Posted on 02/16/2010 4:03:10 PM PST by NYer
It is important to give things up for Lent. Some pastors rightly warn some congregations about the wrong approach to Lent. It isn’t a spiritual bodybuilding contest … you aren’t supposed to do astounding things in Lent so you can look in the mirror and flex your spiritual muscles.
But you are supposed to regain some control over your life. As St. Paul says, for some, their god is their stomach. If you’re in that boat with me, let’s cast away that idol.
The public recently learned that Pope John Paul II went to great lengths to practice mortification in order to leave him freer to love God more. That’s what you and I should do, at our own level. If there’s something in your life that you can’t imagine possibly being able to give up … that may be just the attachment that you need to sever.
But always do it by adding something: More prayer, more Mass, more frequent confession, etc.
And so … the list!
Ideas for Adults
Fasting
• Fast with one full meal, no snacks one day a week.
• Skip meat an extra day (or two) a week .
• Give up alcoholic beverages. (Except in social situations; then you get just one!)
• Give up coffee (or reduce to one cup a day).
• Give up all desserts.
• Give up all unnecessary shopping.
• Fast from music in the car.
• Fast from talk radio.
Prayer
• Begin (or begin again) the daily Rosary.
• Meditate for 10 minutes a day (get a Magnificat to follow those).
• Choose one extra devotion per week during Lent: Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic adoration or a weekday Mass.
• Read a book on the Life of Christ. For example:
Alban Goodier’s The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Fulton Sheen’s The Life of Christ
Frank Sheed’s To Know Christ Jesus
Romano Guardini’s The Lord
• Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s 74-page section on prayer. (Section four; less than two pages a day!)
Almsgiving/Charity
• Visit a nursing home with your children.
• Forgive someone and patch things up in a visit, or, if necessary, by phone or letter.
• Give up gossip, judging or profanity.
• Find one “act of forgiveness” to make every day: A driver who cuts you off, a co-worker who annoys you, a shopper who cuts in line, a store clerk who is rude or a family member who ignores your needs.
• Say a kind word to everyone you meet.
• Pay a significant compliment (or more!) to each of your children every day.
• Offer to watch the children of a new mother one day a week throughout Lent.
• Visit an elderly friend or relative.
• Save up a significant amount of money for a deserving charity or apostolate.
For Children and Teens
If none of the adult ideas work for you, try:
• Do chores without complaining
• Draw pictures of Holy Week events.
• Restrict your TV, Internet or music time.
• Restrict your phone time.
• Send a letter or picture to a grandmother, aunt or Godparent.
• Make a new friend outside your “crowd.”
• Be a friend to a shy person.
• Give up that bad place, person or thing.
• Choose a favorite toy, book or piece of clothing and put it away until Easter.
Go ahead ... grow the list :-)
No condiments (ketchup, added salt and pepper, bbq sauce, etc.)
Free Republic only on Sundays (which are not part of Lent)
**What to Give Up (for Lent)? The List**
Or add to your schedule — for example
Private prayer time when it is quiet during the day
Join a scripture study group
Join a faith sharing group
Turn off the TV
Thanks for posting this...
The First Four Days of Lent
These days serve as an introduction to our Lenten journey. Before we begin the first full week of Lent, we have a powerful set of readings about our Prayer, Repentance, Almsgiving and Fasting. We place ashes on our foreheads and learn about the meaning of death and life. Over two days we pray over the powerful challenge of Isaiah 58. And Jesus reminds us that he is inviting us to a “change of heart.”
Sweets and/or caffeine.
How about repent from a real sin like jealousy, envy, or slander? Jesus said that is what comes inside the heart of man that makes him evil.
I’m giving up dieting!
THis is the biggest challenge for me...
Food (Fasting) I can do somehwhat easy...Cake and Coffee YIKES....
I will give up the cake and limit coffee intake...
I’m not going to curse my family members when I find their dirty socks balled up in the laundry basket, and I will pray for them while I empty their pants pockets, again, even if it would serve them right if all their important documents went through the wash ...
LOL. I think I need to do that one too!
At some point, you just have to give up and try to turn it to spiritual advantage.
Someday, they’ll go to Basic Training, and then they’ll get what’s coming to them ...
Except my husband, who went to Basic in 1983, but it wore off.
Our church went on a 21 day fast at the beginning of the year. One of our teens said she was fasting health food. Lol! My kids fasted sweets or sugar of any kind. I did several different things. The first five days I was on a liquids only. Then only fruits and veggies (sometimes called a Daniel fast). Then only fresh fruits and veggies. Then no meats and finally I went to fasting two meals a day. I also didn’t have sweets or caffeine during the whole 21 days.
That is a good one. I read a book once where the lady made a habit of thanking the Lord that she had a husband to pick up after every time she had to pick up after him.
Someone please point to the place in the Bible that says things have to be given up for Lent....any help would be appreciated...Thanks..
He also said, “This kind [of demons] is not cast out but by prayer and fasting” Matthew 17:20.
See you on Holy Thursday. :-}
That had to be fiction. There are no such women, here.
parsy, who if he ever looks again, will try Central Europe, and girls who are both religious and hungry
Wasn’t fiction. She was making a choice to appreciate having a husband even when she didn’t appreciate what he did. I learned alot from that book and my hubby is better off for it! Lol!
I said “I learned alot from that book and my hubby is better off for it!”
Speaking of that I may need a reread! :)
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