Lent in Atlanta

Well it’s Lent here in Catholicland (actually in much of Christendom).  I enjoyed the perspective offered at mass tonight that “40 days and 40 nights” need not be interpreted literally.  Rather, that we think of it as a collective, indicative of a period of time marked by longing, sacrifice, atonement, and preparation – not unlike the time period associated with Noah’s Ark and Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Also not unlike the trials of Josh Hartnett in his 2002 movie of the same name.  Anyway, are we really to believe that some of the most impactful, transformational, and transcendental events in our Christian history were constrained to 2.857 fortnights? Or for that matter, that “Sundays don’t count in Lent” (i.e. a literal count of days) is sound awareness of Lent’s purpose?  Perhaps we are.  To be sure though, it’s purpose is not to excitedly judge other’s understanding or realization of the season.  To that end, we’ll focus on prayer (for our Church, our relationships, the people of Japan), fasting (from baked goods, red meat, and sleep), and almsgiving, as we prepare for Easter Sunday.

With Lent comes a few things of note:

1.  Ash Wednesday – we celebrated at IHM in a packed bilingual service that was beautifully done.  I was shocked at the number of parishioners that showed up.  It was honor to be part of such a vibrant and meaningful liturgy.

2. St. Patrick’s Day – Seeing video footage of the river turning green, the parade, and pictures from the OSP celebrations sure made us miss St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago.  We’ll be there this weekend, just in time for us both feeling a bit homesick.  This past weekend however, Aimee tried her hand at an Irish Soda Bread recipe giving raison d'être to our new cast iron skillet (next will be cornbread).  We combined it with a few Guinness for a nice little celebration.

3.  Brunch – this one is appropriate for all church seasons.  We went to Murphy’s with our friends Katherine and Beto from IHM this morning.   They are such delightful people and we’re glad we got to spend some time hanging out with them.  I was also reminded of how much I enjoy the biscuits at Murphy’s.  Actually, so far, I find them the best in Atlanta.  There’s more to come on this topic.  Just a little something for y’all to get excited about, but we plan on documenting some of our “Best Of…” food items in Atlanta. 

3.  Purple – this one’s a bit of a stretch but it does give me an excuse to post this video we took of Crowley today. It’s not that exciting but I thought it was cute.  We took her to the pet store today for their Adoption Day (um.. to look, not to provide additional “inventory” – however, we did find that Crowley had nibbled on Aimee’s new Ecco dress shoes so, she better watch out!). 

Crowley video

Another thing we did this weekend that was decidedly not Lent-like involved a trip to the Best Buy.  We bought a $100 gift card.  And they wrote Aimee’s name and phone number on a long list of people.  I’ll give you 3 guesses for what we’re hoping to have our hands on in a few days!

To those in Chicago we are looking forward to see you soon.  Happy Lent!