Hello all! It's Bryan, your friendly neighborhood YAM-NW Co-Chair, here to talk to y'all a little bit about Lent. Shocker, it starts today. Don't worry, though, if the start of Lent has taken you by surprise - it happens to everyone. Here's some things to remember and think about concerning Lent.

First of all, don't forget that today is Ash Wednesday. Please try to make sure that you go to mass today and receive your ashes. They serve to remind us of or mortality and our ongoing need to repent. Consider the words that are typically said, "Remember, you are from dust and to dust you shall return" or "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel", serve to call us to continual pursuit of holiness and to everyday conversion.

Lent is a time of spiritual preparation for Easter. It also serves to connect us back to the sacrament of Baptism. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church reminds us of the baptismal quality found within Lent, particularly within the preparation time for the Catechumens and the various Lenten rituals we all undertake within Lent. During these 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday Evening (before the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper and excluding Sundays), Catholics are called to use time to further deepen their faith and devotion to God. If you are unsure of how to accomplish this, here are the three pillars of Lent to help you shape your own Lenten journey:

• Prayer
• Fasting
• Almsgiving

These three pillars are the keys to helping us develop and deepen our faith and relationship to God. Let's take a quick look at all three and what they mean for us.

Prayer allows us to draw closer to the Lord. During Lent, we are called to give more time to prayer than we usually do otherwise. For many, this can be a challenge (believe me), but consider this; in prayer the grace we need to follow God's plan for us more closely and allows us to better live out our baptismal promises. When Lent becomes extra challenging or difficult to keep with, the extra prayers can help keep us on track. Also, this isn't just about each of us individually, we all should remember that we are called to pray for and support the Catechumens, Candidates, and Elect as they complete their final preparations in anticipation of Easter Vigil.

Some people, as a part of prayer, fasting, or almsgiving (more on fasting and almsgiving later), decide to give up something. There is nothing wrong with this, as many of us give up something related to a vice. Just one thing to note: "giving up" shouldn't be about just giving something up and waiting in eager anticipation for Easter so we can go back to it. Personally, I try to maintain a "replace vice with a virtue" mindset. For example, when I give up iced tea, I try to remember that I'm not just giving up iced tea simply because it's something I like - the vice I'm replacing is drinking something sweet at the expense of my health with the virtue of taking better care of my body (God's gift to me) by drinking more water. While I still do drink iced tea outside of Lent, I find myself being more careful to not overdo it and to drink water or other healthier items.

Fasting relates to the amount of food we eat, but is so much more that just the development or practice of self-control. Remember that first and foremost, Lent is not a Catholic weight-loss program. Instead, fasting connects to prayer and also serves to connect us to the poor. There are two ways to consider the hunger pangs (slight or not) that we may feel during lent:

• They serve to remind us of our hunger for the Lord
• They connect us to the poor and hungry as we come to realize and better appreciate their suffering as that realization calls us to action and love of neighbor

In fasting, there is the temptation to focus on how you can't wait to eat again, or how tasty a cheeseburger or a slice of pizza would be. However, such daydreams don't bring us closer to God or help us in our Lenten journey. Closely related to fasting is abstinence (traditionally from eating meat) on Ash Wednesday and Fridays in Lent. On days of abstinence, we need to remember to keep things simple. Many times people find themselves abstaining from meat but then going and eating a whole pizza or gorging oneself on All-You-Can-Eat sushi or fish fries - I know I have! While it is ok to still eat, we all should work on remembering that we don't fast and abstain just so we can pig out another time.

Quick note: there are a couple of wrinkles that I should mention concerning fasting and abstinence. The Church does recognize that there are certain people or circumstances that may preclude someone from fasting and abstinence, which include:

• Elderly
• Children under 18 for fasting, Children under 14 for abstinence
• Pregnant and nursing women
• Sick (physical and mental illness)
• People whose activity levels are sufficiently high where fasting and abstinence would be detrimental to their health
• People travelling
• Situations where not eating the food given/served would cause great offence or enmity
• Situations where fasting and abstinence is a moral or physical impossibility

Additionally, I feel that I should also draw your attention to Pope Paul VI's 1966 Apostolic Constution, Paenitemini, which allows for prayer and works of charity to substitute for fasting and abstinence, but only when the apporval has been given by the Cardinal/Archbishop/Bishop of one's Archdiocese/Diocese.

Almsgiving is much more than just giving money to charity. It starts there, but serves a much deeper purpose. We shouldn't give alms simply to check off the "almsgiving box", but should take the opportunity to think about others and remember to be thankful for what God has given us. This serves as a chance to be less "me-centric" and more "God-centered."

In all three pillars, there is a particular stress that we should not work to draw attention to our prayer, fasting, or almsgiving. Instead, we should simply rejoice in our hearts and celebrate with God while still going about our everyday lives. Also, we should not seek thanks or recognition for the good that we do.

Just one last point - and a short plug (co-chair of YAM-NW and all). I'd like to invite all of you to join us this Lent as we work on deepening our faith and connection to God with the various events and opportunities we have scheduled. Check out our Lenten schedule here to see what we have available.

God bless and good luck!