Lenten Fasting

Please consider joining me for a Lent of daily Mass attendance and fasting. My "motto" for this discipline two years ago when I first did it was "Two square meals and one round one". It's a bit misleading because when fasting, only one meal should be "square" — that is, full — but it works for a motto.

I'm afraid it doesn't translate very well into Latin (retaining the pun-value of "square" versus "round"), but here are a few attempts that use a mild play on words:

• Duo cibi iusti; unus cibus iustificatorum. ("Two just meals; one meal of the justified.")
• Duo cibi iusti; unus cibus ad iustitiam. ("Two just meals; one meal unto justification/righteousness." This is the one I've chosen to go with, because it reminds me of the ongoing process of justification.)

You could also substitute mensa/mensae or cena/cenae (both feminine) for cibus/cibi (masculine), and come up with:

• Duae mensae iustae; una mensa iustificatorum.
• Duae cenae iustae; una cena ad iustitiam.

Anyway, punny slogans aside, this is a serious discipline for me. For some reason... no, I take that back, I know the reason: Because my Lenten discipline is essentially a private promise (or even vow) I make to God, I feel especially beholden to keep it, to the point that I will confess transgressing it if I fail to keep it.

So I'll repeat my invitation to you: consider making Mass and fasting part of your daily life during Lent. What you give up, give to the Lord. What you sacrifice of your daily life, let the Lord of life breathe new life into. Lent is a slow exhalation that precedes our breathing in deeply the new life that comes to us from the Lord, as we celebrate the Paschal mystery of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection for our salvation!

Duo cibi iusti; unus cibus ad iustitiam.