Giving up for lent

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MiserereMei25

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I know we got a couple months to go, but have you thought about what to give up for lent yet?
Remember to keep it simple! But if you have the strength to go to extraordinary lengths, that’s cool too!

I’m thinking of giving up creamer and flavoring for my daily coffee.
 
For a while now, I have added something instead of taking away. A couple of years ago, i went to mass during the week a couple of times. I liked it so much, I kept going when Lent was over.
 
I’m likely going to be doing Nineveh 90 with Fr Heilman’s group again, which is a whole bunch of different practices, not just give up one thing. I did it last year as well.
 
I try to do a penance, alms, and additional prayer(s) for Lent every year. This year I think my penance will be less time on my phone, including CAF. The extra prayer will be trying to add Lauds to my daily routine. And I don’t know about the alms part. 😅
 
I always give up alcohol. It’s not that I drink that much but it’s amazing how appealing that beer is when you know you can’t have one. Seems that each Lent there are at least two events that I would really enjoy that I have to forego. This year it’s the beer tasting we’ll be hosting. I’ll be pouring beer all night and I won’t even get to taste it.
 
Not sure yet. Might be reducing CAF time. Might be giving up sugar (which I’m supposed to do anyway). Might be waking up early so I can start my day with morning prayer (rather than squeezing it in between breakfast and errands).
 
I never have really taken giving stuff up for Lent in the past seriously to be honest. I used to think of what to give up and not come up with something until Lent was half over and even then I didn’t really follow through. Or I’d pick something too hard for me at that time and then give up on it after a few days. Most years I just used Lent as an excuse to “give up” masturbation since back then I thought it was bad but I didn’t realize it was sinful if that makes sense.

So this is pretty much my first Lent where I’m actually going to give some effort, not sure what to do yet but I’m thinking about it. Might try and be more regular with spiritual reading outside of the Bible. I’ve have a few different ideas swirling around
 
My dad died an alcoholic; so I know the power of booze, but I still like a drink. I have given up alcohol for Lent and Advent for many years now. I find it helps if I stop drinking a week or two before Lent, then have a drink a week or two after Easter.

Knowing that I can give up twice a year has become a powerful tool.
 
I used to give stuff up for Lent but it never really had the penance feel to me just because of the way I am. So instead I make myself do something that I should be doing but I just don’t. I usually pick a penance for something temporal and end up with much more than I expected on the spiritual side from the experience.

I was terrible in the past about being consistent with my prescription medicine, so one Lent my penance was to just always take my different medicines. It sounds kinda silly to me now since I haven’t fallen off of taking them ever since that Lent, but it was a real struggle for me to just convince myself that I should open that screw top bottle every day. After years of dealing with it I was throwing a tantrum and just was tired of the whole ordeal. To get myself moving I kept telling myself that the Lord wants me to take care of my body and He’s given us doctors and medicine to help. It did a lot for helping me contemplate on how the Lord sees me as an individual.

Another year I was doing terrible about getting up earlier in the day for work, so I’d just be squeezing into my seat at the latest point possible. I was also just doing terrible with Sloth in general; even in my prayer life. So for Lent I forced myself to get up for the earliest daily mass I could (we have two options at my parish). There were some mornings I was really frustrated with myself for dragging my body out of bed at 5:30 for mass, but it helped. This year I’m going to be doing this one again. This past year I’ve fallen back into bad habits and need to fix it. I don’t consider the mass as penance, just to be clear. I use the mass as motivation because when I do make it, starting my day with mass is amazing. The penance for me, since I’ve never been a morning person, is rolling myself out of bed. Though I guess in one light I’m “giving up” sleeping in.
 
Irishmom2 said:
For a while now, I have added something instead of taking away. A couple of years ago, i went to mass during the week a couple of times. I liked it so much, I kept going when Lent was over.
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This is precisely how I began praying the Office! A few years ago for Lent I pledged to pray Lauds & Vespers every Sunday, and failing an attempt at them on weekdays I’d at least pray the Benedictus & Magnificat. By the time Easter came it was so habitual for me that I felt weird not praying them. I added the minor hours the following Advent and then the next Lent I finally got around to the arduous Matins. Now they’re all part of my daily routine (give or take an hour or two if I’m swamped with work).

People always want to give up a vice during Lent, which I’m not knocking of course, but I’ve come to see the benefit in simultaneously using the time to cultivate a virtuous behavior. Virtue has to be habituated. You have to actively commit to it over and over and over again slowly reforming your will to be ordered toward that virtue. Vice must be avoided but with avoidance comes forgetting the power that vice once had over your will, and without a complementary increase in virtue it’s that much easier to slip right back into that vice with just a single moment of weakness.

If you want to take advantage of Lent to quit smoking, drinking, swearing, what have you, then couple it with a commitment to some positive virtue through a concrete action: praying more every day, committing more acts of kindness to strangers, donating your time, volunteering in your parish, reading scripture or biographies of the saints for a certain amount of time every day, etc. I guarantee you you’ll magnify your chances of success at being unshackled from that vice.
 
It seems like these days we always have to have a dozen sermons and articles about “don’t give up stuff for Lent, pray more instead, use this free prayer book the Church is handing out” (which always seems to include scriptural snippets for each day and suggested charitable activities and be geared towards families with kids).

If people are observing Lent at all, I think they should be encouraged to observe it in the way that works for them and not constantly told they’re “doing it wrong” or need to be doing some other thing instead.

There seems to be a general assumption that most Catholics in the pews are not thoughtful enough to approach their prayer life properly and need to be told every move to make by the homilist.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
If people are observing Lent at all, I think they should be encouraged to observe it in the way that works for them and not constantly told they’re “doing it wrong” or need to be doing some other thing instead.
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I 100% agree with this, and I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I was among those harping on others. That wasn’t my intention at all. I just saw IrishMom’s post and it very much rung true with me and my experience that I thought I’d run with it.

There’s also great benefit in mortification of the flesh, something that we Catholics should be doing at various times year round. Fast if you can. Fast more if you can! There isn’t a “correct” way to “do Lent”.
 
I didn’t mean that to sound like it was directed at you. I think I took care to not link it off your post as a reply - if I screwed that up, sorry.

I was just thinking of the number of homilies I heard last year about “don’t give stuff up for Lent”. I go to different parishes so I heard more than one of these homilies. Many of them focused on how people try to diet or quit smoking for Lent, fail at the attempt and get cranky, etc. After hearing this speech the third time, I thought maybe a better homily would have been “what to do when your attempt at giving stuff up for Lent fails.” Like, keep trying, or meet the Lord in your failures, etc.
 
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You forum etiquette is on point, Bear! 🙂

I did notice, after your post, that a lot of our recent posts were on the “why don’t you give ON something!” stride, and it made me realize how this trend can be quite antagonizing. Especially so if, as you rightfully remind us, parishes these days aren’t wasting any breath (or paper!) to tell us that it’s better to give than to give up.

As a single person I agree with you that those “helpful” Lenten Meditations aren’t very helpful sometimes.
 
For Advent I did a course of spiritual reading where each week was dedicated to a different virtue or concept and I tired to incorporate it into my life.
It made the season very meaningful for me beyond the lights and tinsel.

I may do something similar in Lent.
 
No, I just made it up on my own.
I studied detachment, humility, agape and forgiveness.
For “forgiveness”, for example, I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, and Left To Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza.
 
Perhaps I will add another Office to my day. There’s not much for me to give up since I don’t drink and am a pescatarian. I need the fish for protein and Omega-3 acids. Perhaps I’ll try to give up cursing?
 
I know I definitely should (give up cursing). 😳

I have a defined prayer+devotionals routine that works well for me…when I stick to it. :roll_eyes: If I haven’t gotten everything back on track by Ash Wednesday, perhaps I’ll make that my Lenten goal.

Otherwise, I’m certain that the ICRSS parish will propose a self-study program of daily Lenten reflections. They did for
Lent last year, as well as for the Advent that just passed. The program for Advent was so awesome that I saved the booklet to use again next Advent. 😎:+1:t3:
 
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I’m extending my fasts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Tuesday and Thursday.

I’m also thinking of giving up sweets on weekdays too.
 
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