Atheists & Agnostics

I will take a stab at what I think you are asking -
if you were once one who practiced lenten sacrifices what did you do and how did it make you feel?

And yes I was raised a Catholic and my parents while pretty loosey-goosey with the rules liked to pretend we were pretty strict. So every year we would announce what we were giving up.

I usually gave up candy or pop. My father would buy us each 2-12ounce Pepsis per day (this was the 50s) so when I saved those for 40 days, I had quite a little stash. BUT! Sundays were a free day so we could have whatever we gave up. So it really wasn't all that hard.

When I was pre-teen, I just thought I was doing what was expected. In my teens I really got to questioning what sense such seemingly silly practices made, especially when the rest of the year everything was wide open. And what was with the Sunday exemption, anyway?

My dad would give up hard liquor which simply meant he had to survive on just a lot of beer.

So it never exactly made sense. Plus no one in our church ever really told us why we gave stuff up for Lent, just that we did because Jesus was going to die. No tie in to the desert story or anything else.

So I went along to get along. Meant pretty much nothing.

As for the meat - back then meat was verboten on any Friday no matter what time of year. When I accidentally ate some meat on a Friday night on my break at my grocery store job at age 14 I was sure I would die and go to hell that very night. My neighbor and fellow catholic caught me eating it and reminded me it was Friday.

Well, I didn't die and go to hell. Woke up the next day quite confused. In a short space of time I had a glorious revelation - that it was just BS. The beginning of a life of skepticism on religion and much else.