Catholic Teen: What Am I Giving Up and Why

Every Catholic knows the story: during Lent, you sacrifice. You give something up. Maybe it’s fast food, or Instagram, or maybe even warm showers. But the point is, you give something up.

Obviously, this is a great tradition of the Catholic Church, and one that should help us grow in our relationship with Jesus by uniting our own suffering to His suffering. But do we usually allow that to happen?

The thing about these sacrifices is that it is quite easy to order them to ourselves. Why am I giving up fast food? I need something to give up, and it will make me healthier. Why am I giving up Instagram? It will help me focus on school. It’s that easy to turn Lent into a good time to implement habits that we should already have in our daily lives.

Again, these things are not bad to sacrifice. In fact, they’re really good! But the answer to the question “Why am I giving this up?” should not be “Because it will do that for me” but rather “Because I love Jesus, and He died on the cross for me.”

When we learn to direct our sacrifices to Jesus, we learn what sacrificing is truly about. In his homily on Sunday, my parish priest said that he has a friend that decided to give up coffee last Lent. As you might guess, his friend became a short-tempered, grouchy mess. That’s not what Jesus wants! He wants you to grow in your faith, and in love. He would rather see your coffee-drinking self grow in virtue and love than to see you give up coffee and become grouchy and worn-out.

I think that once we understand this, we can understand what Lent is truly about. It is not about how much we give up, or how holy we look, or even how disciplined our sacrifices make us. Rather, it is about what we give. It is about what we give to Jesus. It is about what we give to our families, and to our friends. It would be better to give up nothing, yet spend more time in prayer, more time being a good child and sibling, more time helping your friends, than it would be to give up ten different things and do none of that. 

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give up anything this Lent. Still pick something, even if it’s simple! But direct it towards Jesus, and when it gets hard, remind yourself,  “I am doing this for Jesus, because I love Him with my whole heart.” And focus not so much on what you are sacrificing, but rather what you are giving. Increase your prayer time. Unload the dishwasher for you mom. Listen to your friend, without having to say anything. That way, on Easter Sunday, you can look back and see that you grew in love for Jesus, and for others. And that would be a truly successful Lent.