Lenten Promises

[howdytest]

I don’t really understand why we give something up for Lent. Perhaps i’m mistaken, but it seems like all the Catholics i know give up something trivial…candy,food, etc…isn’t the goal of Lent to grow in God? How can giving up a food item achieve that goal?

I ask because i too gave something trivial up, but now because of other reasons would like to alter my Lenten promise. I hesitate to do so because I’m afraid of it being wrong in God’s eyes and because a promise is a promise…i said i would abstain and i’m going to be true to my word.

Thanks.

 

[Andruschak]

I don’t really understand why we give something up for Lent. Perhaps i’m mistaken, but it seems like all the Catholics i know give up something trivial…candy,food, etc…isn’t the goal of Lent to grow in God? How can giving up a food item achieve that goal?

I ask because i too gave something trivial up, but now because of other reasons would like to alter my Lenten promise. I hesitate to do so because I’m afraid of it being wrong in God’s eyes and because a promise is a promise…i said i would abstain and i’m going to be true to my word.

Thanks.

Perhaps it may be that if someone really likes candy, this is a way to say “God is more important to me then candy”

In my case, I love those elaborate lattes and other flavoured coffees. For Lent I give those up and stick to plain coffee. This includes the coffee at AA meetings, and that might be considered a major penance right there

 

[Pacbox]

One way to look at it is that drinking soda or eating sweets puts a barrier between the person and Christ. Now some give up these things without understanding that if you take away the thing that is distracting you, you focus on who or what you are supposed to be focusing on rather than finding a new distraction.

Say someone uses sweets to make themselves feel better, they eat a piece of chocolate or have a bowl of ice cream when the feel blue. They do this instead determining why they feel that way. They want the immediate gratification. Now, that is not to say that eating a sweet when you feel blue is bad. It’s when you do it to excess that is the problem.

When you use something to excess, you are hurting yourself since you are hiding and you are hurting your relationship (I would prefer a better word but this works for now) with Jesus. You make your focus, even if for a small moment, that item and hide behind that item rather than face the problem at hand. You don’t think outside yourself.

When you give up that item, you have one more small moment to focus on Jesus, on prayer, on your growing in holiness. Small moments are just as precious as big moments. Instead of reaching for a chocolate bar, you can tell God “Thank you for giving me the job that pays me the money to buy food.” “And thank you for this chocolate bar.” Prayer doesn’t need large amounts of time to happen. It requires only a moment, an opportunity, even if it’s to just say “Hi God.”