JeanneBean wrote:The original post said nothing about observing or celebrating anything. Did someone alter the original post?

I believe he was referencing the title of the thread which refers to "celebrating Lent".

Best,
Michael

JB,

If you look at the title of the thread, the OP did state "celebrate Lent." Antonius was obviously responding to her mis-statement. One may celebrate Christmas or Easter, though Lent is an observation.

No altering of any thread.

Regards,

DOH! I wasn't even looking at that!

Cathy2 wrote:

jygach wrote:I understand from some of my Catholic friends that the Church is promoting a different way of "observing" or "celebrating" Lent. Instead of giving up something that is desirable, you do something that would help others

It is not an instead, it is more like an 'and/or,' which is really quite an expansion.

True, but I definitely got the impression in Catholic high school ('89-'93) that the emphasis was decidedly swinging towards doing good deeds during Lent--perhaps more of a mitvah-type approach--rather than the more old-fashioned "giving up stuff" tradition. It probably was phrased as "and/or," but I don't remember actually being encouraged to give anything up for Lent, but rather to do good deeds.

Lent for spiritual improvement, not sacrifice?

Religion writer Cathleen Falsani tackles the Lenten topic in her column in today's Sun-Times, the headline which is paraphrased above. She mentions a clergyman who said that "instead of concentrating on giving something up, we should think about adding something positive, a discipline that will turn our focus inward". I don't know how to do links, but it's worth reading.

My eight year old is enamored with "giving up something for Lent". Her choice--chocolate. Thus far she's turned down granola bars with choc. chips, choc. pudding and choc. covered ice cream bar. At her age, that form of observing Lent seems more concrete, while for adults, some introspection might be a better answer. Anna

jygach wrote:I understand from some of my Catholic friends that the Church is promoting a different way of "observing" or "celebrating" Lent. Instead of giving up something that is desirable, you do something that would help others.

http://www.cantius.org/

This is my Parish's website and I happened to see something along the lines of 'a different way to observe lent.' It wouldn't give me a direct link to copy and paste, but if you go to the main page as provided above and click on "A Reflection of the Lenten Fast" you may find it interesting...

I give up salt for Lent. It's excruciating. I salt everything. You name it, I salt it. I've done it successfully in past years and it gets easier with time, but as we're currently only a few days in, I'm miserable. And the no meat on Fridays thing can be pretty brutal too.

And for the record, Lent is not a Catholic thing; it's a Christian thing. Theoretically, anyone who believes in Jesus Christ should participate in Lent, I went to a Lutheran school for seven years and we certainly did...

Anna Z. Sobor wrote:My eight year old is enamored with "giving up something for Lent". Her choice--chocolate. Thus far she's turned down granola bars with choc. chips, choc. pudding and choc. covered ice cream bar. At her age, that form of observing Lent seems more concrete, while for adults, some introspection might be a better answer. Anna

Anna,

Thank you for your interesting post: I enjoyed hearing about your eight year old's reaction to Lent. Giving something up is perhaps good for one reason or another but I suspect lots of folks -- including some prelates -- do it without much thought. I also suspect your child 'gets it' in a way that lots of adults don't. And perhaps that's the reason for the new emphasis on 'doing something positive'.

But giving up something can and should be, in effect, doing something positive, perhaps coincidentally and fortuitously from a this-world standpoint but certainly from a spiritual standpoint. It seems to me Lent is about physical house-cleaning but even more so spiritual house-cleaning -- a time for reflexion (which a little hunger and a good bit of privation should prompt), rejection of excessive attachment to the pleasures of this world, a heightened sense of mortality and the preciousness of life, and an awareness of one's shortcomings -- of one's sins, which require sacrificial expiation by the Lamb of God on the Holy Rood.

For some, Lent is kept through observation of formal rules, and that has perhaps its worth and validity, but for some it also is a philosophical conversation between the stomach and the brain and the soul. I find that conversation interesting.

Antonius

Lolita wrote:http://www.cantius.org/

This is my Parish's website and I happened to see something along the lines of 'a different way to observe lent.' It wouldn't give me a direct link to copy and paste, but if you go to the main page as provided above and click on "A Reflection of the Lenten Fast" you may find it interesting...
I give up salt for Lent. It's excruciating. I salt everything. You name it, I salt it. I've done it successfully in past years and it gets easier with time, but as we're currently only a few days in, I'm miserable. And the no meat on Fridays thing can be pretty brutal too.
And for the record, Lent is not a Catholic thing; it's a Christian thing. Theoretically, anyone who believes in Jesus Christ should participate in Lent, I went to a Lutheran school for seven years and we certainly did...

Lolita:

Your post appeared while I was composing mine just above, so I missed seeing it til now. Many thanks for the link, as well as for your comments.

A question about your giving up of salt: how rigorous are you in doing that? Do you avoid prepared foods that include salt in them or just leave it out of things you prepare? I must say, however exactly you go about it, that's a difficult one...

Welcome to LTHForum.

Antonius

Thanks for the warm welcome, Antonius, I feel so loved!

My rules are that I can eat foods only as they are served; if something is generously salted when it's set down in front of me, then lucky me. If something is woefully saltless, I'm left to suffer. I usually find that the latter is the case. If I'm preparing something for myself I don't add any more salt than the recipe calls for, although I have to admit that when making ramen or similar foods I use less water than usual. That's the one freebie I allow myself. Shhh don't tell. In addition to salt, I'm also not allowed to use various seasonings, condiments or sauces (i.e. soy sauce) that I normally use solely for their lovely saltiness. It's a real bummer on my birthday (2 March) because it's always so close to the beginning of the season and I'm still quite whiny about the whole thing, but I've found in years past that for about a week after Lent is over I'll forget that I'm allowed salt again and sometimes actually opt to leave it out, which, if you knew me, would definitely impress you. God must have been happy with me today, though, as He gave me fries so salty that I was tempted to scrape the excess off. lol Meh. So geht's.

-Lo

While looking for truncated posts, I was rather amused by this one. What is going on with everybody for Lent: 7 Years Later?

Hi,

Lent was discussed today at lunch. My friend Helen advised she was giving up Coca Cola for Lent. I figured I may as well do the same, though I wasn't too excited about it.

I went to a St. Patrick's Day event some years ago during Lent. It was announced a Priest (or was it a Bishop?) had granted special dispensation for this event. This meant whatever people were abstaining from during Lent could be indulged at this occasion. One could convincingly claim on any particular day during Lent, somewhere some priest (bishop?) had offered a special dispensation. I figure if I wanted to break bad, I could claim my departure was covered special dispensation somewhere.

Regards,

Like it's not-Lent-o'clock somewhere? I like it.

I'm going to take up smoking and give that up.

Hi,

Giving up something for Lent is a good way to break a habit. I do know a Mother-and-daughter who approached chain-smoking status who gave it up for Lent. It worked!

I used to drive my nieces to school daily. I got into the habit stopping someplace for breakfast. I needed to knock it off. I gave it up for Lent and now very rarely do this.

Regards,

I spent a little time looking up some details about this, and thought what I found might be of practical use to those who are interested.

A bishop (not a priest) can give a dispensation from the Lenten obligation to abstain from meat on Fridays. It's commonly believed that local bishops grant such dispensations when St. Patrick's Day and/or St. Joseph's Day fall on a Friday during Lent, but in fact, as a canon lawyer might put it, "the general law of abstinence does not bind on solemnities." St. Patrick's Day is not a solemnity; St. Joseph's Day is. So a dispensation from the Lenten obligation of abstinence would be required to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day if it fell on a Friday, but would not be required on St. Joseph's Day if it fell on a Friday. In other words, it goes without saying that the abstinence rule doesn't apply to St. Joseph's Day. In granting a dispensation for St. Patrick's Day, bishops often ask for observance of another day of penance and abstinence at some other time during the week. In 2013, neither falls on a Friday.

Here's something about Lent I didn't know until just a few years ago (some of us children of the Sixties were, let's just say, "poorly catechized"; it's all been self-taught home schooling since then), a Lenten sacrifice is to be honored during the 40 days of Lent, that is to say, the 40 days between and including Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday that are NOT Sundays. This year, for example, there are 46 days between and including Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday; only the 40 non-Sunday days are the 40 days of Lent. The Sundays of Lent are solemnities, and neither abstinence nor sacrifice is binding on these days. Practical significance: you're free to eat candy or drink soda or smoke cigarettes or gossip about your coworkers or do whatever else you said you'd give up for Lent on the Sundays during Lent, with a clear conscience (well, maybe not so much for the gossip, but surely for the rest). However, if you're also trying to break a bad habit, you probably would want to try to avoid availing yourself of the Sunday loophole.

Katie wrote:A bishop (not a priest) can give a dispensation from the Lenten obligation to abstain from meat on Fridays. ... In granting a dispensation for St. Patrick's Day, bishops often ask for observance of another day of penance and abstinence at some other time during the week. In 2013, neither falls on a Friday.

At the Irish American Heritage Center, their annual St. Patrick's Day event is whatever Saturday the downtown parade occurs. It was there they would announce the Bishop (thanks for clarifying) had offered special dispensation. Since it is not a Sunday, when you could anyway (news to me!) and not a Lenten Friday ... I guess they wanted to help beer sales.

(some of us children of the Sixties were, let's just say, "poorly catechized"; it's all been self-taught home schooling since then),

By real Catholics, I have been informed I am Catholic-lite, especially since I went to Saturday classes (in the 60's) and public schools. Confirmation was graduation. My parents went to Catholic schools. I think I am more culturally Catholic than anything else.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:By real Catholics, I have been informed I am Catholic-lite, especially since I went to Saturday classes (in the 60's) and public schools.

I have three older (Catholic-school-educated) older siblings who feel the same way about me and my three younger (public-school- and CCD-educated) siblings. It strikes me as ironic that we younger ones are the only ones who still (ranging from regularly to occasionally) go to church.

There is yet another level to the hierarchy: in my experience, adult converts to Catholicism tend to think of even Catholic school kids as Catholic-lite.

Back to the topic! I haven't decided yet what to give up or try to do differently for Lent. Fact is, most years I don't do anything. Too lazy. I think I will try something this year, but what? I have until Wednesday to decide. Snacking after dinner, maybe?