Lent!

Jaybird

Jaybird is Birdmojo on Xbox Live and Jaybirdmojo on Playstation's network. He's been playing consoles since the Atari 2600 and it was Zork that taught him how to touch-type. If you've got a song for Wednesday, a commercial for Saturday, a recommendation for Tuesday, an essay for Monday, or, heck, just a handful a questions, fire off an email to AskJaybird-at-gmail.com

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25 Responses

  1. Marchmaine says:

    Before Lent I like to fortify myself with the Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Faure.

    Being as I am, devotionally challenged, I keep my penances small but constant, mix in some additional prayer, a weekly corporal work of mercy… and I’m petitioning my confessor (unsuccessfully) to allow my time spent here to count as a spiritual work of mercy.

    Verbe égal au Très-Haut, notre unique espérance,
    Jour éternel de la terre et des cieux;
    De la paisible nuit nous rompons le silence,
    Divin Sauveur, jette sur nous les yeux!

    Répands sur nous le feu de ta grâce puissante,
    Que tout l’enfer fuie au son de ta voix;
    Dissipe le sommeil d’une âme languissante,
    Qui la conduit à l’oubli de tes lois!

    O Christ, sois favorable à ce peuple fidèle
    Pour te bénir maintenant rassemblé.
    Reçois les chants qu’il offre à ta gloire immortelle,
    Et de tes dons qu’il retourne comblé!

    Here’s a really nice version with a Mardi Gras treat… [I can’t seem to get it to embed]

    https://youtu.be/9jliWPm6hoU?t=5sReport

  2. Mike Dwyer says:

    I use an app called Pocket to clip articles from blogs, websites, etc. I just recently received an email from them that said I was among the top 5% of their users last year and read the equivalent of 18 books. But then I thought, “I would have benefited more from reading 18 books.” So I culled my feed reader down to the bare minimum, unliked a bunch of Facebook pages, and started telling my mom, thanks but no thanks on all the articles she sends me. The entire effort is to create some margin in my free time. Don’t know what that will accomplish but it feels like the right thing to do. So for Lent I’m trying to give up looking at screens in hopes I will start looking at the real world more.


    Give up harsh words – Use generous ones
    Give up unhappiness – Take up gratitude
    Give up anger – Take up gentleness & patience
    Give up pessimism – Take up hope and optimism
    Give up worrying – Take up trust in God
    Give up complaining – Value what you have
    Give up stress – Take up prayer
    Give up judging others – Discover God within them
    Give up sorrow and bitterness – Fill your heart with joy
    Give up selfishness – Take up compassion for others
    Give up being unforgiving – Learn reconciliation
    Give up words – Fill yourself with silence & listen to others
    Report

  3. Chris says:

    Catholicism: We don’t do New Year’s Resolutions; we know you’re only going to give up your vices for 40 days… if that.Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Chris says:

      It is good to give up vices temporarily.

      It helps you to enjoy them again when you restart them again.Report

      • Glyph in reply to Jaybird says:

        So seeing the word “vice” brought this old Grandmaster Melle Mel gem to mind, and now I am sitting here with tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at the style:

        https://youtu.be/Voz3aN4MiiIReport

      • Chris in reply to Jaybird says:

        You are preachin’ to the choir.

        One contemporary theory of “cravings” (e.g., nicotine cravings) is that the psychological component, at least, comes from encountering a “block” or “barrier” to satiety (i.e., Lacan was right all along!). Better to just remove the barriers then, I say.Report

        • Glyph in reply to Chris says:

          I’ve found that not totally blocking things I want to not do (at least notionally leaving the door open), helps me not do them. Otherwise they are all I can think about, if I think I can never do them again.

          So I no longer say, “I’m never doing [X] again”; I say, “I’m not doing [X] today”, and then just say it again tomorrow, and the day after that, etc.Report

        • Jaybird in reply to Chris says:

          That sounds like a solution that would work really well for about 4% of the population, work shabbily for another 20ish, and then crash and burn for the rest.Report

          • Chris in reply to Jaybird says:

            Yeah, I’m joking, of course, but Glyph’s solution is a more reasonable way to go. The idea is not to increase a behavior by trying to construct barriers for it, but instead make the barriers more dynamic, and include end-arounds, so that people don’t feel trapped between enforced abstinence and their compulsions, potentially enhancing the compulsions.

            The gist being that we’re all basically rebellious teenagers at risk of yelling to our better selves, “You don’t get me! You can’t control me!” as we figuratively tip over porta-potties in the middle of the night.Report

            • Glyph in reply to Chris says:

              Speaking of folk wisdom, this is more or less the “take it one day at a time” philosophy embedded in some AA stuff too.

              Never have another drink, ever? Not only does that seem a miserable existence if I somehow succeed, but I know right now that I will definitely fail, so fish it, I’m having a drink.

              But not drinking *today*? That, I might be able to manage. Then, get a bunch of those single days under your belt.Report

    • Marchmaine in reply to Chris says:

      Precisely… that’s part of the collected wisdom that makes Catholicism so human.

      The alternatives are none days, all days or some random collection of days – why 40? New Year’s resolutions are pretty much “none” – there’s no reinforcement after that one day. Lent, at a minimum, is a reminder for 40-days of the thing you wanted to do on day-one, and possibly haven’t. Ancient wisdom and formation practices learned over centuries recognize that it takes about 6-weeks to cultivate a new habit or virtue. Recent “studies” suggest somewhere from 18-66 days is common (depending on the habit one wants to form or break).

      So, studies show 40-days is a great target for you to work on habits or virtues.

      And a 365-day Lent? That’s just inhuman.Report

  4. KatherineMW says:

    I am giving up online fansites (discussion/advertising of movies, TV shows, etc). I did it one year and it made me realize how much more time I had, and how many better uses I could make of that time.

    This year, however, there’s a probability that the time is going to be filled by keeping up on the news (in particular, the US presidential primaries) instead.Report

  5. I am giving up rap, long-distance running, and Fox News.Report

  6. Burt Likko says:

    I did my “Lent” a couple months ago, it was sixty days long, and I look back upon it with fondness.Report

  7. Miss Mary says:

    Alcohol. I can’t decide if I should be enjoying it while I can before the IVF or if I should start getting used to living without my lovely wine with dinner. I’m trying to go without. Who needs the extra calories anyway, right?Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Miss Mary says:

      I will still enjoy the occasional glass (or two) of wine.

      Because, apparently, I’ve also given up diet sodas.

      Which means that I’ve also given up caffeine, for the most part.Report

      • Miss Mary in reply to Jaybird says:

        You poor soul. All you have left is wine! Enjoy 🙂Report

      • Fish in reply to Jaybird says:

        I gave up sodas for good a couple of years ago. I mean, it wasn’t hard as I had already moved to a “one soda a day” regiment, so that last step was easy. I’ve never looked back.

        And besides, coffee is a way more satisfying source of caffeine, anyway.Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Miss Mary says:

      WAIT! I MEAN GOOD FOR YOU!

      Good luck!Report

      • Miss Mary in reply to Jaybird says:

        Thank you. I’ll need a lot of luck to give up wine. LOL

        I’ve very optimistic about the IVF and have every reason to be. Actually, I can’t think of a reason that it wouldn’t work out. I’m keeping my fingers crossed I’ll soon be a positive statistic at one of those clinics that has “one of the best success rates in the country”.Report

  8. Fish says:

    I’m hoping that you already picked up XCOM2…Report