Lent is a time of preparation before Easter. In that spirit, some people give up things for Lent because Jesus gave up life for us and our sins. We could take one stance on it that requires we give up soda (which never worked for me) or candy or a million other things. But is that really what Lent is all about?
I went to a residence life program about Lent and what it means for us. During the program, the speaker talked about the ways we think about Lent and how we should think about the period of Lent as our last 40 days to prepare before Easter, before the coming of Christ. If we all took this stance on it, it was our last 40 days on Earth, then maybe people wouldn't give up soda or candy or anything else. Maybe people would try to permanently better themselves. Unlike the stance Vito takes on Lenten promises, I take a much different stance.
If we give up soda for Lent, why should we pick it up again? Isn't Lent supposed to be the season that makes us better people and make us closer to becoming a good Christian/Catholic/whatever? Then doesn't living a life of simplicity come with being the utmost best Christian you can be? If that is so, then shouldn't we try to be the most humble servants to all and serve others the way Christ served others. Too many times we are wrapped up in our own lives and what we think are our own paths that we lose sight of the path God has tried to make for us.
Briefly I would like to say that I am sorry if this post has offended anyone, these are just my thoughts on the subject at the moment I am typing them and my feelings in relation to how I identify with my church. If you are of another religion and do not observe Lent, that is cool too and I would never ask you to change your religious beliefs, that is not the type of Catholic I am. But I am just reflecting on how my religious view of Lent is different from others (sorry Vito if it seems like I'm picking on you, I'm not) and how that manifests itself into different behavior. I am trying to take the academic road in all this, I apologize if I have swayed from that.
Back to the program already in session:
If the message of the Bible is to be like Christ, to be humble, to be a servant, to give yourself completely to God's mission, and to overall be "good" (don't ask me for a definition of that, I do not have one - in the philosophical sense), then why do we struggle with this so much? Why do we let ourselves divulge into things that mean nothing? Is having a soda really more important than religious reflection that we have to make allowances during Lent? Is eating a candy bar, and breaking a Lenten promise, really more important than asking God for the strength to make it all the way from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday? Is this particular to the US or is the way US people handling Lent really not as concentrated as I think it is?
A penny for your thoughts, please.
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