Re: >^..^< The cats on Candlemas 2008

In article <20080203.0845.108766snz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
David G. Bell <dbell@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>Is Lent about giving something up, or about doing something special? 
>I've one of those fuzzy memories of a past conversation that suggests 
>that the idea of "giving up X for Lent" is an over-simplification.

Yes.  Lent is supposed to be a time of penance ... but the
penance doesn't necessarily have to be in terms of giving up X.
The Church used to impose strict rules of fasting and abstinence
(the one is eating less food, the other is eating no meat [and,
it used to be, no eggs or dairy either]); now the emphasis is
more on doing something constructive to improve your relationship
with God.  We now have, IIRC (Ash Wednesday coming up, gotta
review the rules) fasting and abstinence only on Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday, abstinence on all the Fridays of Lent.

Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djheydt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]