Lent / Ash Wednesday

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

Today is the start of Lent. I've never celebrated it before but I am thinking of maybe looking into it this year.
Two years ago I pointed out some dirt on a classmate's forehead and she told me it was ashes for Ash Wednesday... Easily said, I felt pretty bad and embarrassed.


However, I find it's an interesting event.
To be blunt about it, Lent is the giving up one of your favorite hobbies until Easter in form of repentance.
Now there is a bit of back story and some people may describe it differently but that is the gist of it.

For those of you who celebrate, what are you giving up for it?
I still haven't decided... :/ Probably should have been thinking about it before now...

[DaemonForce]

I used to celebrate this but work and life is in the way. I would be tempted to give up fixing cars, and computers if they weren't so critical to my life at the moment(and I weren't nagged all the time for it) but that would wreck anything fun I have planned this year. I always find myself putting everything on hold and the more holidays that get in the way, the more I wait and more becomes permanently ruined for me as a result. Cosplay is a minor hobby that comes and goes about 3 times a year for me and this is why I put so much effort into it when I finally can. I don't have enough genuine interest to think about it every day and it hasn't been a problem. There just isn't enough substance to me when I'm working through every holiday and I need every hobby that can hold my interest between Christmas and Easter, even if it never lasts very long.

[RemSaverem]

I remember Gina Giacinto was the only person in my elementary school who observed the ash ritual. I did not know what it meant and mistakenly thought it was equivalent to what my Hindu friends' moms had on their foreheads, which they called a Ghani Dot, which was basically a small red circle tatooed over their 3rd eye spot (center of forehead), representing that they were married. I looked at her with this circle of something on her forehead and wondered if she were in an arranged marriage like my friends' parents had been in India. That is how little I grew up knowing about Christianity. It was before my dad's sister married a guy whose sister was a Catholic school teacher. Heard the real deal from her years later.

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

Daemon: No offense but I don't see how that really had anything to do with this topic except the first few sentences... >.>;

Lent isn't about ruining your life. It's about giving up something that you enjoy but don't need. It's not like you can give up your job for Lent but you can give up fast food or desert. You can stop going online for entertainment or stop playing video games.
God doesn't ask that you put aside your whole life until Easter. God doesn't even demand we celebrate Lent. It is us offering up a small bit of happiness and after Lent it helps us realize how special that one thing is to us and maybe we will enjoy it that much more.


Personally, I do not see how life and work can get in the way of Lent. Everyone has something they can give up...it's just some people don't want to give it up.
I'm having trouble giving something up because I don't work so I sit at home all day and clean, cook, or play video games. My only form of entertainment is my PS3 and it's really the only thing I could think to give up but I'm human and I'm selfish and I don't want to give it up. So, I'm trying to think of something else. It's not that I can't...it's that I an selfish and don't want to.

[superjaz]

My husband was raised Catholic (was an alter boy) and he told me when he was younger they would give up things like ice cream for lent.  Once he gave up MT dew, he is a really big dew addict. He is not as active as he used to be.

I was mentioning to him that lent was coming up and asked if he was going to give up anything.
He said he might give up buying anything he doesn't really need, like manga books ect, things are really tight right now.
He did remind me that I could still buy stuff wink wink.

As for me yeah it would be hard to think of somthing to give up, pop would have been a good one but I haven't been drinking any except ginger ale or sprite of upset tummy

[Gryffinclaw Princess]

Yeah...I don't drink pop or eat fast food that much. I could give up ramen but then I would probably starve...

Actually, that might be a good idea... It's not that good for me and I can find other things to eat that are healthier...
Hm...

[DaemonForce]

Daemon: No offense but I don't see how that really had anything to do with this topic except the first few sentences... >.>;

Maybe I didn't explain it right. There are people in this world that work like slavish machines in order to obtain something that makes them happy for a small window of time. It's a punishment for stagnating and to me, that is penance. I understand the concept of removing something fun from your life to raise its value or putting yourself through hell to appreciate it more but for some reason I place a very low value on my efforts compared to other people. It's so ridiculous that I see no point in fasting let alone the really easy career options available to me. All I can do is take seasonal transitions as an indicator to change what needs improvement.

I'm so hypercritical about what I do lately that Lent isn't exactly the most ideal thing for me to observe anymore. Sure I have a personal fasting period that frequents 3-4 times a year and yes they keep my behavior patterns and stress in check but it doesn't make me any happier. We all sacrifice something to get what we want. That something is based on what we value and how powerful our desires push us. If you want a job, you'll get one even if it's not ideal. If PS3 is such a huge preoccupation that you think you should stop, you'll remove it and relentlessly fill that void with things you've probably never even considered until you're as happy as you were before. I don't need the calendar to tell me when to stop. I just need more experience with what I like to do. I know that's the antithesis to Lent but I can't think of anything I could give up without it causing serious problems for me.

Personally, I do not see how life and work can get in the way of Lent.

You've never had work that you truly appreciate. Mine makes starvation impossible and makes use of all my previous hobbies. THAT is enough to interfere.

[MiriaRose]

Sometimes I joke about how I'm abstaining from abstinence for lent.

I grew up in a Catholic household, but we never fasted or really gave up anything for lent. I don't even know any Catholics irl who do.

[Kimiski]

I don't celebrate lent anymore- but my family always did and still does the thing where they don't eat meat every Friday... though I still say fish counts as meat... xD

[MiriaRose]

I don't celebrate lent anymore- but my family always did and still does the thing where they don't eat meat every Friday... though I still say fish counts as meat... xD

I know a kid who is doing that. During German today, he realized he ate sausage for breakfast.

[Prinz Eugen]

I don't even know any Catholics irl who do.

Pleased to meet you, then!

My wife and I do the Ash Wednesday and Good Friday fasts,
and at minimum we give up all alcohols and all meats for the whole dang time (ugh.)
Fish and shellfish are OK on meatless days.

Then on top of that you give up stuff because you like it, like sweets or desserts.

You get one 'day out of jail' which is Laetare Sunday the 'halfway home' point.

This year that was last Sunday ago (3-Apr) and we had a nice pair of small filet mignons.

I hate it because eating vegetarian makes me feel like I am validating certain Eastern religions, or hippy culture.
I don't want to be mistaken for an enviro-nutjob or something.

One year I did what was called 'the Black fast' in medieval times - whole grain breads and water only - and I lost like 52 lbm.

For the kid who ate sausage accidentally, all he has to do is hit The Box (you're encouraged to confess at least some time in Lent anyways)
Now you may remember that when you do your penance after Confession that only removes the temporal aspect of the sin, and not the spiritual aspect.
Normally you get that side broiled off in Purgatory. Which sucks. But it beats Hell.

THE COOLEST thing that the previous Pope did was making the Sunday after Easter into a new celebration called Mercy Sunday.
It used to be called just 'Low Sunday' ho-hum, a kind of after-shock after Easter, but now JP-2 set it up that (I think I have this right) if you confess within the octave and receive Communion and pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy in the presence of an image of the Divine Mercy ...
(You can do this here: http://www.divinemercyny.com/divine mercy chaplet.htm )

... THEN YOU GET THE PURGATORY PORTION CANCELLED TOO!! WHAT A DEAL!!!

So as long as you do Mercy Sunday every year, you would only get a maximum of ONE year's worth of spiritual failings to burn off in the year you die.

[MiriaRose]

^ I already know the traditional Lent stuff. Irish and Polish family, lapsed Catholics all around, etc. But the ones that are still Catholic aren't very orthodox about it. I'll probably find more next year, considering I'm going to a Catholic university.

So as long as you do Mercy Sunday every year, you would only get a maximum of ONE year's worth of spiritual failings to burn off in the year you die.

Unless you die RIGHT AFTER you do Mercy Sunday.

[Prinz Eugen]

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF LENT.

ONE MORE NASTY, VEGETARIAN MEAL TO GO.
(I gave up meats, among other things.)