Question about giving something up for Lent

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lantzcaper

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Hi all:

Just a quick question. Lifelong Catholic, but I freely admit that I don’t know all the rules, so I’m hoping that someone else here will have the answer.

This year I gave up chocolate for Lent (very difficult for me 😛 ). I was saying to my wife on Sunday that I was having a hard time staying away from chocolate, but that I was going to stick it out. My wife tells me that an older woman at her workplace (Catholic) told her that whatever you have given up for Lent, you’re allowed to have it on Sundays. Almost like a reprieve for the day.

I mentioned that to a guy at work who has also given up chocolate for Lent, and he said he was also told the same thing by someone. He, along with myself, have never heard of such a rule…and we both think that there is no such rule.

Just wondering if we are right in thinking that giving up something for Lent means giving it up until after Mass on Easter Sunday, with NO EXCEPTIONS.

Thanks
 
Well, there’s no formal rule which says that you “have” to give anything up at all during Lent save the fasting and abstinance laws. Any choice to do so is a matter of personal piety. Now, that said, Lent is a season of penitence and each of the days is a penitential day. Yet Sundays are in and of themselves traditionally not penitential due to their higher nature as Sunday, a “little Easter”. Of course, on the other hand, the Sundays during Lent are, nonetheless, still Sundays of Lent. Some people will, therefore, reason that it is legitimate to drop their penitential practice momentarily as a break on Sundays in respite. There may not be anything intrinsically wrong with that, however, it could also be used as a cheap excuse too. Really, it is a personal decision, though, as to what you believe is best, up to your abilities, and most devout.
 
I was told that Sundays are “days off” and also St. Patrick’s Day. As the previous poster said though, if you choose to go the whole 40 days… that’s up to you also.
 
I gave up chocolate, too! I’m going the whole time, no reprieve on Sundays. Every time I have a craving, I just say “Jesus, I glady give this up for love of You.”
 
Sundays are not days of lent because every Sunday we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. Having said that I still feel like I am cheating if I dont observe my lenten sacrafice :rolleyes:
 
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