Lo Castro's Lowdown: Pledging Allegiance to the Lenten Season

When I hear the phrase, “40 days and 40 nights,” I can’t help but picture Josh Hartnett in his 2002 breakthrough movie with the tagline “One man is about to do the unthinkable.”
The second thing that comes to mind is, of course, the wondrous pre-Easter fasting season known as Lent.
This period is marked for Christians by fasting and abstinence from things that may have a particularly special meaning to us.

By giving up something meaningful, we as Christians are mirroring the temptation Jesus avoided while he was in the desert.
But while many of us choose to take vows of celibacy from ice cream and candy bars, I’ve noticed a handful of students who have gotten a bit more creative and sometimes devilishly innovative with their Lenten compromises.

Take Arthur for example. (I’ve changed names in order to preserve anonymity.)  While perusing Arthur’s Facebook profile, I was actually able to come across what he had vowed to stay away from until after Easter.
His status informed me that “Arthur is giving up Facebook for 40 days! Talk to him after Jesus has risen! “Nice,” I thought. Here’s a kid who is connecting with his faith by denying his obsession to compulsively checkout the latest news feed.
Another avid embracer of the season is not just giving up chips—she’s been devotedly avoiding all snack foods ending in the suffix “-toes.” (Cheetoes, Fritoes, etc.)

I honestly did not realize how many delicious, artery-clogging crunchy snack foods fall under this umbrella until I heard of this girl’s quest to conquer the “chip mountain.” Abstinence from junk food makes me wonder if brands like Lay’s and Shearer’s undergo a severe drop in revenue during March and April.
Now if you haven’t given something up yet, shame on you. While feasting on chocolate bunnies and your mom’s ham, you’ve failed to be a true lamb of God.

However, before you condemn yourself to some uncreative, imprisoning promise, I would encourage you to peruse alternative options.
There’s always the good default of swearing off, well, swearing. Swearing is a positive and surefire way to bring in the holiday and if you continue to have problems using profanity, you could also replace those convented words with fun, festive phrases like, “Holy shalom!” and “God Damascus!”
You’ll not only improve your knowledge of the holiday, but you’ll put everyone in the spirit (no pun intended). Other almsgivings could include giving up alcohol, or if you’re partial to UV rays, tanning!

See, I like the idea of giving up tanning for two reasons. First, you’d obviously be saving yourself from potential skin cancer. Secondly, avoiding the fake bake could sort of be symbolic of you giving up the fiery heat of the Devil’s temptation.

Granted you might get pasty, nothing says purity like skin light enough to blind the Savior himself.

Other suggestions would be to give up overused and abused words/phrases (Brownie points for those who give up swearing too) such as “like,” “That’s what she said,” and “Can I use my late night swipe for this?”