Giving it up for Lent...

I found the following article to be interesting...and a relief!

Cheating on Lenten sacrifice no sin
Trying is the thing that really counts, local priests say
Friday, March 12, 2010 3:19 AM
By Meredith Heagney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH FILE

Dispatch reporter Meredith Heagney talks with the Rev. Larry Rice about Lenten promises and the possibility of slip-ups.

You can be honest: Today is the 24th day of Lent -- the 21st if you don't count Sundays -- and you have not been perfect.

Maybe you gave up chocolate, but no one was watching when you passed the candy dish. Maybe you gave up taking the elevator, but your legs hurt from the stairs.

You swore off TV, except for that one episode of Lost. Relax, priests say. Sinned, you have not.

A Lenten sacrifice, or "giving something up," is intended to draw a believer closer to God, with the idea that self-denial can enhance spirituality. Catholics and Protestants often give up something they enjoy to reflect the sacrifice they believe Jesus Christ made for them.

Nonreligious people sometimes get in on the tradition for self-improvement purposes.

For those who do sacrifice to get closer to God, what matters is effort, not perfection, said the Rev. Michael Watson of St. Andrew Parish, a Catholic church in Upper Arlington.

"Because we're prone to human weakness from time to time, it doesn't mean the end of the world," he said. Slipping up is not a sin unless the action you committed is itself a sin, he said.

So if you swore off alcohol and had one cocktail, that's not a sin. But if you had five and got drunk, you probably committed the sin of immoderation, whether it's Lent or not.

People who slip sometimes tell the Rev. Jerry Rodenfels of the Church of the Resurrection in New Albany, as if they have to confess their misdeeds.

He tells them "not to worry. It's not a sin," he said. But they still feel bad. "For those of us who are older, there's something instilled in us called Catholic guilt," Rodenfels said, laughing.

Churchgoers also debate whether they can "cheat" on Sundays, because those days technically aren't included in the 40 days of Lent. The priests say you can. Sunday is, as Rodenfels called it, a "free" day. That's because Sunday is the weekly joyful celebration of Christ's resurrection, said Leo Madden, a professor of theology at Ohio Dominican University. "It is incompatible for a period of time marked by sacrifice to occur at the same time," Madden said. "Technically speaking, Sunday is not a day of Lent." Rodenfels said many people still choose to continue their sacrifice on Sundays out of family tradition or personal pride.

Alyce Salomon, 75, of German Village, broke her frozen-yogurt fast only once, on the first Sunday of Lent. She's diabetic, and the vanilla treat, which she normally bought at United Dairy Farmers three or four times a week, was one of her few dietary indulgences. "The 40 days do not include Sunday," she said. "That's my theory," although "my mother wouldn't have told me that."

Kate Riley, a history professor at Ohio Dominican, has given up beer for Lent the past 15 or 20 years, she said. Normally, she would enjoy three or four beers a week.
She doesn't cheat on Sundays, but she will have a bottle of Irish beer on St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday. Riley is of Irish descent and attended the University of Notre Dame. "I get a dispensation. My brother is a priest," she joked.

Riley keeps beer in her refrigerator during Lent to intensify the challenge. If she removed the beer from her house, she would be forced to abstain, which would lessen the sacrifice. "I think it means more if, every time you open the fridge, you see one in there," she said. "It makes you stronger if you don't take it."

This year, Riley also decided not to drink wine during Lent. She slipped once, at her sister's house. She's not losing sleep over it. "I don't think the Lord would chastise me or consider me a failure because I slipped up one time," she said.

"Besides, my sister made me."

mheagney@dispatch.com