For Catholics, Lent is a holy time of fasting and prayer. These activities go hand in hand with caring for God’s creation through organic practices.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, which continues for forty days until Easter. During Lent, the church asks Catholics to pray and sacrifice, to recognize the sacrifices Jesus made for us.
Although it’s common to give up candy, video games, or some other guilty pleasure for Lent, I would argue that we can extend our organic practices to live our Christian commitment to God’s creation more fully.
This year, for Lent, consider making some of the following changes or sacrifices to allow life to flourish on this planet as God intended it to:
- Purchase organic produce and other goods at your local supermarket. You are voting with your dollars when you buy organic, and you are nurturing your body with healthy, unadulterated foods.
- Adopt a vegan or vegetarian diet on most or all days of the week. This is an extension of the Lenten requirement of fasting and abstinence from meat.
- Recycle trash at your curbside or in your garden.
- Replace at least one conventional gardening product with its organic alternative. If you already practice organic gardening principles, take your conservation a step further by replacing your gas-powered mower with a reel mower.
Some of these ideas may seem out of your comfort zone, but these sacrifices may help you to deepen your spirituality by responding to God’s calling to revere, protect, and respect his creation.
