Year after year, Sister Marilyn
Mark has watched fellow Catholics give up television, chocolate and Internet
surfing for Lent.
But this year the nun from
the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish in Logan is hoping to see a greater good
come from an observance intended for prayerful preparation for Easter.
“Lent is about replacing bad things with good
things,” Mark said. “If you give up watching TV, what do you do with your time
instead?”
Lent, she said, isn’t about
simple sacrifice, but rather “change for the better.”
“It’s a time to get rid of
old habits and a time to add something good into your life,” she said.
That’s what Utah State
University student Oakman Kennedy is trying to do during this Lent, which began
last week with Ash Wednesday and it will last through Holy Saturday, the day
before Easter.
Kennedy said he chose to
improve his dental hygiene for Lent.
“Lent is about making
yourself a better person through simple ways,” Kennedy said.
And those simple ways, he
said, can serve as complex reminders of the difference between physical and
spiritual things. “It’s a time where you realize that the more stuff you own,
the more stuff owns you.”
Along with helping improve
members of the Catholic faith, Mark said Lent is also a period of great
significance for those wishing to join the church.
“Lent is a preparation time
for those interested in joining the church,” Mark said. “It is a reflective
time and a time where those wishing to join will observe many of the Catholic
Rites.”
Converts to the church will
be baptized at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.
Kyle Heywood, Mackenzie
Rogers, Madison Takos and Katie Feinauer contributed to this article.
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