Two worlds merge this Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday.  Maybe a better word than “merge” is “collide.”

Two worlds collide.

Indulgence and Deprivation

Feasting and Fasting

Chocolate and no chocolate

Yep, the number one day for giving chocolate falls on the same day people start giving up chocolate for the Lenten season.

This hasn’t happened since 1945, 73 years ago.

So, what do we do?

Do we use chocolate to make the sign of the cross on our foreheads?
Do we use ashes to make a heart instead of a cross on our foreheads?

The Archdiocese of Chicago released a statement that the “obligation of fast and abstinence must be the priority…”.

Maybe it’s not a matter of either/or.

1. Both celebrations are about love: love for God and love for another.
2. Both celebrations are opportunities to focus on the one we love – obviously something that shouldn’t be relegated to one day or season of the year.
3. Both provide an opportunity to acknowledge the ways we have drifted, or turned away from the one we love and correct the course of our lives.

Lent is partly about giving up something during the Lenten season – the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.  Well, what if we gave up something for Valentine’s Day?  You know, give up those behaviors that irritate our partner and chip away at the relationship.

*Bodily Quirks – nose picking, gas passing, air burping, teeth picking… You get the idea. Give ’em up.

 *Bad manners – leaving the toilet seat up, leaving an empty toilet tissue roll on the holder, bad manners at the table, forgetting or choosing not to say “Please” and “Thank-you.” Remember the “love is not rude” line from 1 Corinthians 13?  Well, it really isn’t.

*Being a slob – Clothes in the corner, dishes in the sink, papers piled on the cabinet.  Slobbishness is defined differently by different people. See if you all can use the same dictionary. And then, when there’s a pile, pick it up.  When there’s a mess, clean it up.  When there’s a splatter, wipe it up.

*Half-listening – You know.  Our partner is talking and we’ve got one ear tuned in to them and the other ear tuned in to the T.V.  Give that up.

*Listening to respond instead of listening to understand.  I do this a lot. I need to give it up.

Two celebrations that seem contradictory can be complimentary.  VaLENTine’s Day.

Now, I’ve got to start figuring out what to do about Easter – which happens to be on April 1!