Giving up cussing for Lent?

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Cussing/whining sadly are my biggest issues and I know I need to work on them. If you try and give them up…what happens if you mess up? Like a swear jar or something to that effect?

Do we make penance if we mess up on our Lent goal?

Thanks!

Kat
 
Our pastor is very gung-ho about having everyone make a “Lenten game plan” which includes prayer, fasting and almsgiving. You hear about people giving things up for Lent - that is the “fasting” component of the three.

These are penitential practices already. And they are also private devotions. So no, I would not personally assign myself penance if I fell short on a Lenten resolution, I would just try to do better tomorrow and next year. And keep in mind that some people exclude Sundays from observances of penance, and some don’t.

If in doubt, ask your confessor. But since we are Latins and not Byzantines, the shape taken by Lenten penitence is largely ours to mold and shape.
 
I gave up cursing for Lent many years ago, and it was the best thing I ever gave up.

I’m a construction worker in NYC, where cursing is as natural as breathing, but I was becoming more devout at the time, and I knew if I was going to walk the walk, I had to talk the talk, so cursing had to go. If I wanted to help convert people, surely a foul mouth would not be helpful! So, I used Lent to give this up.

For me, it worked. It wasn’t easy, but to this day, I am clean of cursing, except for an occasional slip now and then. Thanks be to God!

I say go for it, you won’t be sorry!
 
You simply redouble your efforts.
I pray you are successful. It’s a loathsome habit.
Good for you for trying!
 
A couple of years in a row I tried to give up cursing for Lent. It didn’t work for me. Every time I found myself cursing, I would curse about the fact that I cursed. I wound up cursing more! So, I wound up not giving that up for Lent. I am now trying to give it up for good. Doing okay so far. 🙂
 
  1. I would not say that would be something to “give up for lent” as a penance - in so far as any of the “cussing” is sinful. It would yes be part of conversion during Lent -but penances are about giving up that which is not bad to begin with.
  2. If you choose a particular penance - you are free to personally choose to change it etc. For it is not Penance from the Sacrament of Confession or given by the Church in other ways but something one freely chooses.
So yes make that part of your lenten work on yourself…but choose other things to give up and or add in your spiritual life.
 
katpants said:
Cussing/whining sadly are my biggest issues and I know I need to work on them. If you try and give them up…what happens if you mess up? Like a swear jar or something to that effect?

Do we make penance if we mess up on our Lent goal?

Thanks!

Kat
Click to expand...
This is good. It’s good to give up a vice/sin for lent (presuming you don’t wish to resume the vice/sin after Easter!) :p:o

Normally you don’t confess when you mess up personal sacrifices for lent. However, this is vice/sin and something that should be avoided and most likely confessed (even if it’s venial) for good practice.

Also don’t forget the Church’s mandatory prescribed fasts on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstenience from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Friday’s of lent.
 
Bookcat said:
. . . penances are about giving up that which is not bad to begin with. . . .
Click to expand...
This.

Giving up a sin for Lent is like giving up poison while on a diet. By all means give it up, without delay and once for all; but also give up something otherwise lawful which you enjoy.
 
1438 The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works).

www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c2a4.htm#1435
 
katpants said:
Cussing/whining sadly are my biggest issues and I know I need to work on them. If you try and give them up…what happens if you mess up? Like a swear jar or something to that effect?

Do we make penance if we mess up on our Lent goal?

Thanks!

Kat
Click to expand...
I am giving up cussing for lent as well along with calling myself fat and using the Lords name in vain. For each of these three things, I have assigned myself a penance. I will pay 25 cents for each time a cuss, call myself fat or use the Lords name in vain. Since I do each of these several times a day, I am hoping that this will help to quit these horrible habits. I am donating all of the money at the end of Lent. So it is my fasting and my almsgiving.

My Lent Plan:
Start - 1) Read 4 Chapters of the Bible every day, 2) Pray before I eat, 3) Spend 15 minutes Praying for my Husband each day, 4) Pray the Rosary each day, and 5) Start a daily journal where I track my journey (Honesty required)!
Stop - 1) Cussing, 2) Calling myself Fat, 3) Taking the Lord’s name in Vain, 4) the sin of Sloth.
Almsgiving - Donate the money raised by my first three “stops”
Give Up - 1) Alcohol, 2) Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube, 3) Limit Facebook and Instagram to once a Day, and 4) Fast Every Wednesday

I have decided to make this Lent count and really devote myself and my time to Jesus. I hope you do the same, however that looks in your life! I wish you well and hope that this Lenten season is one full of spiritual growth!
 
Giving up a negative habit is certainly a good start.

I just read a great suggestion in Overcoming Sinful Anger which can be applied to your situation:

Put 20 $1.00 bills in a jar.
Every day you go without cussing you can take a $1.00 bill from the jar.
Every day you cuss you must put 2 bills into the jar.
If/when the jar reaches $40, you must give the additional $20 to the poor and start over again.

A negative consequence of losing something when you give into your habit/vice can be surprisingly effective as a motivator.
 
jimcav said:
I gave up cursing for Lent many years ago, and it was the best thing I ever gave up.

I’m a construction worker in NYC, where cursing is as natural as breathing, but I was becoming more devout at the time, and I knew if I was going to walk the walk, I had to talk the talk, so cursing had to go. If I wanted to help convert people, surely a foul mouth would not be helpful! So, I used Lent to give this up.

For me, it worked. It wasn’t easy, but to this day, I am clean of cursing, except for an occasional slip now and then. Thanks be to God!

I say go for it, you won’t be sorry!
Click to expand...
Having been former military, cursing came naturally to me. Like you I gave up cursing for lent and it worked. I slip up every now and then but I am mostly clean.
 
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