As the years have gone by, I have become increasingly ill-prepared for the beginning of Lent, the arrival of which always takes me by surprise, even when it begins as late in the year as it does today. First, what shall I give up? It’s all very well to say, as some do, that we ought actively to do things (that is, be positive) rather than give them up (supposedly negative): Lent is a time for spiritual growth after all, not for a kind of personal shrinking and self-confinement: that’s the argument. But it really won’t do, will it? John Henry Newman, for one, would give this notion pretty short shrift. Consider the following, from one of his Lenten sermons (the whole thing is worth reading):