Sometimes, not often and never intentionally, the secular calendar and the sacred calendar mesh.

The liturgical calendar has us in the midst of Lent. Lent is traditionally a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and study, leading up to the solemn events of Passion week. Lent is usually associated with giving up something, making some small personal sacrifice in order to better understand the immense sacrifice made by the Son of God.

But this is also a season of sacrifice for secular society as well. Bulging with post-holiday poundage, gloomy with the guilt of festive over-indulgence, we're easy targets for the diet and exercise industries. Every channel on TV hawks diet plans, diet pills, and diet placebos.

Even cooking shows are all dedicated to low-cal, low-fat, low-expectation fodder cre…