I just watched this video series (Play the Tape to the End) put on by Universal Nutrition and I decided to do another Lent series. I'm behind but I think it's worth it. Before I start, this series is why I like this company and it's sub-company Animal. There's not a lot of flair, its all pretty raw and honest. I think a lot of companies, businesses, etc, would toss someone like Antoine to the side but you can see them supporting him and using his story to hopefully help others.
In this first episode Antoine gives a brief glimpse into what he has gone through for the past two years, sex, drugs, partying. The death of a close friend of his was the wake up call for him to take a step back and examine where he was, how far he had fallen.
I'd venture to say that that is the first step in having a successful Lent, realizing where you are at. Ok, successful makes it sound like a business venture. But, the goal of Lent is to get us back in line, re-orient our relationships with Christ. And to be able to do that we need to take a step back and see where we actually are. Some people say "Why do you need Lent to try to better yourself?" Well, we don't need Lent. But, due to the wisdom and mercy of the Church, she has provided us with this annual season. I think that's valuable. I believe we live in a society that asks us to shoot for mediocre. And I think due to that mentality a lot of people do not stop and meditate on their lives. In the spiritual life people settle for I'm OK, you're OK. People don't truly believe they can achieve holiness. That's for priests and religious. I know for myself, when I had fallen the furthest from living out my faith, I realized how far I had fallen due to taking that time, being in silence in the late late hours of the night.
Fr. Dave Pivonka in his The Wild Goose series on the Holy Spirit, has a segment titled The Spirit and the Desert. This segment focuses on the deserts in our lives and how the Spirit can, if allowed, lead us through them. At a young adult study I was leading we watched the video and discussed. We came to the conclusion that within the video they were talking about at least 3 different deserts: a desert that we enter into through the course of our life, a desert the spirit brings us into, and a desert that we bring ourselves into due to sin. I then asked how the Spirit operates in each desert. Our most interesting discussion came from the desert we bring ourselves into due to sin. One person mentioned they didn't think the Spirit is there/present in the midst of a sinful life. I asked for clarification. The person then went on to explain that in the midst of so much sin you may not even feel or realize the Spirit's promptings or presence and it has to do something or at least use an event to pull you out. It will need to send someone in your life to pull you out. In the video the young man was pulled over by the police. I think for Antoine, the Spirit was able to reach him through his friend's death.
Antoine comes to the realization that he has fallen away from the real him. He is in the struggle to leave his destructive lifestyle and get back to his passion of bodybuilding. It's important to get back to the reality of who we are, we are God's children. As corny as that may sometimes sound due to it's overuse and placement on cards and Precious Moments, it's a fact. And the fact is that as God's children we were not made for mediocrity as Pope Benedict XVI put it:
Through the rest of this series we'll see how the people Antoine surrounds himself with make a huge difference and that this is not a quick fix. This is an every day decision making process with many pitfalls. But as Antoine puts it the hardest part is going to be staying consistent.
You can see Fr. Dave Pivonka's segment here: The Spirit and the Desert
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