Looking forward to Lent

I might be crazy, but I truly look forward to Lent. It is a time to deny our own selfishness and unite ourselves to Christ, expecially his time in the desert before Palm Sunday when he triumphantly enters Jeruselem. When we start the discussions about Lent, the kids usually ask, "what are we giving up this year?" And of course we are going to give up something (help me, I really like this something!) But I want to approach this more comprehensively, as an emptying of self , as a curbing selfish desires, and as a humble servant. Since Lent starts so early this year (next week!) , I want to be thinking about the following this weekend. I read this and think it a great bit to ponder:
"Clean Monday”, the first full day of the Great Fast, is traditionally a day when people prepare to go to Confession in order to cleanse the body, soul and spirit of sin. In many places and cultures, it is the custom during the First Week of Lent to clean the house, to rid our dwellings of possessions that clutter our lives, and to find things to share with the poor. The month of February gets its name from the Latin word “februum,” which means to make clean! The “theme” of Clean Monday is found in the Prophecy of Isaiah, which is read on that day during Sixth Hour: "Wash yourselves and you shall be clean; put away from my eyes the wicked ways of your souls; cease to do evil; learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression, care for the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Come then, and let us reason together, says the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool" (1.16-18).
We are off to Dallas for the State BB Tournament, and one of the great things about travelling in a car is that there is plenty of time to talk! Hopefully we will have much of our Lent figured out by thetim e we get back home.
kanga