Fat Tuesday.
I don’t really understand the concept of overindulging in everything you’re not supposed to have during Lent.
As my priest always says, whatever you’re doing for Lent should not be something that you plan on going back to once Easter is here. You should do something that will affect your life forever after. As an adult, you shouldn’t give up candy because it’s difficult, but because you have a problem with enjoying candy so much that it’s somehow interfering with your relationship with the Lord.
I’m not sure if this is how I understand Lenten sacrifices. As my priest-professor explains, Christian asceticism is not giving up something bad, let alone giving up sin. It is giving up something good (marriage, other pleasures such as food, clothing, etc.) in order to glorify God.
Avoiding sin is a responsibility of all Christians (whether ascetics or not) during the whole year.
This smells of gnosticism. I think I probably used to think of Lent this way. I would use the season to kick a bad habit. That is not what Lent is about.
Historical asceticism involved fasting from sex/meat/other-things-that-are-not-in-themselves-bad. An ascetic (which all Christians were called to be) would give up these things for periods (like Lent, or other traditional fasting seasons). The monastic (which all Christians were not necessarily called to be), might give up one or more of these things for life.
In antiquity the Christian ideal would have been asceticism, and abstinence from sin would have been assumed. In fact, correct me if I’m wrong about this (it’s been a while since I’ve taken a class in early Christianity), but I think that historically, the Christian still somewhat beholden to sin wouldn’t have been considered ready for asceticism yet. This has shifted in modernity— the Christian ideal is now abstinence from sin, and asceticism is equated with monasticism (which it shouldn’t be). Asceticism is something extremists do.So, on the contrary from what the OP says, I would say that during Lent, you can and should fast from something you plan to go back to. Don’t “fast” from sin. Rid it from your life entirely. Fast from something good to remind you of how good it is. Fast from something good that you have a disordered attachment to, so that when it is returned to you, you can have a more appropriate relationship with it.
This is not to say that Lent is not an opportunity to put off sin— it is. You can use Lent to kickstart your spiritual life, or as a motivation to cleanse yourself from something you are addicted to. But for the Christian who more or less has put off [grave] sin already, Lent is most certainly about fasting from something good. So in conclusion, I hope you did get that last indulgence in alcohol, or meat, or wheat, or Facebook, or tv, or what have you, before beginning your journey of reorienting yourself toward what is important.
awkwardbutaccurate said:
“So, on the contrary from what the OP says, I would say that during Lent, you can and should fast from something you plan to go back to. Don’t “fast” from sin. Rid it from your life entirely. Fast from something good to remind you of how good it is. Fast from something good that you have a disordered attachment to, so that when it is returned to you, you can have a more appropriate relationship with it.”
This is not contrary to what I said. In fact, it’s in agreement to what I said.
“For example, a few years ago, I gave up clothes shopping for Lent because I care too much about fashion. After Lent was over, I bought clothes again, but for a long time I was able to stop overdoing it like I had prior. I’ve had a little backsliding since I’ve wanted to redo my wardrobe for college, and one of my Lenten sacrifices will be giving up clothes shopping.”
And
“If you are giving up chocolate, of course you want to have some the day before. But if you don’t overdo it, then you can really savor every bite - you can appreciate it, and if you can appreciate something so simple, there’s no way that can hurt your relationship with God. If you eat until your pants don’t fit, all you’ve done is gotten sick over something that’s supposed to bring pleasure.”
Though I can’t really blame awkwardbutaccurate for missing this because it looks like someone cut off all but the first two paragraphs of my post. So here’s the whole thing for anyone who missed it.
Essentially, all I was saying was if you have a problem with overeating a certain kind of food, give it up, but not with the idea of eating as much as you want again after Lent. Give it up so that once you go back to eating it after Lent, you have a new awareness and can better proportion how much of it you eat.
Anywho, hope that clears everything up.
