Giving Up on Giving Up

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
ISIAH 58:9

During Lent, the question I get all of the time, especially from my non-Catholic friends  which is usually asked with a barely concealed chuckle is, "What are you giving up for Lent this year?"  The question itself brings me back to my childhood at St. Joseph and St. Anne's School on the Southwest side of Chicago.  Lent was a big deal to the good sisters of St. Joseph and they did their best to instill in us a healthy respect for this very special season of the Church year.  

Believe you me, it was never my idea to give something up for Lent, I didn't see the need to.  The sisters explained that we sometimes sinned.  Okay, granted, this I had to agree with, I sinned.  They told us that we sinned because we were undisciplined and we should discipline ourselves to make ourselves stronger to resist sin and one way to do that was to give up something that gave us pleasure for Lent.  It was now that the class would begin thinking what they could give up, that would hurt the least.  The class snitches and the sisters' stable of blackboard name writing monitors went to work to prove why they were Teachers Pets.  Patricia, the chief teaches pet who could do no wrong, said that she planned to say the Rosary twice each day and prepare a spiritual bouquet of five hundred Our Father's for Sister Margaret Jean.  Patricia didn't think of it, but what would have made this the perfect offering to sister would be to offer to do all of this while kneeling on rock salt!  That, of course, would have been too much for even the likes of the meanest Sister of St. Joseph to accept but it would show that Patricia was in the right frame of mind!  

With the exception of sister's sycophants, the rest of us would come up with things that were more pedestrian.  Some would give up watching TV.  Some would decide to be nicer to their sisters and brothers. For the most part, the giving up of candy was convenient and for those of us like yours truly eliminated the need to think of another answer.  So every year, out of the fifty kids in any one class, forty would give up candy and the other ten would put us to shame by promising Ironman works of prayer and charity.  In the long run, it didn't matter what you promised, it was what you actually did that counted.  Giving up candy for me was not that hard.  On Wednesday's during Lent, I just would forgo the trip to the candy store when I got my allowance.  Needless to say, temptation came my way and I never made the forty day fast from candy.  Now, had I known back then that Sunday didn't count and I could eat candy on Sunday, I probably would have made it.  But the sisters conveniently left that part of the rule out. 

So, the question now comes up, "What are you giving up for Lent this year?"  My suggestion is to give up giving up and do what Isiah suggests and simply give of yourself.  Sharing what you have with those that need it is much more useful than just giving up something that in general you don't need and can survive without anyway.  In the Church, we have the Corporal and Spiritual Acts of mercy.  They pretty much fit with our reading roday from Isiah. 

I've said a couple of times in the last few weeks that we are in a time of special mercy and that Jesus wants us to take advantage of the great love He has for us.  If we accept His mercy, we should be willing to extend it to those around us.  The Works of Mercy are not giving up things, they are positive actions to share with the world.  Read them and then think what it is that you yourself could do.  Give up giving up and accept the challenge of being a giver instead. 

Purgatory - Please hear me out.  Not everyone who dies goes directly to heaven, they are just not ready for it. Millions of people are there who have no one to pray for them. Please pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory. They will thank you in ways that you cannot imagine!