I am thinking about practicing Lenten customs or spirit even though I’m not Christian.
Do you know of any books or DVDs that are for non-Christians on this?
I know there’s stuff about Rosaries for Protestants.
It can be from a secular perspective or a spiritual perspective. Do you think I could get something out of practicing Lenten customs even if not Christian?
I don’t have any religious creed.
As practiced by Catholic Christians, Lent has two aspects. One is “negative” – to identify something that we’d like to improve in ourselves. The other is “positive” – to do something that will help me to grow or to help others.
Lent is typically a time when we fast, eating less or cutting out favorite foods in order to improve on our tendency to overeat and to identify with those in our world who are often hungry). Another lenten practice is giving money to the poor or volunteering to help the poor or underprivileged in some way. A third type of lenten practice is to take extra steps to draw nearer to God through prayer, reading the bible, and so on.
For a non-Christian, any of these typical practices are possible. Many people fast from one meal a day or one day a week and give the money to a charitable organization. See, for example, Oxfam’s Fast for a World Harvest at the following link:
oxfamamerica.org/whatyoucando/act_now/fast. Or you can volunteer at a local food pantry or soup kitchen or some other organization that helps the poor, hungry, children at risk, etc. Even if you’re not a Christian, you can learn a lot about being a better human being from reading the life of Jesus in the gospel according to Matthew or John in the bible, for example. Hey, we might even find you back on the message board as a brand new follower of Jesus!
