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March
2004 |
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40
days of fasting, praying, almsgiving |
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How
do today’s families observe Lent? |
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| CHRISTMAS CROSS
— A cross made from an old Christmas tree
was displayed at St. Mary Parish in Pell Lake on
Ash Wednesday complete with a string of lights that
will be lit on Easter Sunday. (Catholic Herald photo
by Allen Fredrickson) |
At my Catholic elementary school more than 30 years ago,
the coming of Lent prompted a question kids often bandied
about the playground or neighborhood families sometimes
discussed around their dinner tables: What are you giving
up?
Giving something up for Lent, be it candy or a favorite
television program, was — and often still is —
a familiar part of the season for Catholics, especially
children. The act was, as teachers and parents explained,
a self-sacrifice that would recreate, in some small sense,
the supreme sacrifice Jesus made. It was a way to show
penitence in preparation for the renewal of an Easter
people.
By the time I was in college, however, the practice of
giving something up had come under scrutiny. How much
of a sacrifice was forgoing a daily fast-food lunch during
Lent, some wondered, if you saved enough money in the
process to splurge on a new pair of shoes or tickets to
a baseball game?
Gradually, on a parish, diocesan, and even national level,
Lenten programs took a new direction — looking outward
rather than inward.
Full
story and side bar... |
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