Lent. What is it? If you're above a certain age, you'll think of people spending a Wednesday in February with a cross of ashes on their foreheads, not eating meat on Fridays (if at all) and otherwise a high level of austerity for several weeks. A bit mysterious, it might seem. That was largely the way of it, for Catholics, for many years.
After Vatican II (the counsel held in 1964), many aspects of Catholic life changed. One of the more significant, I suspect most people old enough to recall would say, was that change away from such specific regualtions about Lent. Now, people both within the Catholic church and many non-Catholic Christians choose to keep Lent in some way.
Mostly, from my experience, there are special devotions available, many churches have mid-week meals and prayer services that aren't held the rest of the year, and some people individually decide to give up something in their lives for the duration of the Lenten season. I grew up with some observation of Lent at our PC-USA church, but not doing it at home with giving anything up. We now are members of an Orthodox Presbyterian Church congregation but attend a Nazarene church right now because of the lack of an OP congregation near enough. (Confused yet?) At any rate, it seems that some people we know have given something up and some haven't.
This is the second year my family has done this, and it is seeming to be a good decision so far. My husband has given up soda, I've given up the silly series books I read*, and the children are substituting their usual cookies in the afternoon with crackers or applesauce. These are tiny sacrifices to make, to remind us that this is a time set apart to remember the biggest sacrifice anyone ever made, when Jesus gave up his life for His people.
*I'm one of a surprisingly large group of adults who are Babysitters Club fans! Unlike some fandoms, we don't define ourselves by the BSC, and many people don't even know about it!
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