I had on Tuesday -- coffee-drinking, worrying about stuff, procrastination, oversleeping -- has not only continued during the nascent Lenten season, but has in fact intensified.I am becoming a worse and worse person by the day. My meditation has mainly focused on how to get out of paying taxes. My prayer life is a shell of its former self. I've forgotten where Catholic Churches even are. I'm constantly missing church, using the excuse that since I've been missing church, I need to go to confession before I can go back to communion -- even though this is not at all inconvenient, given that there is a church downtown that has probably ten hours a day of confession, five days a week.
Maybe this Lent I can just say that I'm giving up the enjoyment associated with ascetic disciplines.
NOTES:
1. More precisely, a Cream Cheese Honey-Dog Wrap -- a recipe of my own devising (with some input from Lauren). Here's how you make it. Take a tortilla and spread cream cheese on half of it. Put a hot dog in it. Add honey to taste. Roll up. Microwave. It's not as bad as it sounds. In retrospect, it might have been a better idea to microwave the hot dog separately, because the cream cheese came out of the microwave a little weird. I also forgot to poke little holes in the hot dog, leading to a minor explosion. Still, all things considered, I consider the Cream Cheese Honey-Dog Wrap to be my best recipe yet!
