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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer, on WNYC. We'll wrap it up today with a 15-minute call-in for anyone observing Lent, on what you're giving up for Lent this year, 212-433-WNYC. Ash Wednesday was this week. It marked the start of Lent, as it does. It's the religious tradition, for those of you who don't know, within Christianity, to commemorate the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent fasting in the Judean Desert. For Christians today, it's a time to make small or large sacrifices until the end of the observance period, which is Easter Sunday.

To bring in this period, the Pope said that Lent serves, "To remind ourselves that the world is bigger than our narrow personal needs, and to rediscover the joy not of accumulating material goods, but of caring for those who are poor and afflicted. Let us take stock of ourselves, to free ourselves from the dictatorship of heavy schedules, crowded agendas, and superficial needs," sounds like the Pope would like the four-day workweek we talked about at the beginning of the show, "and choose the things that truly matter." That from Pope Francis.

This is a call-in, for anyone observing Lent, on what you're giving up for Lent this year, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. If you're giving up meat on Fridays, which is very common and sort of traditional, or anything else in the food category, you could tell us that. You could reflect on what it means to you to give up anything for Lent. You just heard some profound words, I think, quoted from Pope Francis. What does it mean to you, spiritually or otherwise, to give up something for Lent?

I'm curious if Lent's meaning has changed for you after whole pandemic years of sacrifice. 212433 WNYC, 212-433-9692. I wonder if we'll hear from people who are giving up things that go beyond alcohol or carbs. Here's an example from an article in The New Yorker. This goes back to 2020, so the beginning of the pandemic, about how some Christians would limit their consumption of things in the service of the earth, as the writer Eliza Griswold put it.

She wrote, "Last year, a group of nuns in Pennsylvania sent out a newsletter advising people on how to cut back on electricity usage during Lent. This year, the young adults of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America across the country are fasting from single-use plastics and other local sustainability practices." That's an interesting thing to give up for Lent, rather than something that would just improve your personal health, or something like that.

One more. A thought from New York Times contributing writer Margaret Renkl in an essay last year. She wrote, "In the old days, my Lenten resolution almost always meant giving up something whose absence I would feel acutely, coffee, perhaps, or cussing. In that way, I would be reminded again and again of what this season is for, but the practice of imposed sacrifice, pandemic, feels as alien to me now as anything else from my decades of being a practicing Catholic.

Haven't we all had enough sacrifice in this last year? Every day, I grieve two beloved family members lost during this pandemic. Every day, I bear the grief of a burning world." Here's her punch line, "I don't need to give up cussing at Vladimir Putin too." What are you giving up for Lent this year? 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. What are you giving up for Lent in 2023? Debbie in Suffolk County, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debbie. Debbie, you there? Hey, there.

Debbie: Good morning. I'm there. I'm giving up [unintelligible 00:04:41] we've done Fridays, of course, and also raising my voice and not using cut flowers in the house, only things that I can plant in the garden, like bulbs.

Brian Lehrer: Why the cut flowers?

Debbie: Well, because I think it's to be sustainable. If I use, around the house, potted bulbs, tulips, daffodils, and what have you, for the spring, then I can plant them in the garden, and they'll be used for good.

Brian Lehrer: And giving up yelling? Who've you been yelling at?

Debbie: My grandchildren. [laughs] I'm not raising my voice for Lent.

Brian Lehrer: Debbie, thank you very much. Julie in Hastings, you're on WNYC. Hi, Julie.

Julie: Hi, Brian. Thanks so much. I'm giving up Twitter, but the message we got today at mass, from the prophet Isaiah, was, "This rather is the fasting that I wish, releasing those bound unjustly, setting free the oppressed, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own."

Brian Lehrer: Beautiful, Julie. Thank you very much. I think Marianne in Otisville is going to continue right on that thought. Marianne, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Marianne: Thank you, Brian, for taking my call. I saw you on a Zoom program the other day, and I loved the interview.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Marianne: Anyway. Yes, I am following that theme, as I spoke to your person who took the call. As a child, you give up candy, you give something that's meaningful to you, but as an adult, and as I said, I've been a practicing Catholic for 60, 70 years, the goal is not to give up, but the goal is to do. I just gave her a very simple example. I have people in my town who are not able to get to the post office, they're not able to go to the grocery store, they're not able to do things like that.

I believe Lent should be a time of doing, not giving up. It should not be as personalized, and it should be more for the greater good. That's my concept of Lent.

Brian Lehrer: Marianne, thank you very much. Susan in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Susan.

Susan: Oh, hello. I'm giving up drinking alone, and also drinking with friends on Zoom, but in person, for social events, I can still drink.

Brian Lehrer: Lent meets Dry January, in February.

Susan: Yes, kind of.

Brian Lehrer: Susan, thank you very much. Good luck. I hope that works. Cecilia in Highland Park, you're on WNYC. Hello, Cecilia.

Cecilia: Brian, I'm so thrilled to be on, for a long time, finally, first time. Alison has you beat.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, you got on Alison's show?

Cecilia: Two or three times. Finally, I'm so thrilled to talk to you. We have a prayer Zoom call every morning, six days a week. The topic this morning was giving up, sacrificing, and me and my compatriots, I can see noses are twitching, like, "Oh, you don't want to give up." She said something like, "I always thought it was like-" I forgot how she said it, embarrassing, or, "Oh, Jesus died for me. He suffered all this. I'm going to give up chocolate."

Then she said she talked to somebody else, and that other person said, "Why not take on something for Lent?" I'm pondering this as a possibility instead of giving up, because I have a lot of willpower. It's one power I'm really lacking in. Instead of giving up something, I'm thinking that I will take on something. As I said to the screener, all these papers that multiply on my desk like rabbits-- That's my thought. Thank you so much.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Cecilia. Call us again. That's really been the theme of this call-in so far, people talking about the importance of doing something to honor Jesus' spirit during Lent, not necessarily giving up something. I think that's what we heard in the Pope's remarks too, that I quoted before. Here is Dale in Bridgeport, you're on WNYC. I think more of the same, right, Dale?

Dale: Yes, more of the same. What a nice opportunity. I was raised Catholic, and I'm very grateful for it. I don't actually practice Catholicism at this time. Not outwardly, but inwardly, deeply, deeply committed to the story of Jesus and everything that he stood for. Truly, one of my favorite parts of the whole Jesus story is the 40 days and the 40 nights, because even as a human being, God-made flesh, he had to go and deal with the temptation that is part of the human experience.

No matter who you are and where you walk, even if you are, in this case, the son of the most high of the divine, even he had to stop and cast out all that was negative, dark, lost, and frightened, and all of those things. I love that in Lent. I can really think about those 40 days and I can watch my own experience, my own thoughts, where do I fall off to the side? Where does the cart go off of the tracks in that human habit of negative thinking, and how can I get it back on track?

Back arighted, back to a sublime thought, which is love, supreme love. I loved what some of your callers said, Julie and Marianne, about them doing, from that frame of mind, doing from that space. My work itself is all about doing for others. It's really a nice internal refinement of my own thinking, and therefore, outward expression.

Brian Lehrer: Beautifully said. Dale, thank you very much. Some comments coming in on Twitter. Listener writes, "Hello, greetings from Venezuela. We should give up selfishness." Somebody else writes, "Giving up single-use plastic should be part of everyday life to help protect the environment, not just a short-lived exercise." Somebody else writes, "I'm giving up organized religion for Lent." Lyle in Asbury Park, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lyle.

Lyle: Hi. Good morning, Brian. Well, I give up-- Pretty much, I joke that I live on twigs and berries for 45 days, because it actually goes-- If you don't take off Sundays, which a lot of people do, it's a 45 or 46-day span from Ash Wednesday to Easter. I live on basically fruit, vegetable, and legumes. I have taken it down to 40 days or 41 days a couple of times, because of family functions. I figure if I can match Jesus' 40 days and 40 nights, then I've accomplished my mission.

Brian Lehrer: Does being somewhat ascetic, in that way, for this period, get reflected, do you think, in your behavior when you are interacting with the world? You've heard all these calls and tweets we've been getting, about getting out there and doing something for the world.

Lyle: I feel like-- Basically, through my church, we push to do that all the time, even down to the single-use plastics, that's something that I try to do always. I feel like that's a year-round thing. I feel the going out into the desert and depriving yourself, and cleansing, for me, is what it's all about. All of the other-- Doing for people, and doing things, is something that I try to do daily.

Brian Lehrer: Lyle, thank you so much for your call, and thanks to all of you, for your very thoughtful calls on what you're giving up for Lent. That's it for The Brian Lehrer Show for today, and for this week. Brian Lehrer Show is produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our Daily Politics podcast. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Our interns this term are Trinity Lopez and Briana Brady. Megan Ryan is the head of Live Radio. We had Juliana Fonda and Matt Marando at the audio controls. Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm Brian Lehrer.

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