Father Qudo Sarduci, the famous Priest and reporter for "The Vatican Inquirer," answered ... Menthol cigarettes.
A friend of mine gave up the last bite of food on his plate for every meal!
What about wearing clothes that are too tight and draw attention only to your body if you don't have the body for it?
Or buying fruit to eat better and then watching it rot in the Fridge?
Flexing your muscles while looking at yourself naked in the mirror.
Popular ones include refraining from drinking ... drinking to excess ... smoking while drinking ... doing weed while drinking to excess ... getting caught doing any of these after you've already told everyone you're giving them up for Lent.
The number one thing people give up for Lent, year round, is getting married ... again.
Where did giving up something for Lent come from?
Let's start with the Bible.
... okay nothing there!
Yep, the Bible doesn't mention having to give anything up ... nothing about Mardi Gras ... Ash Wednesday ... repentance ... fasting ... self examination ... only fish on Friday ... Beads ... Bunnies ... or Easter Eggs.
So why do we do this stuff?
Especially if it's not even in the Bible!
A little more than 100 years after his death, Ireanaus of Lyons ... an early Church Father ... wrote that in France ... not Israel or the Holy Land but FRANCE OF ALL PLACES ... that some ... NOT ALL ... commemorated the Jesus' death by not eating from 3:00 on Friday (when Jesus died on the Cross) until Easter morning (when he rose ... and according to the Gospel of John immediately had a fish fry on the beach).
To remember Jesus suffering they took to skipping supper on Friday, didn't eat at all on Saturday and probably started the first Breakfast Buffett on Easter Sunday!
That's how it all started!
It's a pretty nice way of honoring someone who loved them so much he gave his life to prove God is always present because love is always present ... even in the darkest of times and worst of circumstances.
Here's where the story gets interesting.
The early Church believed the best strategy to grow the faith was taking over Pagan Holidays ... so it was decided to have Easter on Spring Solstice ... the beginning of good weather when everyone's happy surviving winter and the beginning warm temperatures are a perfect time to make everyone understand Jesus came back just like the blooms on the plants and the leaves on the tree.
It wasn't just Easter because they also moved Christmas to Winter Solstice to symbolize Jesus coming during the darkest, coldest of times ... even though Jesus was actually born around April ... it was more important to grow the Church.
The whole 40 day thing came about around 350 years after Christ died ... predicated upon Jesus was tempted for 40 days in the Desert, it raining for 40 days and 40 nights on Noah, Moses wandering around the Wilderness for 40 days and a lot of other times it took 40 days/years to accomplish something in the Bible.
Of course there's no sense of time in ancient Hebrew so claiming something was 40 days/years simply meant a long time.
Stretching Lent from Ash Wednesday (also not in the Bible) to Easter required more Church attendance and if you're giving up something to show your faith then it makes sense that what you'd have spent on alcohol, smoking or downloading Porn would be given to the Church.
Over the ensuing Centuries, Lent's been refined along with Easter to become what it is today ... a huge ass Party on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday when faith is proclaimed by giving up French Fries when you order a Big Mac.
It's ironic that Lent and Easter are more popular than ever but Church participation continues to wane to the lowest attendance ever.
In the end, if you find giving up something to illustrate your desire to identify with and commune with things bigger than yourself ... the suffering of Jesus and the love of God ... Lent's as good a time as any.
Here's the thing though.
Like everything else, Lent comes and goes and it's you who remains and the question becomes "Which you is remaining?" ... The one giving up things to better identify with and commune with things bigger than yourself ... or .... are you someone who's just visiting bigger things for a little while?
That's the question of Lent.
Micheal Elliott
February 26, 2017
