Thursday, February 22, 2007

ash wednesday

today is ash wednesday - the first day of lent. i'm not catholic, but i'm taking part in this christian tradition because my husband is catholic along with every other individual in the entire city of boston. that's right... it's peer pressure.

now, boys and girls, if you recall yur sunday school/catechism classes, lent is the 40 days prior to easter. traditionally, we fast from a particular vice in order to sacrifice, as christ did, during his 40 days in the wilderness.

these days, i think we've gotten a little soft when it comes to lent. we give up stupid little things like soda, swearing, or talking with our mouths full. boo hoo. in the olden days, fasting was a little more severe. see this example from Socrates of Constantinople:

all animal products were strictly forbidden, while others will permit fish, others permit fish and fowl, others prohibit fruit and eggs, and still others eat only bread. In some places, believers abstained from food for an entire day, others took only one meal each day, while others abstained from all food until 3 o'clock. In most places, however, the practice was to abstain from eating until the evening and then a small meal without meat or alcohol was eaten.


so, in order to "toughen up" our lenten tradition, i propose this: your spouse/best friend/significant other gets to choose what you give up for lent. this way, lent would be a true sacrifice, rather than just an excuse to break a bad habit you've been trying to kick.

my husband and i tried this. he thought i should give up sarcasm. i thought he should give up tv.

yea right. i think i'll stick to giving up soda for lent.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey man, we are a Catholic/non-Catholic couple too. I never did anything for Lent until I met Kelly. I think we are going to give up eating. Snacking. It's really hard after only one day. We have a chocolate cake and a fridge full of truffles. One year I gave up heroin. That was tough.