Who? If anyone, is giving up anything for lent? And if you are what are you giving up?

There are 34 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 6,233 times. The latest Post () was by UK Man.

1st Official Post

    I'll go first, I definitely observe it and experience quiet reflection.


    No meat for ash Wednesday (Today) on Fridays, Holy Thursday and Good Friday.


    I already walk a very straight line in life ... I just continue it and be good overall.

    I’m not so good, overall or even during Lent. But I do recognize Lent as a time of personal reflection and growth.


    Rather than giving up something, my goal is to take time every day during Lent, to call or email someone who is alone, ill, grieving, or for some reason simply in need of being remembered.

    That's considerate, thoughtful and effective Rice. Good for you and those who benefit from your effort. (That makes you a good person in my book.)

    Quote from Mateo

    I'll go first, I definitely observe it and experience quiet reflection.


    No meat for ash Wednesday (Today) on Fridays, Holy Thursday and Good Friday.


    I already walk a very straight line in life ... I just continue it and be good overall.

    According to ur own statement in other thread, u r not religious.......why would any of this apply to u then????

    Because it is what is going on now and some people may be tuned in to it


    Besides (After you will read.) I agree with the concept.


    Not being religious is not being blind or not participating.


    Better explained to me by a long lost person from my earlier life:


    Me to them >>> Why do you celebrate Christmas if you are not a Catholic and don't believe in God?


    Them to me >>> Because I like the concept behind it all. People caring about each other, gathering for a meal to celebrate family and friends... brotherhood ... while being kind to each other by exchanging presents. PLUS ... I like the idea of decorating a tree. It is beautiful with all the lights.


    Not kidding, this was the exchange we had.

    I think the older get the less religious u get.......unless u r one of those poor bastards that hope for salvation still.....

    Pope Francis for sure have made me totally teflonized towards religion.......

    My best friend, Jorge, sent me some pics from his and his family's visit to the Vatican last year.......that opened up a box of worms.......he didn't know anything about Francis ties to this and that......

    Quote from UK Man

    I respect those who believe in it but personally I don't give a shit about it.


    Rather like all those New Year resolutions I heard from folk when living in Scotland. 99% of them only lasted until pub opening time.

    I always laughed about the people leaving the church at the plaza close to Rice , where I also live earlier........ first praying for this and that, then leaving the church and continuing ur life as an asshole.......

    • Official Post

    My Welsh grandfather was a Presbyterian deacon who would say that drink was the work of the devil, so imagine his anguish when my brother started working for Irish Distillers. Not to mention when my dad would go and see him armed with a bottle of sherry which was quickly whisked away and hidden in a cabinet.

    On subsequent visits the sherry was nowhere to be found.

    :nut:

    My Baptist grandmother never really accepted my Catholic father. Especially because he was a research chemist whose very serious avocation was making rather delicious wine. She was scandalized by that 364 days of each year. But on that one other day every year, she brought him her homemade fruitcakes so that (doubtless while her back was turned) he could soak them in red wine for her.

    Religion was important to me in my teens and then again in my thirties.


    I used to stop drinking for Lent , even when I was selling the stuff !


    A few things i saw and a few people I met made me a little upset with organized religion .


    Nowadays , I try and be good with people and hope they treat me the same.


    I could never work out why you had to cut things out for 40 days in the year . If they are bad , you cut them out for good . If they are fine , keep doing it , drinking it , eating it .....


    Anyway , I had not pancakes yesterday , I had no ashes today and tomorrow I will have some Don David Reserva Malbec to celebrate the end of the summer and the closing days of February

    I think the idea isn’t necessarily to give up something because it is bad, but to make a sacrifice for a mere 40 days. If the thing you are giving up or, in a positive way, the good thing you are doing for those 40 days develops into a longer-lasting habit, so much the better.


    I quit giving up something for Lent years ago when I recognized and accepted my complete lack of discipline. A good friend and I decided to give up wine for Lent. Note that Sundays are officially NOT part of Lent. All bets are off. Binge eat those alfajores! So she and I would get together on Sunday nights and swill wine while watching Masterpiece Theatre. But about three weeks into Lent, one of us had a schedule conflict so we postponed our “Sunday” until Tuesday. And so it went. Once we established that Sundays and Lent had become, for us, moveable feasts, we just gave up pretending.