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MommyD
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When I was a kid, Lent was a time to give up something, go to confession, repent. When did we stop "giving up" and start "taking on" during Lent? Our DRE gave the kids a big speech on Sunday (sort of "correcting" the information I had given my 3rd grade students) all about "taking on" good works and prayer during Lent. That is fine but isn't Lent supposed to be about penance? Or am I wrong (not the first time  )?
Melissa
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JennGM
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I don't think it's changed. Both are there, and in a way they are the same. I think attention is focused on doing something positive because the "giving up" has been seen by many as the only thing they have to do -- no spirit in the task, no change or repentance for sin.
Lent has many layers, and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and prayer are huge components to the penitential season, as are penance.
Jessica has this great list of links on Lent that are very helpful.
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Willa
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I agree with Jenn -- it was all there throughout history. Lent is about prayers, fasting and almsgiving..... the gospel reading for the service is Matthew 6:1-6 -- about praying, fasting, and almsgiving quietly without bragging or expecting a reward. Praying could be seen as "adding on", fasting as "giving up" and almsgiving is I suppose a bit of both. But they are all parts of the same picture.
I think there are often "fashions" in religious education -- my daughter was told at Confirmation that we "don't say soldiers of Christ anymore" and the kids in First Communion prep often seem to hear more about the "community" in the Eucharist -- what religious educators call the horizontal elements of the Mass -- rather than the vertical -- communion with the Lord.
We got a little Lenten devotional from our parish and it had the same type of message as you mention -- giving things up was what you did as a Catholic child in the 50's and 60's, but now for your devotional practice you should do something nice for yourself today, or read a book about a different religion while not disagreeing with what it says (in the name of charity).
So I think the job of the Catholic nowadays is to remember that these religious fads come and go but there is an eternal and whole truth and meaning in what we do during these seasons.... one sided-emphasis is usually insufficient.
Sorry to go on and on, my teenagers and I have been discussing this a lot recently.
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Willa
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SimplyMom
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Willa wrote:
I think there are often "fashions" in religious education -- my daughter was told at Confirmation that we "don't say soldiers of Christ anymore" and the kids in First Communion prep often seem to hear more about the "community" in the Eucharist -- what religious educators call the horizontal elements of the Mass -- rather than the vertical -- communion with the Lord.
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Not to sound completely insane, but I think it is a slightly twisted, although not necessarily bad, view driven by our society of over abundance. Fasting for most of us really doesn't hurt all that much so much of the spiritual aspect is lost. Our lives are already so crowded and there are already so many demands on our time that taking something else on, even something pleasant can seem more penitential than giving something up in ways.
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JennGM
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I agree with Willa. To beat a dead horse, but I was reflecting on your post and had a few more thoughts.
If one is repenting or having a change of heart, it involves giving up on a bad habit or sin, but it needs to be replaced by a good action.
I can't remember the title of the Sheen book, but when he talks about the ego and I, he warns about leaving the hole or vacuum when removing a bad habit. The hole can lead to another habit even worse than the one removed unless we make a concerted effort with a positive counterbalance.
And I think modern day Steven Covey would say something similar, without the spiritual emphasis of course.
And to me just the phrase of "taking on" implies "giving up" something. If I'm "taking on" the act of responding with joy, that means I'm giving up grumbling. It's just a turn of a phrase, in my mind.
Of course, it's a slightly different approach when "giving up" is an area that isn't a vice per se -- chocolate or sweets or TV. But you can still say you are taking on something that's filling the hole -- family time instead of TV time, healthy eating instead of sweets....
Just musing out loud....
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JodieLyn
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yes Jenn... to take on something.. means that something must give.. even if it's not something.. it is then "free time" that you're giving up to do something else.
You can twist the words around for most anything to say you're giving up something or taking on something.
I've used Lent to increase good habits over bad.. things that I'm supposed to be doing anyway.. I might make an effort to do sooner/better/faster.. which means giving up a bit of being lazy or a bit of free time or stopping allowing yourself to fall into procrastination.
One of the things I like about that is that the good continues past Lent.. rather than just "giving up chocolate" or adding in a prayer time and gritting your teeth until Easter when you eat it again or stop doing it.
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mandmsmom2001
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Melissa,
I recall similarly to you. In my Catholic school days we were taught to fast, abstain, be penitential and sacrafice but to use the sacrifice to give to others.
As an elementary school student, it was as simple as giving up a trip to the penny candy store (that makes me sound about 105!) and taking the money saved from the sacrifice and putting it in the Operation Rice Bowl container. During Lent, we had a full Mass before school each day (rather than morning prayers/assembly) and stations of the cross every Friday. We gave up academic time in exchange for prayer (and had more homework to boot). But this was done for us by the nuns.
As an adult, giving up choclate seems far too simple and easy, particularly in our abundant society. Even abstaining from meat on Fridays seems too easy. I think the sacrifice should be something that is not easy and benefits others (like a smoker quitting and donating the money saved during Lent to the Lung Association). Giving up our time in our society is often difficult too and can certainly be used to benefit others.
I'd have to agree that how this has been taught has changed depending on the times/geogrpahy/preist but I think message has not changed.
Thanks for the reminder of the memories. They all sound like things to share with my kids.
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MommyD
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JennGM wrote:
And to me just the phrase of "taking on" implies "giving up" something. If I'm "taking on" the act of responding with joy, that means I'm giving up grumbling. It's just a turn of a phrase, in my mind.
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That might be true for you but I'm sure that the same isn't true for a room full of 3rd graders. I think we have to be sooo careful what we are teaching young kids, especially those that aren't going to get a lot of religious formation elsewhere. How often have you met adults whose knowledge of the faith came from Catholic elementary school? I would hate it if 30 year-old Joey were to tell his kids "we used to have to give up something but Mrs. D said that all we need to do now is say a few extra bedtime prayers". We really need to require more of our children.
Stepping off my soapbox now  !!
Melissa
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donnalynn
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mandmsmom2001 wrote:
Melissa,
As an adult, giving up choclate seems far too simple and easy, particularly in our abundant society. Even abstaining from meat on Fridays seems too easy. I think the sacrifice should be something that is not easy and benefits others (like a smoker quitting and donating the money saved during Lent to the Lung Association). Giving up our time in our society is often difficult too and can certainly be used to benefit others. |
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As a family we give up all refined sugar for lent - it is really, really hard!! We do it *because* there is such abundance in our society. To learn to do without something, to learn a sense of self denial is a valuable lesson in today's society and we do take the money that we might have spent on desserts and give it to charity.
This is just part of what we do for lent but I am actually a little concerned that the language often used today does not stress that element of self denial.
I do agree - to do something extra does mean that you have to make space for whatever that something is - it's not as if we get extra hours or extra money during lent to do all the extras!! 
We can never assume that anyone's sacrifice is little or easy - I really, seriously l..o..v...e chocolate.
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Mary G
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Melissa, to go back to your original question, this changed for many at the same time CCD classes took on a "gosh, we're so glad you're here, let's make it as cozy as possible for you" type of Catechism. Everything was/is "feel good" and spare the pain in this type of catechesis.
Jesus NEVER said it would be easy to follow him -- he just said "follow me". The saints rarely had an easy time of it and often had to live lives of REAL struggle and stress.
Personally, I think we need to include both sides of the coin -- giving up AND doing good works. It's kind of like need to read scripture, and be doers of the Word -- neither should be treated as more important than the other.
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Philothea
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SimplyMom wrote:
Willa wrote:
I think there are often "fashions" in religious education -- my daughter was told at Confirmation that we "don't say soldiers of Christ anymore" and the kids in First Communion prep often seem to hear more about the "community" in the Eucharist -- what religious educators call the horizontal elements of the Mass -- rather than the vertical -- communion with the Lord.
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Not to sound completely insane, but I think it is a slightly twisted, although not necessarily bad, view driven by our society of over abundance. Fasting for most of us really doesn't hurt all that much so much of the spiritual aspect is lost. Our lives are already so crowded and there are already so many demands on our time that taking something else on, even something pleasant can seem more penitential than giving something up in ways.
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You don't sound insane to me; I totally agree with you.
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Philothea
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By the way, regarding taking the money saved by giving up "X" and donating it to charity ....
We gave up meat. I went to the store to buy vegetarian provisions for the week and it turns out a healthy vegetarian diet is MORE expensive than a meat based one. So we're going to be spending more money on our food, not saving anything. Does that mean this is a poor choice of penance?
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donnalynn
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Philothea wrote:
By the way, regarding taking the money saved by giving up "X" and donating it to charity ....
We gave up meat. I went to the store to buy vegetarian provisions for the week and it turns out a healthy vegetarian diet is MORE expensive than a meat based one. So we're going to be spending more money on our food, not saving anything. Does that mean this is a poor choice of penance? |
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I would say it depends on your reasons for giving up meat.
But I'm surprised - what kind of vegetarian foods are you buying?
Another way you could approach it is to abstain from eating meat that does not have to be replaced by another food - like give up all breakfast meats, no pizza toppings, no deli meats, no meat pasta sauce, no take out, - that kind of thing.
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Philothea
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donnalynn wrote:
Philothea wrote:
By the way, regarding taking the money saved by giving up "X" and donating it to charity ....
We gave up meat. I went to the store to buy vegetarian provisions for the week and it turns out a healthy vegetarian diet is MORE expensive than a meat based one. So we're going to be spending more money on our food, not saving anything. Does that mean this is a poor choice of penance? |
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I would say it depends on your reasons for giving up meat.
But I'm surprised - what kind of vegetarian foods are you buying?
Another way you could approach it is to abstain from eating meat that does not have to be replaced by another food - like give up all breakfast meats, no pizza toppings, no deli meats, no meat pasta sauce, no take out, - that kind of thing.
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Well, the reasoning was that meat is such a staple for us that giving it up would be a constant reminder of choosing to work to change ourselves this Lenten season.
I'm sure one reason it was so expensive is that I bought all fresh fruits and veggies, and canned organic beans instead of dried. Plus I bought larger quantities than usual because I know it will take more to satisfy hunger than meat does. And prices seemed way higher than normal -- tomatoes were $2.49 per lb. and a loaf of ciabatta was $5.00. I went to a different grocery store than I have been lately, so that could have played a role, too.
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LookaBook
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One other thought to this discussion; "giving up" something, and fasting is a discipline. I would say it is very wrong for the DRE to exclude this aspect of lent. As every one else has said that good works are part of lent and should be taught and expected of all the children in your CCD. However, we exclude the "giving up" aspect of lent then we miss the whole point of the Divine Office readings/ prayers of Ash Wednesday: To discipline the body to prepare ourselves for spiritual battle of lent.
Just my .02,
Alison
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jugglingpaynes
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I don't know if this was mentioned, I don't have time to read the whole thread, but I see fasting and giving up things as way to remember that I'm trying to be a better person. When I fast and feel hungry, I remember those who have no choice in their hunger. And giving up things is very freeing. We have so much, but our stuff separates us from others and from God.
It is possible to give up something as you take on something. Give up your chocolate to give to a senior center or veterans clinic. Give up frivolous purchases and use the money you save for a favorite charity. Give up computer time to spend time with someone who is lonely or to just sit and pray. We like to compartmentalize our life, but everything is interconnected.
Peace and Laughter,
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Topic: When did this change?
