Lenten e-Meditations I will write a daily Lenten e-Meditations again this year beginning on Ash Wednesday (2/9). Each day of Lent I write an e-Meditation and send it directly to those people who have subscribed to the e-Meditations. The meditations are short, usually less than 300 words. If you'd like to receive the meditations send me an e-mail at reo@nque.com (my work address) and I'll add you to the list.

Here is a sample e-Meditation, I wrote this one for March 12, 2004: I'm thinking about a story I heard on NPR this morning. It seems the Boston Red Sox baseball team has a problem. Opening day at Fenway Park falls on, of all days, Good Friday. According to the news story, some Red Sox fans are petitioning the Archdiocese of Boston for a dispensation to allow fans attending the game to eat meat, since it is Good Friday. As the reporter said, what's a baseball game without a hotdog? The Archdiocese reportedly said no dispensation would be given.

This is an interesting conundrum. Would I eat meat on Good Friday even if a dispensation was given? Would I refrain from eating meat on Good Friday simply because a dispensation was not given? I wonder how shallow my religious practice is. Why have I chosen to abstain from eating meat on Friday?

I engage in a Lenten discipline, like abstaining from meat on Friday, to renew my relationship with God and to celebrate fully the Easter mysteries. Heck, I can name at least a dozen reasons to break my Lenten discipline without breaking a sweat I don't need much help there. There might be times when a dispensation is fitting. But I'm abstaining from meat during Lent including Good Friday. In the end I need to take responsibility for my own Lenten discipline.

"Remember the marvels the Lord has done." (Ps 105:5a)