Lent is hard. If you’re Catholic, you know this to be a fact. And if it wasn’t hard enough to give something up when you were a kid, then it’s even harder once you get into college. For a lot of reasons. And as much as we’re all trying to be good Catholics (or trying to appease our Catholic parents) we all have our problems when Mardi Gras passes and then we’re all left waiting for Easter to come and release us from our temptation.
We never know what to give up.
We’ve all had to give up something for Lent. I have soda as my yearly thing to give up for Lent. Some do candy. Some are adventurous enough to give up alcohol. As we know, it’s all about not giving in to temptation, but college has a lot of temptations. It’s hard to decide what we even want to give up. Of course, there’s always the chance to give up Facebook or other social media sites, but we all know that one is somewhat impossible.
We face the struggle of temptation.
Facing temptation is the point of Lent, and we all have been at the point where we can’t decide whether to break our Lenten promise or keep it. There are so many times where all you want to do is eat/drink/do whatever it is that you gave up for Lent. College has a collective of places where you want to give into temptation. For me, it was the free-flowing soda machines in the dining hall. For others, it might be the free-flowing alcohol at a party or you local establishment. Hopefully, we can all see the light.
We might struggle on Fridays.
Red Lobster is never busier than during Lent, because of the ever-so-glorious can’t eat meat, but can eat seafood rule. While in high school, I never had the problem of finding something seafood-y to eat, in college, it’s a little harder. All my non-catholic friends want to go to Bdubs, while I, on the other hand, am trying to convince everyone to go somewhere that makes fish and chips. The food freedom that colleges provides makes it a lot harder to choose a filet-o-fish over the Chipotle burrito bowl all your friends want.
We get really excited about Easter.
Easter Sunday is more than just mass and a pastel-colored brunch. It’s the day in which we celebrate lasting 40 days of temptation. And we get to remember the reason for the season, even if we have to sit through a longer mass, more dressed-up, and sitting among people who haven’t been to church since Christmas Eve. Plus, we get to enjoy plastic eggs filled with candy and brunch, since we’ve all, unfortunately, been deemed too old for Easter egg hunts. We're celebrating the fact they we made it, even as tempting as college can be for all us.
