With Lent starting on Wednesday, are you participating and what are you "giving up"? My wife and I didn't use our credit cards last year and this year we don't plan on eating out.
I'm in the process of discernment/formation to become a deacon in the Catholic Church. I'm gonna challenge myself by spending more time in spiritual reading and prayer. I'm also going to integrate this into how I pursue physical fitness. This will require more time sacrificed to achieve these ends.
I am not Catholic but usually give something up with a few friends each year just to see if I can do it. I'm already going on 7 weeks without a drop of alcohol so doubt I add to that for 2014. Unless you count giving up lazy tendencies.
I grew up in a Catholic community but now go to church of Christ. A lot of my friends and family are Catholics so I'm always asking them what they gave up and stuff. Also this marks the start of fish frys every Friday night for the next month. Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk
Don't see the point in Lent. If you believe in god do you really think he will judge you differently if you give something up for 40 days out of the year?
Agree with mnhunter. I thought when you gave up something its cuz you thought it was a sin. So why would you go back to it knowing all sin keeps you out of Heaven. I can see tho trying to do something differnet to help your walk with Christ but why only 40 days?
I believe the old tradition of giving up meat entailed donating the money one would spend on meat to the poor. I could be wrong. Been decades since a I was Catholic.
The thought behind it is you give up something unnecessary (like TV, junk food, etc) and use that time/ money to grow closer to The Lord and become a better individual as well as help the lives of other people. It's your opinion if you think God will judge you differently but that's not what it's about for most people. It's about going the extra mile and believe it or not most people carry that over after Easter
It's different for everyone, and different for people living in different sections of the country... But the majority of people here give up "eating candy, junk food, stop swearing, pop, alcohol." How does that make you a better individual than the next guy...? I know people used to fast to show their sacrifice, but how did lent come about from that? Not trying to start an argument, just seeing what everyone thinks/does. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well those things are bad so it can't hurt to not do them right? It's not about "being better" than the next guy it's about building and expanding your relationship with God. Personally, I don't believe that giving up swearing, sodas, or TV during Lent is a true sacrifice. If you have a problem with too much of any of that then you should work hard all year. Lent is about putting aside distractions and really focusing hard to prepare for the coming of The Lord.
Living Lent | Catholic Answers just to try and clear up misconceptions about how people view lent. it's a form of spiritual self discipline. while you should exercise good discipline all throughout, it's not saying that you can't or shouldn't expand and grow in it every now and then.
I gave up eating sweets, and I also plan to fast at least one day per week. In addition I am devoting more time to prayer/devotion each day, in an attempt to make that more of a habit.
Well, first of all you're not supposed to be sinning anyway, whether it's Lent of not. But you don't give up something in order to earn brownie points with God. You do it to remind yourself of your relationship with God. We all know that's easy to forget. So when I do this something differently than I usually do, it helps to remind me of my Creator and how I am expected to live my life. May The Sheep Be With You
Lent = man made law that states it is a sin to eat meat on Fridays during the 40 day "fasting period". It used to be a "sin" in the Catholic system's eyes to eat meat on any Friday ...but they changed it to only during lent. I used to be Catholic...then I read the Bible. FYI ... man has no right or authority to say what sin is...God already has
