Not just giving up: Lent observations on campus
Students give up pastimes, embrace new habits during season
Melissa Crew
Issue date: 3/10/10 Section: Features
On Wednesday, February 17th, the season of Lent began.
Lent is the 40-day period of fasting before Easter Sunday that represents Jesus' wandering in the wilderness. Most Christians give up something that is a staple in their lives to show their solidarity with Christ.
For many Christians, Lent is a mystery. Some use Lent as a period of going on a diet; for others, Lent is a time when their Catholic friends walk around with ashes on their foreheads. Whatever people use it for, most don't even know why Lent exists or what it really means.
In the most basic terms, Lent is the season before Easter. The purpose of Lent is to be a season of fasting, self-denial, Christian growth and simplicity. Lent comes from the Germanic word for "springtime," and is viewed as a spiritual cleaning. It represents cleaning out those things that hinder our corporate and personal relationships with Christ.
This is why it is fitting that most Catholics begin the season with a symbol of repentance: placing ashes on their head or forehead. But the whole reason of Lent is to transform the inside of ourselves, not the outside. This is what leads people to give up something meaningful to them.
"I decided to give up playing video games after 7:00 at night and also going to movies on the weekends," junior Kevin Baudoux said. "Video games were just consuming my time and making me go to bed extremely late, and going to movies on the weekend was eating up my money."
Sophomore Taylor Conant gave her Lent fast a lot of thought before deciding.
"I thought a lot about what to give up for Lent this year. I really wanted to give up something that would be a struggle for me," Conant said. "I decided that throughout the day I doubt myself a lot, so I decided to give up negativity towards myself and towards others. It's been hard to do, but I'm excited to continue with it."
Some of the most common things that people have given up across campus are drinking soda, eating sweets, snacking, cell phone usage or texting and Facebook. These may not seem like huge things in life, but going 40 days without them would be a challenge for almost anyone. When people are tempted to go back to the things they gave up, they are supposed to remember the suffering that Jesus went through.
Instead of giving something up for Lent, people have also chosen to take something on, like reading the Bible or praying more.
"In the past I haven't done the best job of reading my Bible consistently, so for Lent I decided to read my Bible at least once every day," junior Zach Magnuson said. "It's something that I want to incorporate into my life even after Lent is over."
Although many Christians decide to give something up or take something on for Lent, many chose to not partake in Lent at all.
"I never remember when Lent is. It just seems to creep up on me and before I know it, it's already started. It's kind of embarrassing, but it's the truth," junior Rachel Stadter said.
Lent began in the apostolic era and was universally observed in the ancient church. It has continued up to present day, and many different denominations continue to take part in it.
Lent is the 40-day period of fasting before Easter Sunday that represents Jesus' wandering in the wilderness. Most Christians give up something that is a staple in their lives to show their solidarity with Christ.
For many Christians, Lent is a mystery. Some use Lent as a period of going on a diet; for others, Lent is a time when their Catholic friends walk around with ashes on their foreheads. Whatever people use it for, most don't even know why Lent exists or what it really means.
In the most basic terms, Lent is the season before Easter. The purpose of Lent is to be a season of fasting, self-denial, Christian growth and simplicity. Lent comes from the Germanic word for "springtime," and is viewed as a spiritual cleaning. It represents cleaning out those things that hinder our corporate and personal relationships with Christ.
This is why it is fitting that most Catholics begin the season with a symbol of repentance: placing ashes on their head or forehead. But the whole reason of Lent is to transform the inside of ourselves, not the outside. This is what leads people to give up something meaningful to them.
"I decided to give up playing video games after 7:00 at night and also going to movies on the weekends," junior Kevin Baudoux said. "Video games were just consuming my time and making me go to bed extremely late, and going to movies on the weekend was eating up my money."
Sophomore Taylor Conant gave her Lent fast a lot of thought before deciding.
"I thought a lot about what to give up for Lent this year. I really wanted to give up something that would be a struggle for me," Conant said. "I decided that throughout the day I doubt myself a lot, so I decided to give up negativity towards myself and towards others. It's been hard to do, but I'm excited to continue with it."
Some of the most common things that people have given up across campus are drinking soda, eating sweets, snacking, cell phone usage or texting and Facebook. These may not seem like huge things in life, but going 40 days without them would be a challenge for almost anyone. When people are tempted to go back to the things they gave up, they are supposed to remember the suffering that Jesus went through.
Instead of giving something up for Lent, people have also chosen to take something on, like reading the Bible or praying more.
"In the past I haven't done the best job of reading my Bible consistently, so for Lent I decided to read my Bible at least once every day," junior Zach Magnuson said. "It's something that I want to incorporate into my life even after Lent is over."
Although many Christians decide to give something up or take something on for Lent, many chose to not partake in Lent at all.
"I never remember when Lent is. It just seems to creep up on me and before I know it, it's already started. It's kind of embarrassing, but it's the truth," junior Rachel Stadter said.
Lent began in the apostolic era and was universally observed in the ancient church. It has continued up to present day, and many different denominations continue to take part in it.
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