A concerned Catholic: I have done my usual thing of giving up alcohol for Lent. While by no means a teetotaller, I do not find it a particularly difficult sacrifice. In consequence, I think it rather routine and that I ought to be doing something more. What do you advise?
Chaplain: You are correct. Lent can become routine, whereas it is meant to disrupt our regular patterns, giving God the opportunity to break into our lives. ‘Giving something up’ has become the sum total of what Lent means, even for many Catholics. The Church Fathers show us, however, that the traditional emphasis of Lent was upon fasting, by which they meant something very different from our ‘giving up’ alcohol or chocolate. Fasting, for them, was a necessary prerequisite for spiritual preparation for Easter.
