"Christusque nobis sit cibus,
potusque noster sit fides;
laeti bibamus sobriam
ebrietatem Spiritus."
St. Ambrose

(Let Christ be our food and faith our drink; let us happily drink the sober inebriation of the Spirit.)

Lent is my favourite liturgical season. I love to begin with such hope and high expectation. It is not, our dear priest reminded us yesterday, a time of morbid thoughts and dark dwellings; but a time of penitence, during which we may "happily drink the sober inebriation of the Spirit" without the distraction of food and drink.

Surrendering to the rhythms of the Church, fasting and feasting according to the season, is so freeing, and so satisfying. Having feasted at Christmas, and all through Carnival, I begin Lent now, longing for nothing so much as a good, long, purifying fast. When Lent has refreshed me, I being to long for the feasting of Easter.

We celebrated Mardi gras with some friends on Tuesday, and unfortunately are left with some extra paczki. They are sitting on top of the kiln, waiting to be eaten, full of strawberry, raspberry, and my sister-in-law's fig jam. I wonder if they can be frozen with any success.