by Fr. Paul Campbell, S.J.                                            USA                                  21.02.2026

For decades, I believed that I had to “give something up” for Lent. It’s why, for instance, to this day, that I don’t take either milk or sugar in my tea. When I tried adding them again on Easter Sunday, I’d lost my taste for those additives.  [I should add that I’ve often given up alcohol for Lent only to discover that “miraculously” I still enjoy it at Eastertime!]

About twenty years ago, I came across this 1648 poem by Robert Herrick [at the back of the Breviary,] and it changed my perspective considerably.

To Keep a True Lent

Is this a fast, to keep
The larder lean?
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep ?
Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragg’d to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?
No; ‘tis a fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry soul.
It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief-rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin;
And that’s to keep thy Lent.

Fasting has been a long and long and honored tradition in many religions, including Christianity.  I’m not arguing against self-denial but I do think it’s an important reminder that we need to “starve” ourselves of sin above anything else.