Giving up more than chocolate
Perhaps you’ve realized this by now from the ashen markings on some students’ and professors’ foreheads, but today is Ash Wednesday. It marks the beginning of Lent, a period of almost seven weeks that lead up to Easter Sunday.
Many Christian denominations encourage followers to give up something from their lives during the period of Lent. Whether chocolate, TV, or (in my case) Facebook, many abstain in particular ways for the sake of distinguishing Lent as a season of turning away from worldly things in order to more acutely meditate on divine truths.
Doctrine aside, I think this is a practice many of us at Columbia could learn from. Columbia is a place fraught with distraction. Essays are written on the day they’re due, club events are planned in chaos, and sometimes even social events feel affected by the frenetic atmosphere that exists here. As a consequence, we rarely take time to step away from our packed lives and consider larger issues more permanent than our four years in college.
While spiritual questions are certainly up there in the list of topics Columbia students rarely engage, I think the category is much wider than that. As we enter this season of personal reflection on all sorts of topics that are larger than our daily existence, these are some of the questions that will be on my mind:
What kind of person do I want to be?What am I doing to cultivate those characteristics?
How can my education at Columbia better facilitate my personal development?
What are my personal priorities at Columbia and beyond?
What is the importance of a spiritual life? How could I cultivate one?
What do I admire in others? What don’t I?
What/Who am I working for?
At the risk of sounding preachy, I think that answering to these sorts of questions requires intentionality. From my experiences at Columbia, there are very few opportunities to really consider questions like this without having to plan for it.
So, on this Ash Wednesday, I humbly submit to the Columbia community to consider giving something up for the sake of pondering larger questions that are often ignored for problem sets and club obligations. My suspicion is that you’ll get back more than you put in.
Derek Turner is a senior majoring in Political Science and Anthropology. He enjoys the blanched faces people make when he tells them he’s voluntarily moving to downtown Detroit for two years after graduation.
Catholics don’t give up luxuries on Lent in order to better contemplate big questions. According to doctrine, it is done as a form of penitence for Christ’s crucifixion. It’s cool if people want to give something up for any reason, but why would that help us ponder the questions you mentioned?
according to “doctrine,” you don’t have to give up anything at all during Lent (except meat on Fridays, but that is not a matter of doctrine either, but of practice). It’s encouraged to do so but there’s no requirement.
And giving stuff up/Lent is not just about Christ’s crucifixion — the Lenten season, though it leads up to Good Friday/Easter Sunday, is actually symbolic of Christ’s pilgrimage into the desert before the beginning of his public ministry (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 540: “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.”). Giving things up is not just about penitence for sin but about deepening one’s commitment to God, etc.
Finally, you talk about Catholics but Lent is not just a Catholic season, and many Protestant denominations have different understandings of Lent than we do. Other people can use it however they want. There’s no reason someone might not just choose to take our forty days and turn it into a season of self-improvement.
Nice post, Derek!
But remind me again why giving up chocolate will somehow help you answer existential questions about yourself? That’s the part I don’t think was really addressed.
These are small little farmes that are the perfect size for an average size trees of 5 to 9 ft tall. You’ll get two of each design and they are well constructed and are ready to hang after you add your photo. Colorful, good detail well made. I’ll probably buy the other designs. Plan to add a photo of each person in my family to hang on my tree. No complaints here.
Today Father Dan said in mass that we give up things to practice saying no to temptation. It is a way to form good habits. I had never heard this explanation before, but I really like it.
Lieran Posted on This was great! A friend lent me her copy of One Con Glory and I’ve been ruinnng down the short stories. Is there going to be anything else? Please drop me a line!
Melamie Stone I have read your websiteand I am in a detsarpe need of some help and I normally do not ask for help. But in this case I don’t know what else to do. I know your ministry is in NC but I have a problem and I am on my own and I can not do this on my own. I have a mother that I take care of that hasd a massive stroke 2 years ago and she needs help with everything, I was hurt on my job very badly and cannot use my upper extremities at all per the doctors and I have one more surgery to go through and I keep putting that off because workers comp cut me off. I have a 18 year old son with a new baby that lives with me and my oldest son is leaving for afganistan in Jan. My problem is and I have never had this problem before asking for help but I have tried here in my community and my church and they all tell me the same thing there is no funds to help me.I need to be able to buy Christmas and have a tree for my family and I have no money I expend all that I have on house bills to make sure we don’t loose our home and for my doctor bills I have no medical insurance and can’t get any. I feel like a failure to my family and my new granddaughter because I can not provide Christmas for them. I know the true meaning of Christmas but my parents always made sure there was Christmas for us and I always made sure there was Christmas for my children. I want to do this , this year for I may not be with my mother much longer and my oldest son serving our country I may not see him again I don’t know what will happen he will be gone 7 months. I am very proud of him for stepping up and serving our country but he is getting to come home for Christmas before he leaves and I have no Christmas for anyone. I am a very proud person and I don’t like to ask for help, but I am asking can you help me in any possible way to make sure that we have Christmas here, I don’t know how to tell my new grandaughter that Santa forgot to come and I cry and pray every night. But time is running near and I don’t know what else to do but to ask you for help if you can. I know that you have your own church to worry about and alot of people are out of jobs, but please if you can help me in any way make this prayer possible I would be very greatful to you and your church. My name is Kathy Pence I live in Kentucky one of the hardest states hit with the un employment and no help here. I live at 1441 Hwy 1674 Somerset, Ky 42503 and my phone number is 606-678-8575. Please if you can I am asking for your prayers that my prayers are answered.Sincerly,Kathy Pence