DON'T JUST GIVE UP FOR LENT
By TAYLOR CALDWELL
Author of the best-selling novel,
"Dear and Glorious Physician"
A distinguished novelist describes fiow
this season of sacrifice can take on new meaning for all of us
' Taylor Caldwell is Mrs. Marcus Reback in home life.
Lent calls for earnest sacrifice. Many of us give
- up candy (especially if we eat candy very
rarely), and some give up smoking (except the
heavy smokers, who'd rather give up eating), and
some don't read books, particularly if they don't
like books anyway.
Most of us I'm guilty, too give up things that
aren't absolutely essential to our happiness, and
we feel virtuous about it So, while "giving up"
something that isn't a strain on our characters, our
appetites, and our pleasures, why not give some
thing for Lent?-
I know a very shy lady, almost a recluse, who is
doing just that. She has had a very unhappy life
and is terrified by people, for very excellent rea
sons. She rarely, if ever, entertains. Her last din
ner party was some six years ago, and she hasn't
really recovered yet. This year she is going to search
for lonely and unhappy people like herself and in
vite them to her home for dinner at least once a
week. She may even decide to "give" such dinners
for the rest of her life.
And then there is a very fashionable minister in
our town. He has to be a community director, a '
young people's pal, a good fellow, a fine hand at
bridge, a sportsman (most of his parishioners are
sportsmen), a businessman, politician, member of
the FT A, lecturer, party-giver in the parish hall,
and speaker at local clubs. In short, he is expected
to be everything but the shepherd of his flock
except in his spare time. . ' , .
For Lent, he is not going to do a single one of .
these things demanded of him by his congregation.
He is going to make house-to-house calls on
people he doesn't know, who don't belong to any
church, who have no interest in religious things,
who are unhappy and drifting, who go about with
sullen, challenging faces, who have no friends; who
are, in the true meaning of the word, Godless. Many
of them are rich; some are poor. He has been in
sulted by them many times. Now, for Lent, he is
going to give himself. He will go to each of their
houses and say, "Let me help you!" If they offend
him by indifference or insult, he is just going to
sit there and talk to them.
I predict he will bring back many of these lost
sheep to the fold. I also predict that, from Lent on,
he will be a real shepherd to his people, not just
a "pal to them."
A mother I know told me that her 16-year-old boy
is not going to ask for his allowance during
Lent He is going to find odd jobs to do after school
and, after his minimum expenses, he is going to
give the balance to the collection plate in church.
A rather spoiled and pampered boy, he will become
a man from this experience, I think.
A young girl I have heard of has decided to stop
her endless telephone calls during Lent She has
found that there are many harassed young moth
ers in her neighborhood who could use some help, .
so she is going to give her services, free, in baby
. sitting and other chores. I am .sure she will learn
from this that, as St Francis believed, it is in giving
that we are given.
A gossip columnist I know is going to try to write
nice things about people he meets instead of "amus
ing" anecdotes which cause embarrassment, sad
ness, and ill-will. He is going to "give" his column
to help others rather than to injure and ridicule
them. He will relate stories of various personali
ties who, without encouragement and in obscurity,
reached for the stars instead of the nearest lolli
pop. He will tell of men and women who have never
whined, "I didn't have a chance," but who made
their own chances and never gave up.
How refreshing in these days when everybody
wants something for nothing!
I've heard of a whole class of young people who
are going .to help their exhausted teacher for Lent
They are not going to demand that she amuse them
or supervise their "play" after school hours. They
will offer to help her correct papers, clean up the
classroom, and perform other chores. Several of the
boys have cars of their own. The teacher can't
afford one. So the boys, in turn, are going to call
for her in the morning and take her home after
school. They may decide, I hope, to continue this
though tf ulness after Lent
They may see, for the first time, that their teacher
is not their servant, but that she is there to educate .
them and prepare them for the fierce world beyond
the schoolroom.
A small and weary businessman received a let
ter from his 10 employees the other day. They wrote
him that for Lent they are going to give him a full
day's work for a full day's pay. He was stupefied,
and I don't think he quite believes it, even now.
Christ spent His Lent in the wilderness, prepar
ing to give His life for us. There was never a sac
rifice in the world to compare with this, and never
again will there be. What are any of our sacrifices
beside Christ's?
What are we going to "give" for Lent, as well as
-"give up" for it?
We may find that the "giving" is of lifelong im
portance to us, and that the "giving up" was not a
10th as valuable, either for ourselves or for others.
COVER:
The cheer is the thing in Ozzie Sweet's
'action-packed shot of America's No. 1
spectator sport. For a picture feature
of unusual basketball doings, see p. 18.
nX.oZ.T.. March 6, I960
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