2018 Lent Challenge

eminater wrote: »

ABSOLUTE
1) no swearing for 40 days - I need help on this haha
2) be a better "listener" for 40 days - friends yeah, but ALL ppl
3) hug my kids every morning and every night for 40 days
==
SLIGHTLY FLEXIBLE - but aiming for as close to 100% as I can manage it
4) Only home cooking - as much as possible
5) No animal products (vegan) - as much as possible
6) No Alcohol for 40 days

I wish you the best on your 40 day journey.

For this Lent, I am going to adhere to my running training plan (5 runs per week). Our priest is an IronMan, so if he can find the time, so can I! Also, demonstrate more patience with my kids and pray with them at bedtime.

Mslmesq wrote: »

They want you to start cutting back on sweets on Valentine’s Day?! I’m glad I’m not catholic.

You don't have to cut back on sweets. Each person decides what they are going to give up. It's not a Catholic-wide thing.

Me:1/40 days
Sugary snacks:0/40

lemurcat12 wrote: »

In the old days, the reason for things like Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day (as it is today in Chicago) ;-) was that you would not be eating meat or animal products (although fish was permitted some places -- the Latin word for meat/flesh is distinct from that for fish). Anyway, as a result you'd be using up dairy and eggs.

The current Orthodox Christian fast is basically like that (my Greek friend always tells me how much more serious their Lent is). ;-) Catholics, though, just avoid meat on Fridays -- fish is fine, but it's really not in the spirit if you have a lobster dinner, it's supposed to be simple, cheaper (save the money saved and give it to charity is one common practice), plain, a sacrifice.

Nothing "current" about Orthodox fasting practices. They've been the same for a very long time. Fish is also a separate food category as far as Orthodox fasting is concerned, but that doesn't matter for most of Lent since fish is also not eaten on fast days. Exceptions are when a major feast like Annunciation falls during Lent as it usually does; fish will be permitted then. Even more so since Annunciation (on the New Calendar) falls on a Sunday this year, and fasting rules are also relaxed on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day to the extent that wine and oil are permitted.

(Annunciation for the Old Calendar is complicated this year, since it falls on Holy Saturday. There are special rubrics for this situation, which is impossible on the New Calendar, and since it's Holy Saturday it remains a strict fast day even though the feast coincides. Most Orthodox churches in the US are on the New Calendar, so it doesn't affect them.)

Orthodox and Western Easter are only a week apart this year, so Orthodox Lent starts on Monday, February 19. (A day labeled "February 6" on the Old Calendar.)

No snacking after dinner!

I want to join in on this. I've been following this thread for a couple days trying to figure out what to give up for Lent. I think I've found it.
1.Rice ... It's my undoing lol I can eat with every meal.
2. Drink more water throughout the day.
3. Read a book(s)

lemurcat12 wrote: »

ccsernica wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

In the old days, the reason for things like Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day (as it is today in Chicago) ;-) was that you would not be eating meat or animal products (although fish was permitted some places -- the Latin word for meat/flesh is distinct from that for fish). Anyway, as a result you'd be using up dairy and eggs.

The current Orthodox Christian fast is basically like that (my Greek friend always tells me how much more serious their Lent is). ;-) Catholics, though, just avoid meat on Fridays -- fish is fine, but it's really not in the spirit if you have a lobster dinner, it's supposed to be simple, cheaper (save the money saved and give it to charity is one common practice), plain, a sacrifice.

Nothing "current" about Orthodox fasting practices. They've been the same for a very long time.

Yeah, I know -- wasn't trying to suggest otherwise. We changed, you didn't.

Fish is also a separate food category as far as Orthodox fasting is concerned, but that doesn't matter for most of Lent since fish is also not eaten on fast days.

My friend says shellfish is okay, however -- no animal products but for shellfish (which somehow doesn't count as animal?), and no oil.

Anyway, I just think different fasting practices are interesting. Ours are pretty low demand these days.

You're right about shellfish. No one seems to quite know the reason for the exception. Some say it's because they don't have a backbone. (But the rules don't mention a backbone. Maybe the way the Fathers looked at it that makes them not-animals? John the Baptist ate locusts, after all.) Some say it's because, in some coastal regions, there's not a heck of a lot else to eat. Either way, dining on lobster every night would indeed be one of those things which, while technically within the rules, pretty thoroughly tramples the spirit of them. Even without drawn butter.

The basic idea is to eat plainly and simply, what is needed for sustenance and not much more, and to avoid luxurious foods. This is presumed to be more inexpensive than our normal eating, and one is expected to give the money not spent on food to those in need. It's also presumed to be easier than our normal eating, so that we're less focused on food and more focused on spiritual things, but one of the ironies of modern life is that nothing is easier than the McDonald's drive-thru.

ccsernica wrote: »

You're right about shellfish. No one seems to quite know the reason for the exception. Some say it's because they don't have a backbone.

Well technically they have a backbone, at least biologically speaking they have an exoskeleton that means the skeleton is on the outside rather than on the inside.
It may be because a while ago shellfish was one of the cheapest foods.
Ref. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/fancy-oysters-with-your-shakespeare-1882563.html
But things have changed now and I agree that a lobster meal isn't very fitting for lent!