So I’m not the most patient person. I want things yesterday, I want to see the fruits of my efforts faster than they often come and I don’t have time for people who don’t do the things I think they should be doing. Last night I found my dog eating a cocoa powdered treat. He …
Category Archive: Lenten practices
Feb
22
Hungry Already?
So it’s Friday and that means I skip lunch and have an early dinner of hearty soup and bread with my students around 5pm. And it’s not even noon and I’m already hungry. Fasting and dieting have never been high on my list of practices, always doing the minimum. But I’m really considering the dignity …
Feb
20
Violence Begets Violence
I was 13 and was sitting by the window in my parent’s apartment. I walked away and then I heard that sound. Gunfire. It has a unmistakable sound, especially when it is followed by screaming. A young man was shot on the corner of my block, in suburban Yonkers. By no means was it a …
Feb
19
One Word: Respect
Day #6: of the Fast, Pray, Give Calendar: So I’ll be honest, I forgot to look this morning at the FPG Calendar and I was cranky for most of the morning because I wasn’t exactly mindful. But at the end of the day, I was able to spend some time in mindfulness and offered the …
Feb
18
Change Me, Lord
Prayer doesn’t change God, prayer changes us. Kathleen Norris, the great spiritual writer was featured in the BustedHalo Fast, Pray, Give calendar today and she mentions that when we pray we ask to be changed as opposed to asking God to change something with no effort on our part, as a kind of magical being …
Feb
17
One Meal Offered
Day #4: Fast, Pray Give: So I checked into BustedHalo this morning and found that they were asking me to give up one meal today. And it’s a morning that I was particularly hungry. So skipping breakfast was not going to happen. I was also trying to finish the egg beaters before they went bad. …
Feb
16
Fast, Pray, Give: Day 3
There’s a difference between being hungry and being homeless. Whenever I do some kind of community service I find I’m more drawn to working with the hungry, but not so much with the homeless. Hungry people get their needs met by getting a meal, a temporary relief from the pangs of hunger. Even students who …
Feb
14
Fast Pray Give: Day #1
Last night Phil Fox Rose inspired me and invited the 20s and 30s group at St Joe’s to take more seriously the tenets of Lent, namely: Fasting, Praying and Giving or Almsgiving. So I thought I would take his words to heart. One line in particular struck me. Phil answered a question from Dawn, one …
Feb
13
The Bad News: You’re Gonna Die…The Good News: It Doesn’t Matter
So I hate to start out this post with some bad news, but here goes… You are going to die. That’s the central message of Ash Wednesday. It’s why we tell people to turn away from sin or we remind them that they are dust. We say so because it is a simple truth. Our …
Feb
27
Looking for Daily Lenten Reflections?
So if you’re looking for something to do in Lent that’s a daily reflection online here are some that I’ve enjoyed thus far: Spiritan Campus Ministry is offering these daily ritual reflections that offer much to introspection. The Lunchtime Examen: Jim Manney at Loyola Press has put this together and I really like the simpleness …
About the Blogger
Mike Hayes is an author, commentator, Campus Minister and Spiritual Director. He founded the award winning BustedHalo.com in 2001 and wrote the book Googling God with Paulist Press in 2007. Mike is currently a Campus Minister at The University at Buffalo where he serves on the staff of St Joseph University Church. He is available for speaking engagements, retreats and personal spiritual direction.
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