I’m still collecting signatures for the Parents Matter Coalition’s attempt to gather enough to have a question about parental rights placed on the November election ballot so voters can weigh in.

The bishops and the Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) are correct in saying that even if enough signatures are collected to get the question on the ballot, and even if most voters agree that schools and other entities should be required to have parents’ signed consent before they can provide non-emergency medical procedures, medications or gender modification procedures, counseling or therapy — even if all that happens, legislators will not be required to introduce bills in response.

However, the coalition’s effort shows those legislators that people are paying attention to what they do. They will know that many parents are determined to parent their kids and not just give them over to whatever society decides to promote. They will know that not everyone is on board with what some in our state are trying to push down citizens’ throats.

At times, efforts to support life and common sense seem to be a losing battle. But all these years of pro-life marches and other such witnessing do communicate to lawmakers that people care, and such issues are not going to go away. They are examples where, in God’s eyes, faithfulness takes precedence over success, to paraphrase St. Mother Teresa. Hopefully we do such things because we feel called by God and want to please Him.

The bishops and the CCI also are correct in their concern that physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are on the horizon here. They will be asking us to contact our legislators to ask them to vote against assisted suicide and euthanasia. CCI always provides good instructions, and when the call for action comes, our responses will matter. Stay tuned and please be ready to write or call.

On another note, it’s almost Lent!

Perhaps (groan) we are tempted to view his holy season merely as six weeks of fruitless misery. Hopefully it will indeed feel like a real battle or more likely a mix of easier and harder moments of resisting temptations. That, after all, is how we know we are doing Lent and not just sloughing off.

But (hooray) Lent is not devoid of benefits. It has a purpose, which we will only experience if we decide to go for it.

Lent develops our spiritual muscles, strengthening us as we keep our chosen penances and abstain and fast as Church guidelines state. Everyone can pick what they will do for Lent because we all have our own personal weak spots. People may give up smoking, sweets, alcohol, gambling, and other habits that are not healthy or holy. We also are free to give up relatively good things that we would miss, just to distance ourselves from those pleasures for a while. Just for love of God.

We also might decide to add on a “proactive” penance of doing something good each day or each week — something specific and acknowledgable when accomplished. It could be a weekly visit to someone who could benefit from company, or a daily going out of our way to greet someone we struggle to like, or daily (or one extra time a week) Mass (always wonderful), or any other challenging-but-good-to-do something.

People who “do Lent” each year often realize that the season provides extra graces to help with the various sacrifices and good efforts. We can give up during Lent what we couldn’t otherwise set aside. We can be generous in ways we never thought of before. God’s help is abundant during Lent. It is a great time for spiritual growth.

We grow through these kinds of practices because they require us to set ourselves aside for God and others. Being selfless (or at least less selfish) is not an easy task. To choose God’s will and others’ needs before our own can become a bit habitual over time, but at first it is hard. Lent, again, is a specialized time of grace to help us aim toward God in whatever ways seem best this year.

We will become more attuned to God as a result.

May God bless your Lent!