by Joe Cady
For as long as I can remember, Lent was the time of year when everyone is supposed to give something up. This has taken different forms throughout my life, from giving up doing homework (that one didn’t fly with my mom), to not watching TV, or not drinking coffee, or sleeping without a pillow… A few years ago, I actually gave up cheese for Lent… which might not seem like a big deal, but for anyone who knows me well, you know that my body runs on cheese. I distinctly remember fasting on Ash Wednesday, and then the very next day texting my wife while she was at work saying, “I’m at a loss, what do people eat… I’ve got nothing.” It was a rough one, pizza with no cheese, Mexican food with no cheese… boo! But that’s the point. We’re supposed to give up something we like, something we want, something we enjoy (which is why giving up doing homework doesn’t work). But we’re also supposed to give up things that are basically good. My kids always try to say, “I’m giving up fighting with my brothers and sisters for Lent.” Great, but let’s just not do that at all, no matter what time of year it is. Certainly it’s good to be extra intentional during Lent about turning away from sin and overcoming bad habits, but that’s something we should be working on year round. During Lent, we give up good things in order to make time and space for the best of things, focusing our attention on our Lord, Jesus Christ. The idea is that every time I think about how much I want cheese (for example), I should ask myself, do I desire the Lord as much as I want cheese right now. Now, that might sound ridiculous, but think about it… do we crave the Lord like we desire the things of this world? If we look at our lives, how we use our time and resources, how we prioritize our day and schedule our week… is God first? Is he number one? Part of the point is to train our minds and hearts to pursue God first and above all other things. The things we choose to give up for Lent aren’t about showing off or trying to out-do one another. What is easy for one person might be a real sacrifice for others. You might think giving up TV is the easy way out, but for someone who spends hours binge watching Netflix everyday, this might be really difficult, and has the potential to free up a lot of time that could be devoted to more enriching activities. The point is to pick something that will be a challenge. For me, when I consider the possibilities each year, what I want to give up the least is usually the thing I should pick.
This is all part of our “fasting” during Lent, which is a form of self-denial that trains our minds and hearts to put the goods of this world in their proper perspective, and to order our lives in such a way that temporal goods are utilized in a way that moves us toward our transcendent good. If you haven’t decided to give something up yet, I encourage you to consider doing so. Think of the things you enjoy and make a sacrificial offering to the Lord by giving them up. In doing so, you will help your heart remember that the good things in life all have God as their source, and that our ultimate joy and satisfaction is found not in these temporal, passing things, but in the God who made us.
But there is a flip side to all of this… one of the byproducts of giving something up is the opportunity that it provides for us to take some thing on. The point isn’t to give up TV and then fill the time with video games. Instead, we should consider how we can redirect our time and resources in a spiritually enriching way. Perhaps giving up social media will give us time to do some spiritual reading. Maybe our giving up coffee will give us the opportunity to take the money we would have spent at Dutch Bros and donate it to Catholic Charities. Even if there isn’t
a direct correlation between what we give up and what we take on, I think it is beneficial to think of how we can set the season of Lent apart by adding in something specific. Maybe you decide to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day during Lent. Sure, this would be great to do all the time. But maybe it’s never been a habit for you – and so Lent would be a good time to stretch yourself and try something new like this.
There is no one way to enter into the season of Lent – there are an abundance of options available to us, from personal habits and devotions to communal prayer opportunities like Stations of the Cross. But hopefully these 40 days look and feel different than the rest of the year. They should be marked by some sort of sacrifice; not to make us miserable, but because voluntary self-denial is good for us. The Christian life is ultimately about learning how to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, learning how to lay down our lives to give life to others. Lent is an opportunity to really train ourselves is this self-giving way of life. But it’s also a time for us to be more intentional about spiritual growth and building habits that lead to greater holiness. Whatever you decide to do, I hope you’ll do something to help you come out of Lent better disposed to experience Easter and bear witness to the joy of Christ risen.