What is Lent Really About?

When I was a kid growing up in Catholic schools, Lent was always a really big deal each year. Sister would have us all plan out what we were going to "give up" for Lent. Of course, almost everyone gave up candy. In addition, I usually gave up movies for Lent, but since we only saw a movie once every couple of months, giving it up for six weeks was not very difficult - unless a Disney movie came to town during Lent. Some kids would try to give up things like homework or green beans for Lent, but I don't think they ever got away with that.

"Giving up" was really pushed hard for Lent back then. It was seen as penance, but also self-discipline. Those are not bad things, and indeed, sometimes good can really come from that. My mother used to give up smoking every year for Lent. She would keep a couple of packs in the drawer just in case she became intolerably cranky, but she usually was quite successful. Then one year she realized that she had gone for six whole weeks without a cigarette, why should she start in again?

And as I have "grown in wisdom and grace," I have come to realize that that is what Lent is really about: conversion - making a permanent positive change in your life. For me that means not giving up something like candy (which I will go right back to on Easter) but curtailing a practice in my life, or beginning a new one, that I really want for the long run.

A few years ago I happened to be at a family event on Ash Wednesday. Several of my cousins got into a discussion about what they were doing for Lent. One has always given up drinking alcohol for Lent. But in recent years he has begun drinking a glass of red wine daily for good heart health. He said he really was in a dilemma that year because he believed giving it up would be good self-disipline, but on the other hand he started drinking wine because it was supposed to be a good thing for his health. Another, who practically lives on chocolate, was of course giving it up for Lent. So I launched into my theological treatise about making a permanent conversion during Lent, not "giving up" something that you will go right back to after the season. I went on and on for several minutes trying to convince them all why I was right. But my cousin simply responded, "You just don't want to give up chocolate for Lent!"

I do believe in the need for penance and self-discipline. Anything you want to be good at requires self-disicpline. And I strongly believe in the need for permanent conversion - at every moment of our lives we are called to become more...to become even better than we already are. But I happen to love fish. I look forward to meatless Fridays because I get to enjoy tuna salad for lunch and a nice baked cod filet for supper. So I have to work hard to make Lent meaningful.

A recent article in Liguorian magazine does a wonderful job of explaining how one person went through stages in her life from where Lent was pretty much meaningless, to a point today where she has made it meaningful for herself. The entire issue of the magazine is quite good, but especially that article by Patricia H. Livingston. You can read the article at Liguorian.org