“What are you giving up?” (St. Luke’s: Friday, Feb. 16th, 2018; Isaiah 58.1-9; Ps. 51; St. Matthew 9.14-15)
This time, things will be different. I have a good friend who purchases lottery tickets in a quasi- religious manner. For years now, this person has not gone a single week without buying a ticket in the hope of hitting the jackpot. It is said that Albert Einstein defined insanity as follows: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. Of course, every now and then, someone does purchase a winning ticket. Watching the media coverage of the presentation of the larger-than-life check to the lucky winner is torture for my friend. As Gore Vidal said, “Whenever a friend of mine succeeds, a little something in me dies” . It’s extremely frustrating to see someone else walk away with the prize that you have been hoping to win for so long. Then again, long-ingrained habits are hard to break… ( by the way, today’s LottoMAX jackpot is 55 million $). So, once again , it’s Lent. Will this year be any different? Are we expecting any
