Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. It's easy for me to say, but the other two issues of note this February 14 - Valentine's Day and the opening of baseball spring training - pale next to that. It's time to ready ourselves to become better people.

No matter how good we already are, there's always room for improvement. I don't think we should beat ourselves up, but we must never forget the value of self review nor the lessons of regret. This is the time to think all that out. 

Read good books and articles. Reflect on what you should and should not have done, honestly and perhaps a little brutally, despite what I just said. See God in everyone you meet. Just maybe that will help them to see God in you.

Ash Wednesday 2022

Lent begins today for a world which didn't feel so dangerous a scant few days ago as it does this morning. This after the travesty that was COVID, which vexed us for a couple years. Yet here we are.

We must remember there is nothing new under the Sun. As the world spins her intrigue we must look past all of it, to remind ourselves that part of the lack of newness is the constant need for personal revival. The dawning of Lent offers us the occasion to be introspective, to recall that if we are to have a better world we need to become better people. As Jordan Petersen says, if your own house isn't in order you cannot better order the world, which is a decidedly larger home than your own. And much less manageable than your person.

Lent gives us the opportunity to manage our person better. Ideally, at the end of it we will be better persons. If we succeed in that, we will have done our small part in making a better world. Get that snowball rolling, and who knows what great good can come of ourselves, of those near and dear to us, and, no doubt in my mind, of the union of nations.

I figure it's worth the risk of forty days personal reflection.

Interpretive Joke (Perhaps too easy)

Lent begins tomorrow. Today is Fat Tuesday.

Don't worry, I have it covered.

Rim. Shot.

Ash Wednesday (funny but should I be?)

I am far too giddy about what I suppose is a minor milestone in my life. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. For Catholics, that means we must fast (no more than one full meal although we can have two smaller ones to supplement it) and no meat today or Good Friday. 

Well, that's what it means for most Catholics. But for increasingly elderly Catholics such as yours truly, the rule changes. As I am 60, and the rule to fast ends at age 59, I don't have to fast. I can eat as much as I want.

Ok, I can't be a glutton, but that's a different area of sin. But short of that I can have all I want, although I still can't eat meat.

Yet even that is no cross to bear because I love fish! As a died in the wool mackerel smacker it doesn't bother me at all to be told I can only have fish. There are no first world poor Marty sighs on that account, no way. Bring. It. On.

Yeah, I guess that kinda begs the whole question of penance and discipline which Lent is supposed to instill in a guy, doesn't it? But hey, I'm following the rules.

Dare I say, faithfully?

I like February

What's not to like about February? I mean it. What's not to like?

For starters, baseball begins. In my case that means pitchers and catchers report for the Detroit Tigers tomorrow. The first Grapefruit League game is against the Phillies on the 22nd. Baseball is not only America's game, it's not an overhyped game. That alone is one big plus.

Then I always get to stay a few days in Indianapolis for a trade show. This year I get to do that twice, as after this weekend's show ends I get another next week, same bat time, same bat station. Who says history doesn't repeat itself? Indy's got an active downtown, and I'll get to see old friends in a more social atmosphere, at least once the shows let out. Plus I get to make sales to good people. Interaction with customers may be the best part of the whole sales biz.

Then I get to spend a weekend with the Ohio Cosgriffs. You know, The Ohio Cosgriffs. They're good people. Well, I'm kinda fond of them.

Finally, in most years Lent begins. Now, now, now, self denial is a good thing and you know it. But at the risk of going full bore against that good and noble ideal, it also means the start of fish fry season! For me that's the 28th, when St. Francis/St Hedwig parish in Detroit holds their first fry. They're the best. Aw, who I am fooling? They're all the best: deep fried fish and fries and cole slaw and the whole works. I've never been to a bad Catholic fish fry ever. Ev-er.

So February is upon is. What's not to like?

Fish Frydays

I like this time of year, and for rather selfish reasons. I know that it's Lent; it's supposed to be a time of renewal. But what I like seeing the most renewed are the Friday Fish Frys in so many Churches.

Catholics cannot eat meat on Fridays during Lent. That's one of the reasons fish frys are so popular. Part of me wishes the Church would go old school and ban meat eating on all Fridays during the year just so that fish frys might happen around the calendar. Technically Catholics are still supposed to go meatless on Fridays or offer some other penance in its place, but that's another question.

I have been pining for weeks for the fish fry at St. Francis of Assisi here in Detroit, and this afternoon I get to actually attend one. For the next seven Fridays ol' Marty will be in fish heaven. Thursdays will become interminable as the days before Fridays as I long for the next day's dinner.

Yeah, I'm kinda missing the point of Lent thinking this way. I'm a little too happy about a time meant for seeking forgiveness. Yet that time will come, and probably from gluttony as I lament eating too many fish filets this afternoon. And hey, pining counts as penance, doesn't it?

Thoughts on Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent for Christianity in general, and Catholics in particular. It is a time of penance, something we all need. We all need to atone for our failures, for our sins.

Humanity is fallen; the world around us is fallen. That's why people do wrong, and genes mutate into cancers and such. Nothing in our universe is perfect, but there is a difference between we humans and the lower animals and inanimate things nearby. We can choose. We can decide whether to do well or ill. It is what makes us special, and separates us from all else.

But surely these next few weeks aren't for Christians alone? It would seem that no matter what you believe, or whether you believe anything at all, you would still think it a good idea to improve yourself, or to do good things for those in need around you. Even if you cannot bring yourself to believe in something beyond humanity or beyond the universe itself, you can still make the effort to make yourself a better person and enrich the lives of those whom you come in contact with day in and day out. It's the one area where the seriously religious and the secularists can surely agree with each other, don't you think?

So try to become a better person this Lenten season. Smile, help people, discipline yourself in the positive habits of mind and body. You might be pleasantly surprised as the good habits formed become a part of you. The folks around you may be downright shocked. And we'll all be the better for it.

Frying those fish

Do you know what time of year it is? Yes, of course it's Lent. And that means fish frys!

I haven't been to a church fish fry where I haven't liked the fish. To be sure, deep fried fish probably isn't particularly good for us. But it's a only a few weeks of the year.

First stop: St. Francis of Assisi in Detroit. I am on my way!

Ash Wednesday 2018

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent for Christianity in general, and Catholics in particular. It is a time of penance, something we all need. We all need to atone for our failures, for our sins.

Humanity is fallen; the world around us is fallen. That's why people do wrong, and genes mutate into cancers and such. Nothing in our universe is perfect, but there is a difference between we humans and the lower animals and inanimate things nearby. We can choose. We can decide whether to do well or ill. It is what makes us special, and separates us from all else.

But surely these next few weeks aren't for Christians alone? It would seem that no matter what you believe, or whether you believe anything at all, you would still think it a good idea to improve yourself, or to do good things for those in need around you. Even if you cannot bring yourself to believe in something beyond humanity or beyond the universe itself, you can still make the effort to make yourself a better person and enrich the lives of those whom you come in contact with day in and day out. It's the one area where the seriously religious and the secularists can surely agree with each other, don't you think?

So try to become a better person this Lenten season. Smile, help people, discipline yourself in the positive habits of mind and body. You might be pleasantly surprised as the good habits formed become a part of you. The folks around you may be downright shocked. And we'll all be the better for it.

Ash Wednesday 2017

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent for Christianity in general, and Catholics in particular. It is a time of penance, something we all need. We all need to atone for our failures, for our sins.

Humanity is fallen; the world around us is fallen. That's why people do wrong, and genes mutate into cancers and such. Nothing in our universe is perfect, but there is a difference between we humans and the lower animals and inanimate things nearby. We can choose. We can decide whether to do well or ill. It is what makes us special, and separates us from all else.

But surely these next few weeks aren't for Christians alone? It would seem that no matter what you believe, or whether you believe anything at all, you would still think it a good idea to improve yourself, or to do good things for those in need around you. Even if you cannot bring yourself to believe in something beyond humanity or beyond the universe itself, you can still make the effort to make yourself a better person and enrich the lives of those whom you come in contact with day in and day out. It's the one area where the seriously religious and the secularists can surely agree with each other, don't you think?

So try to become a better person this Lenten season. Smile, help people, discipline yourself in the positive habits of mind and body. You might be pleasantly surprised as the good habits formed become a part of you. The folks around you may be downright shocked. And we'll all be the better for it.

Ash Wednesday 2016

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent for Christianity in general, and Catholics in particular. It is a time of penance, something we all need. We all need to atone for our failures, for our sins.

Humanity is fallen; the world around us is fallen. That's why people do wrong, and genes mutate into cancers and such. Nothing in our universe is perfect, but there is a difference between we humans and the lower animals and inanimate things nearby. We can choose. We can decide whether to do well or ill. It is what makes us special, and separates us from all else.

But surely these next few weeks aren't for Christians alone? It would seem that no matter what you believe, or whether you believe anything at all, you would still think it a good idea to improve yourself, or to do good things for those in need around you. Even if you cannot bring yourself to believe in something beyond humanity or beyond the universe itself, you can still make the effort to make yourself a better person and enrich the lives of those whom you come in contact with day in and day out. It's the one area where the seriously religious and the secularists can surely agree with each other, don't you think?

So try to become a better person this Lenten season. Smile, help people, discipline yourself in the positive habits of mind and body. You might be pleasantly surprised as the good habits formed become a part of you. The folks around you may be downright shocked. And we'll all be the better for it.