lent

i had a meeting last week on the 14th floor of warf. as i got off the elevator i saw my friends nancy and john. john looked slightly out of breath. john is in great physical shape so i guessed the only thing i could think of that would cause him to breathe heavily. 'john,' i said, 'did you walk up the stairs?!' indeed, he had. 'wow!', i said, 'i'm impressed.' 'don't be,' he said, 'catholic guilt, i gave up the elevator for lent.' i was still impressed and made him give me a high five. quick-witted nancy piped up, 'i gave up sweating for lent.' she got a high five too.

and here's a little history of lent: lent in the christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year from ash wednesday to easter. the traditional purpose of lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during holy week of the death and resurrection of jesus, which recalls the events linked to the passion of christ and culminates in easter, the celebration of the resurrection of jesus christ.