On Instagram this Ash Wednesday, I posted about how every Lenten season I renew a vow to be present and make more time to reflect, not only on the meaning of the season, but on ways I can shed paltry aspects of my spirit. I wrote about how more often than not I fail at this. Our world is really not made for reflection, for taking time out of the to-do lists, obligations, demands and technology to consider—let alone interact with—the transcendent. Basically, I’m saying: It’s really hard. Traditionally the 40 days leading up to Easter were for fasting, prayer and contemplation. I don’t really know if regular people, people outside of monasteries and the priesthood, had more time once upon a time to do this, but my hunch is they did.
Since Ash Wednesday, I’ve travelled, gotten sick, been planning my goddaughter’s wedding shower, as well as a new business endeavor hosting workshops in Southern Italy; I’ve been writing a novel, raising my son, being a wife, a mother, posting to social, writing this Substack, and launching the next season of my podcast. Somewhere in between all of that I’ve been trying to take care of my health. I yearn for more space to step back and be present, absorbing the goodness of the life I’ve been given, even as I know somehow it’s up to me to create that space. And so round and round we go…
I created the attached PDF booklet (see below) with all of this in mind. It could be that in the writing, photographing, and crafting of this booklet is where I’ll do the majority of my Lenten slowing down, but I’ll take it. And it may be that for you, in the reading of the booklet, this will be the most that you pause as well to consider Easter and the shedding of winter as we move into spring, but at least, at the very least, you will have done that. And I hope you try the recipes, very traditional Italian Easter recipes, which can also connect you to your ancestors and give you space for reflection.
Life, and holidays especially, can be so busy that sometimes we have to use the preparation—the cooking, the cleaning, the planning, the traveling—as the very time where we meditate, pray and consider what the holiday itself means for us. So here’s my little offering. I offer it as a way of saying thank you that you’re here with me, that even though we may not have yet met in person, you somehow understand all of this; you somehow worry about and seek similar things that I do, and we get each other. In this big, scary world, that means a lot to me. Thank you, truly.
xoxo,
Dolores
The PDF booklet, attached below, is reserved for paid subscribers, as a special thank you for their support. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which not only supports this publication, but all the other work that I do, from podcasts to Instagram posts to newsletters. If you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you. Thank you for your support and encouragement. It gives me the energy to keep doing the work…