Giving Up for LentI thought I had the best idea …
admin February 20th, 2007
Giving Up for Lent
I thought I had the best idea EVER for a Lenten penance.
Ready?
I was going to give up sarcasm.
So I told The Big Seester about my plans. She thought it was such a great idea that she promptly decided to bogart it, which was fine with me. It’s actually an even better idea for her than for me. Mind you, I don’t think sarcasm is necessarily sinful, though it’s often used to tear down rather than build up. I just thought it would be a good exercise in guarding my tongue, giving up something that I enjoy, and growing closer to Jesus.
But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe it wasn’t such a good penance for me. I mean, I use sarcasm and enjoy it, but it seemed like there was something that would be a better choice.
I considered giving up unnecessary use of the Internet, but got into difficulties in defining “necessary” – is online banking necessary? what about Yahoo Yellow Pages? E-mail? Instant messenger, when I have both personal and work contacts on it? Then I considered fasting from blogs. I may do that next year, but this year, especially with RCIA continuing and my entrance into the Church at the Easter Vigil…
But I think I’ve got the perfect penance for me this year. The Canuck is free to comment on how difficult this will be for me:
I will get up when my alarm goes off every morning. I will not use the snooze button.
Yes, I’m fasting from the snooze button this Lent. I think I will also do some sort of food-related penance, since once I’m out of bed and stumbling toward the bathroom my penance is (more or less) over for the day…I think I’ll give up sweets – that’ll be especially difficult, as my Girl Scout cookies are due to be delivered this week.
And Father John challenged us in RCIA to spend at least one hour per week (at one time, not piecemeal) at Eucharistic Adoration. So I’ll be doing that as well, plus (of course) the requisite fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and the requisite abstinence from meat on Fridays.
This will not be an easy Lent. But Father John does say that “You get out of Easter what you put into Lent.” And Sister Mary Martha says “No one let up on Jesus, you slacker.”
I think they’re both right. 
