It’s only a few days to Lent again. This year I’m giving up the internet, aside from email, and doing morning and evening psalms. I’m also going to haul myself to noon Mass and rosary as often as possible, and pray the whole rosary on Ash Wdnesday. I’ve never done it before. I’ll be hoarse. I’ll have oodles of free time without three hours on the Dope every day.
This is a really exciting Lent for us, because we’ll be joining the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil, and we’re trying to prepare. I’m also offering up my suffering as a result of Mr. Lissar giving up caffeine.
Traditionally, a lot of people come in to say something clever, like, “I gave up Christianity for Lent!”, or “I gave up Lent for Lent!”. Please don’t. We’ve heard it before, and I’d like this thread to be reserved for those who are actually doing Lent as part of their faith.
What are you doing for Lent this year?
I give up elephant hunting for Lent. I started giving up elephant hunting when I was in elementary school with a bunch of catholic friends who had to give up good stuff like candy. I found it much easier to give up elephant hunting because there just were not that many elephants in Flint, Michigan and that made it somewhat easier. I keep up this tradition because it just works for me.
I haven’t decided yet! I wanted to do daily mass, but I’ll probably be having the baby during Lent (I think I’m actually due on Easter), so I can’t commit to it. I think the daily rosary might be just the thing.
I like to “take on” a committment rather than “give up” something…seems more meaningful to me, personally.
I am so excited for you this year, LL! I hope you have a wonderful Easter experience!
Every year I try to give up cussing and something else. The cussing is a verbal crutch I ought not to use as much as I do anyway, so it’s a form of self-denial and self-betterment. Anyway, that’s my @#$% story, and I’m sticking to it.
I haven’t decided what else. I believe I’m going to try to stop at a perpetual adoration chapel on the way to work every day (as often as work permits; I often am out of town). I’ve gotten into that habit for stretches previously, and when I start, it reminds how much I enjoy focusing less casually on the spiritual to start my day. It’s actually invigorating.
Yay! Congratualations on deciding to join the Church! I’m a cradle Catholic who just got Confirmed three years ago during my freshman year of college. It’s such an amazing sacrament! Note to self: extra prayers for Lissla Lissar.
I’m going to start praying the Liturgy of the Hours for Lent. I’m looking at becoming a Benedictine nun and they pray them. I’ve been pretty lax so far about getting into the routine, but I’m usually pretty good about Lenten commitments. I’m hoping this will be the momentum that I need to make it part of my day.
Good luck to everyone in their Lenten commitments. I hope it’s a blessed and prayerful season for you.
I’m going to try to renew my prayer commitments. I used to do a mystery of the rosary every night, along with other prayer and meditation. Now I hardly pray. Maybe some of it is because I moved and can no longer attend daily Mass like I used to. Concentration is hard. I almost never correspond with my spiritual director any more, when we used to e each other about three times per week.
The thing is, I know a lot of it is habit - you get into or out of the habit of prayer. But I’d been having some difficulty, not beign able to feel the Presence like I used to. So I gave up. And I’m not happier not praying. I feel more lost than ever. So I’ll try to start over.
I just read this thread to Mrs. Bricker; we are saying the rosary every evening for Lent. And now we’ll add our prayers for the Lissar family and their joyful entrance into the community of the faithful this Easter, and for the discernment of MissMossie as she contemplates her vocation.
I’m giving up pop, which is about 3-4 cans a day. It sounds minor, but it’s not for me. Going to try to incorporate my nightly prayers again, which I have been remiss on.
Apparently some posters’ cleverness (including a mod’s) was so darn overwhelming that they couldn’t resist coming in and crapping in the thread, despite a polite request from the OP not to do so. Nice. :mad:
Y’know, Lent is one of the few things I held onto when I left the church. Episcopal priests always said Lent was a time of introspection and self-examination, a time to look honestly at what we do and say, and compare it with our ideal of a Christian. The idea of self-sacrifice, besides being an homage to the fasting Jesus endured in the wilderness prior to that fateful weekend, was a way for us to purge ourselves of our bad habits, to deny ourselves comforts and luxuries in order to remind ourselves of the discomfort suffered daily by the poor, the disposessed and the sick.
So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take a hard look at myself and my life and make some needed corrections; I’m going to deny myself some daily luxuries and give the money saved to the local food bank.
Thanks, Lissla, for asking that question. I hope you don’t mind that I’m not Christian, but I did take your question seriously.
You said your family would be “joining the Catholic church for Easter Vigil.” Does this mean you’re becoming a Roman Catholic, or you’re participating in the Vigil for the first time? My wife and I participated in the Vigil when we were Episcopalians. Very uplifting.
Since we won’t be seeing you until the other side of the Resurrection, Happy Easter!
I’ve been struggling with this for the last few days. Last year was interesting–I actually abstained from helping at Mass. While this may seem bizarre, years of weekly service as a lector/EM/altar server/behind the scenes person had turned me into a loon for whom the Mass had lost a lot of meaning. I made the decision during the previous year’s Easter Vigil when I realized that after I had performed my reading, I spent 75% of the service in the sacristy folding various pieces of cloth, moving candles and oils, getting altar servers in place, and yelling at someone else for yelling at the kids when the incense burner went out because it was left on the outside stair and it was windy. Right before Communion I poked my head out of the sacristy and saw all the people kneeling in the beautifully decorated church that smelled of flowers and incense, enjoying a moment of quiet and peace and I was filled with envy. I was bitter and vengeful when I walked out of the church that night–the exact opposite of where I should have been at that moment. It was awful, and I never want to feel like that again.
Part of it was my own doing. I allowed the mystery and reflection to be stripped away because I insisted on doing everything. I was so afflicted by pride that I would not give up my death grip on the proceedings. Forcing myself to yield control was beneficial despite being a struggle for me.
Nothing as cut-and-dried (easy?) presents itself this year. However, over the last couple of years I’ve dealt with “issues” and I became very withdrawn. People tried to reach out, and I either ignored them or dealt with them in a half-hearted fashion. I think I will devote my Lent to reaching out to those people who were kind to me and thanking them for caring about me. Moreover, I will endeavor to perform one act of anonymous kindness each week for the one person who absolutely would not let me hit rock bottom no matter how hard I tried.
ETA: Welcome to the RCC, Lissla! I will pray for you during Lent and keep you in my thoughts during our Vigil.
