Pints With Aquinas - 148: How to CRUSH Lent this year (Aquinas' 3 reasons to fast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 G'day and welcome to Pints with Aquinas. My name is Matt Fradd. If you could sit down over a pint of beer with Thomas Aquinas and ask him any one question, what would it be? In today's episode, we're going to ask Aquinas about everything having to do with Lent. So consider this your preparatory podcast for what's about to happen. G'day, welcome back to Pints of Aquinas. This is the show where you and I pull up a barstool next to the angelic doctor to discuss theology and philosophy. Well, if you are part of the Eastern Church, the Great Fast has already begun for you. If you are part of the Western Church, which of course is 99.9% of you listening to me right now, Lent begins tomorrow. And so in this episode, I want to tackle a number

Starting point is 00:00:52 of questions and issues that a lot of people might be asking and facing right now. I want to ask the question that seems to be thrown around a lot, are Sundays part of Lent? I want to ask the question whether or not we can indulge in the thing we're fasting from on Sundays. I want to look at what Aquinas has to say on fasting. He shares three things, three reasons rather, that we fast. I then want to share with you 10 things I've come up with, 10 suggestions on what you can fast from. Okay. And then I want to share with you very, very, very quickly, 102 things you could give up for Lent. And I'm going to just bang these out real quick. This was written by a friend of mine, Christina Mead, who works for Lifeteen. I thought that was so funny. I wanted to share them with

Starting point is 00:01:42 you. And then finally, I want to take a look at some of my favorite quotations from the saints on fasting. So, I really want this to be a great Lent for you and for me. Some of you, maybe you've got an idea of what you're giving up for Lent, but I think a lot of people, we have vague ideas and we run into Lent sort of flat-footed. So, we have these ideas like, I'm going to give up television or I'm not going to do this as much or I'm going to do this instead of that. And then Lent starts and we're like, oh yeah, this is what I'm doing. And that's when we kind of formulate what we're doing. Or we have like five ideas and then we kind of slowly give into the like four of them or like, well, I guess I'm just giving up this thing.

Starting point is 00:02:27 So I really hope that this will be a helpful podcast for you. Also, I wanted to let you know that if you want, if you're a patron right now, you have access to daily meditations for Lent from St. Thomas Aquinas, which as I've said a million times before, sounds like a book Matthew Kelly would have written. You know, a daily meditation for Lent. What a cool idea. Who knew that a Dominican monk back in the 13th century would have come up with that idea? Well, he did.

Starting point is 00:02:54 And so, you can have access not just to the writings of these meditations, but to the audio recordings. I've recorded each one with beautiful Gregorian chant in the background. So you could, if you wanted to, patrons, begin your day by waking up and listening to like Ash Wednesday meditation. And these are about three to eight minute long meditations. So they're not too long. And it's not any commentary from me. It's just direct from the angelic doctor. If you're not a patron and you've been wanting to be a patron, go to patreon.com slash mattfradd, support me for $10 or more a month, and then you'll have access to all of that stuff. You'll also get a signed book, which I'll send to you, and stickers, and all sorts of other things, which I'm not going to get into now. But the point is, you'll also have access to those daily meditations from Thomas Aquinas, and you can download the Patreon app,

Starting point is 00:03:41 which works like a podcast app, and you can actually just click play really easily and listen to them for your morning prayer. That's an idea if you wanted to do that. All right, so let's begin by asking what is Lent? Well, first, I want to let you know that I'm going to be quoting from the universal norms of the liturgical year and the general Roman calendar. So, this is the authoritative document on the liturgical year in the Roman Church and the Latin calendar. Here's what it says about Lent, by the way. Lent, what is Lent? Lent is a liturgical season that is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, since the Lenten liturgy prepares for celebration of the Paschal Mystery, both catechumens by the various stages of Christian initiation and the faithful who recall their own baptism and do penance. When does Lent begin? Well, again, according to the

Starting point is 00:04:35 universal norms, the 40 days of Lent runs from Ash Wednesday, and this is a direct quote, right? Up to but excluding the mass of the Lord's Supper exclusive. So, in the Western church then, I'm sorry, I keep saying Western and Eastern, but I'm in a kind of a different, this means that Lent begins at 12.01 AM on Ash Wednesday, just to be super scrupulous about it, okay? So, if you're like, what is the answer? I don't want the spirit of the law stuff. Give me hard and fast rules, black and white. All right, here you go. Lent begins at 12.01am on Ash Wednesday and runs to just before the Mass of the Lord's Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday. So, as soon as the Mass of the Lord's Supper starts, it's now a new liturgical season, namely the Triduum.

Starting point is 00:05:29 So someone might say, are Sundays part of Lent? And the answer is yes. Why? Well, I just mentioned this a moment ago. Because Lent runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, and there aren't exceptions made for Sundays. Also, we read in the Universal Norms, paragraph 30, it says, the Sundays of this time of year are called the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent. The sixth Sunday on which Holy Week begins is called Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. Now, sometimes people have this idea that, well, Sundays aren't part of Lent, and you can tell this because if you add up all the days, it's over 40, and if you deduct the Sundays, that gets you to the round number of 40. That's not actually true. 40 is like a spiritual,

Starting point is 00:06:27 has obviously a lot of spiritual meaning. And so, Lent is usually more than 40 days. But if you were to take out those Sundays, it's not necessarily that you'd get to the number 40. You might have less than that. So, yes, Sundays are part of Lent. Now, someone will say, but what about rules for abstinence? Why can't I allow myself to, say, indulge in something on Sunday Lent. So, both things are true. Sundays are part of Lent, and you can allow yourself to indulge in something that you've given up. Why? voluntarily for Lent, which we're going to be talking about in this episode, and obeying the church when she tells you not to eat meat on Fridays, say. So, when the church says to you, you may not eat meat on Fridays, or you must fast on, say, Good Friday, if you don't do that, well, that's sinning in that you're rejecting the authority of the church. But that's not the case if you decide to allow yourself to have something on Sundays that you've given up for Lent. Since you have voluntarily imposed this fast upon yourself, you can voluntarily relieve it, if you will. All right?

Starting point is 00:08:09 So, there you go. I hope that settles that question. Let's look at what Aquinas has to say on Lent. Sorry, not Lent, fasting. This comes from the second part of the second part, question 147, article 1, is fasting an act of virtue? Aquinas says it is, namely because St. Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians 6, verses 5 through 6. That's his said contra there. He says in fasting, in knowledge, in chastity. So yeah, it's a virtue. And why is it virtue? What makes it act virtuous? What makes an act virtuous? Well, I promise you, whatever your answer is, it's not going to be as succinct as the angelic doctor. Here's what Aquinas says, and this is why we love him, hey? He gets right down to the point. Not a word is wasted.

Starting point is 00:08:52 What makes an act virtuous? Aquinas says here in the Respondio, an act is virtuous through being directed by reason to some virtuous good. So, if you want to know whether something's virtuous, you just have to say, is this act directed by reason to something that's some virtuous good? All right. So, again, one more time, an act is virtuous through being directed by reason to some virtuous good. And then Aquinas continues, now this is consistent with fasting because fasting is practiced for a threefold purpose. Let's look at each of these. First, in order to bridle the lusts of the flesh, wherefore the apostle says in fasting in chastity, since fasting is the guardian of chastity, he says, lust is cooled by abstinence in meat and drink. Secondly, we have... Okay, well, let's stop there and just address that first thing.

Starting point is 00:09:53 First of all, there's a way in which we can interpret this first point to be spot on. I'm not sure if Aquinas had the idea that when you eat too much, that this kind of changes you physiologically to make you more disposed to lust. And the reason I say that is he addresses wet dreams elsewhere in the Sumer. I just love the fact that Aquinas has a whole article on wet dreams. If you go to pintswithaquinas.com and in the search bar, type in like wet dreams, he calls them nocturnal pollutions, which doesn't have the same ring, but whatever. In that article, he seems to think that if you eat too much meat, that this will produce, I think, more semen. So, if that's what he thinks, I don't think there's any kind of scientific evidence to back that up. But even if he's

Starting point is 00:10:40 incorrect about that, like the kind of scientific idea, there's still truth to be had here. That is to say, if we indulge in things unthinkingly, we're going to be more susceptible to indulge in things that are going to give us greater pleasure. Like just to give one example, I know there's been times in the past where I've really tried to eat clean, to eat good food, not to indulge in junk. But I also know that if I have a couple of drinks, I'm a lot more likely to not give a crap about what I eat. I might just go into the fridge and just start eating whatever I can find. And so, there's a similarity here, I think. If we begin indulging in food and drink, we're going to be a lot more susceptible to indulge in sexual sin. And this, I think, is because I think we weaken our will. Like, here's a way to put it. Christopher West said this. I think it's a good way to say it.

Starting point is 00:11:37 He said, if you can't say no to that next Oreo cookie, by the way, Americans, Oreo cookies are gross. You should eat Tim Tams. Literally go and look up Tim Tams right now. If you want to know what the greatest cookie in the world tastes like, it ain't an Oreo cookie, but whatever. This is Christopher's analogy. If you cannot say no to that next Oreo cookie, how will you say no to the temptation to look at pornography or to masturbate or to fornicate? Because fornication, generally speaking, is a lot more pleasurable than eating that second Tim Tam or whatever, or having that second beer. So, if you can't say no to that, how will you possibly say no to this? So, by fasting from

Starting point is 00:12:20 smaller things, things that give us pleasure, we're strengthening our will, I think, to resist things that promise us greater pleasure. That would be the point I would make, and I think that's really great. Here's the second reason. He says, second, we have recourse to fasting in order that the mind may arise more freely to the contemplation of heavenly things. Hence, it is related in Daniel chapter 10 that he received a revelation from God after fasting for three weeks. All right, so we see examples in the scriptures of people encountering God or knowing what their mission is after a period of fasting. Well, why is that? Aquinas says because when we fast, we're detaching ourselves from the things that we turn to in life, like earthly pleasures if I borrowed your parents' cabin up north?

Starting point is 00:13:26 And he contacted them. They said, sure. And so I left my phone on my bedside table. I didn't take any computer with me or anything. And I just drove up with two books. I had Anna Karenina by Tolstoy and the New Testament. I had a bag full of tobacco and my favorite pipe. And I just was, you know, I just sat and I didn't have any electronic music playing. I just sat and read and it was absolutely delightful. Even though I was

Starting point is 00:13:57 eating and drinking to some degree, I was fasting from noise. And that freed my mind to more freely contemplate heavenly things. So, whatever those things we turn to in this life for pleasure, okay, those things can end up being a false refuge for us where we don't say anymore like the psalmist, you are my refuge to the Lord. Instead, we turn to these earthly goods and we essentially say that. So, if we're feeling stressed out or anxious or overwhelmed, we turn to YouTube or we turn to drink or we turn to masturbation, essentially saying to these things, you are my refuge. But when we fast from these temporary and to some degree false refuges, we are more able to turn to our one true refuge, namely God the Father. Here's the third reason that we fast, to satisfy for sins.

Starting point is 00:14:52 It's written in Joel 2.12, be converted to me with all your heart in fasting and in weeping and in mourning. The same is declared by Augustine in a sermon. And we'll read this quote from Augustine in a moment, but I just want to focus here. I love that. Be converted to me. Isn't that interesting? Because when you think of conversion today, I think we often think of intellectual conversion, convert. And we think of that merely as adopting And we think of that merely as adopting sort of premises and conclusions that perhaps we, up until that point, hadn't accepted. But here, God doesn't just want the head to convert. He wants the person to convert. And you and I are more than just, you know, enfleshed computers, you know, that just calculate and come up with results. We're human beings, body and soul. And so this idea that we should convert with fasting and weeping and in mourning, that's really interesting.

Starting point is 00:16:07 it's like we're converting with our entire self and we're not trying to isolate head and heart, soul and body. Augustine sums it up. He kind of does this very well. He's a beautiful writer, Augustine. He says, fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fires All right, so that is what Aquinas has to say on fasting. All right, here's what I want to do. All right, I want to share. What should we do first? I want to do these 10 things that I've thought of. I've tried to come up with 10 creative things that you can fast from this Lent that might

Starting point is 00:16:49 be really helpful to you. So I want to share them, explain why I chose them. And then as I said, I want to share with you 102 things you should give up for Lent or could give up for Lent from my friend, Christina Mead, who works for Life Teen. And these, we're just going to crank through without stopping to explain them because some of them are kind of funny. And they're more directed at teens, in fact. So if you're a teenager or if you have teenagers, this might be funny to let them listen to. All right. So here are 10 things that you could possibly give up.

Starting point is 00:17:16 Number one, you could give up warm showers. No one's going to know about that except for the people around you who are hearing you scream, I suppose. But like that could be a really great thing to give up this Lent. Having freezing cold showers or if not freezing cold, not comfortable, not hot at all and not warm, but kind of like, you know, you turn it all the way, it's freezing cold, then you up it just a bit so you can step in without having a heart attack. That could be a great thing to give up for Lent. So, that's the first thing, giving up warm showers. Here's another idea. You could give up reading everything but the New Testament this Lent. All right? So, maybe you work somewhere and that requires you to read other things. Fine. So, for work, read those things.

Starting point is 00:18:07 But other than that, don't read anything but the New Testament. So, put away your novels for all of Lent and just read the New Testament. Here's a third thing you could do. You could just quit social media for Lent. Now, I know that quitting social media has just kind of become kind of a little cliche, but I think it's a really good thing. And not just social media, but maybe you're addicted to Marco Polo or your YouTube app or something. Deleting those things from your phone and making a real decision not to do it would be a good idea. In fact, one thing you could do on Twitter, say, is say, I am giving up Twitter for Lent. If you see me on here, I give you permission to publicly shame me

Starting point is 00:18:50 and then pin that to the top. Or if you feel like you've got so little self-control that it's unlikely that you'll give it up for the entirety of Lent, have a friend change your password to your Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or whatever. That could be a good idea. Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or whatever. That could be a good idea. Another thing you could give up is noise. And what I mean by that is electronic music. What if this lent, you gave up all electronic music? That is to say, you could play your violin or your guitar or your cello or even your drums, but you can't listen to anything. You can't even listen to beautiful things. Don't listen to anything. You can't even listen to beautiful things. Don't listen to Gregorian chant or opera or your Christian music. No, give it all up

Starting point is 00:19:31 and just experience silence. How many of us have become addicted to listening to things in the car? And not just electronic music. What if you gave up all podcasts for Lent, including this one? I think that we like to tell ourselves that we're intelligent and good people because instead of wasting time listening to music, we now listen to podcasts. We're educating ourselves. It kind of reminds me of people who would say, I'm watching the news. This is for my education. And you're like, this is not for your education. This is kind of entertainment. I mean, maybe it's educating you, but the primary reason that you're watching this is because you find it a source of entertainment. But what if you gave up all podcasts and all

Starting point is 00:20:21 electronic music for Lent? That would be a really neat thing. Here's another idea. This is kind of creative. What if you gave up complaining for Lent? It's been a rather dreary winter here. I found myself complaining quite a bit and I don't like that I'm doing that. What if you gave up complaining for Lent? Now, if you're going to do this, one thing I would recommend is running down to Walmart or Staples and getting a thick rubber band and putting it around your wrist and keeping it there for the duration of Lent. And when you complain, which you will surely do if you have a habit of complaining, is pulling that and snapping your wrist hard with it. I think that would be a good idea. Another thing you could give up for Lent is sweets. Now, I don't like that we've began,

Starting point is 00:21:11 you know, it seems like whenever people talk about how to have a great Lent, they say something like, you do more than give up sweets this Lent. And I always want to say, um, how about, well, I won't say what I want to say, but it's like, no, that's difficult. Giving up chocolate and candy is actually really difficult, especially if you're like me. So, that could be a really amazing thing. So, do that. Now, here's another idea. Many people, including myself, look, fasting has become a kind of thing now that society is talking about. But the reason we're talking about it isn't to grow in union with God, it's in order to become healthy. And there's nothing wrong with becoming healthy,

Starting point is 00:21:50 but obviously the point of Lent isn't to become healthy necessarily per se. The point of Lent is to grow in relationship with our Lord. So, rather than taking this opportunity to get thin, like that's not why we fast. So, if you're like, I'm going to just do paleo this Lent. Yeah, okay. But what if instead you gave up meat? My wife, I think, is thinking of doing this. Thinking of thinking of doing this? No, I think she's going to do this. It's kind of crazy. She's going to give up meat. Now, if you give up meat, you're probably... Because if you're like me, I'm like, yeah, I'd give up meat too, but I also have given up bread. I don't eat corn. Okay, well, what if you

Starting point is 00:22:31 did eat bread this Lent? So, what if at the end of 40 days, you could say, I didn't eat meat. Yeah, I did eat bread in moderation. And so, maybe you're not as thin as you could have been. All right, give that up. Why are you so obsessed about looking so good? you could have been. All right, give that up. Why are you so obsessed about looking so good? So, maybe what you could give up this Lent is dieting. Just stop it. Don't diet this Lent. I think honestly, for some of us, that would be really difficult to do. Because if you gave up all wheats and all sugars, like, yeah, you would probably look really good. But what if instead of doing that, you gave up meat and dairy? That's really difficult to do. And then you allowed yourself to have bread for each meal or once a day. I'm not saying overindulge, but you allowed yourself those things. So at the end of Lent, you probably wouldn to diet, so that could be a good thing to give up.

Starting point is 00:23:27 Dieting, but you have to understand what I mean, of course. Here's another idea. I've got two more. One is, why don't you give up a full night's sleep? And here's a suggestion. What if you set your alarm clock for 3 a.m. for every single morning throughout Lent. And at three in the morning, when the alarm goes off, you get out of your bed, you kneel down, and you say a very simple prayer. You say, God have mercy on me, a sinner.

Starting point is 00:24:01 God have mercy on me, a sinner. God have mercy on me, a sinner. God, have mercy on me, a sinner. You trace the cross across yourself three times, and then you get back into bed and you go to sleep. And you did that every night. That's something you could do. Finally, this lens, you could give up. Here's my 10th suggestion. I think that's 10, right? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Yeah, that's 10. You can give up everything but water and black coffee. And when I talk about giving up everything, I'm saying like actual water, not LaCroix, like, you know, give up everything but water and black coffee. I'm not saying obviously take on all of these. I think that would be a bit ridiculous unless you're super holy,

Starting point is 00:24:43 but choosing something out of that list could be a really good idea. And I know it's not cool to tell people what we're giving up because that could come across as bragging, but sometimes it helps solidify the thing. So maybe saying to your good friend, okay, here's what I'm doing. Maybe writing it down, sticking it on your mirror, some way choosing this for yourself and making that announcement at least to one person. So, you've kind of bought in, you've said it aloud as it were. All right. Now, I think before I get to those 102 things you could give up for Lent, before you all kind of stop this podcast and go into something else, which you might do as I start rattling them off, I want to share with you 10 quotes from the saints on why this

Starting point is 00:25:25 is such an important spiritual practice. All right. So the first comes from St. Augustine, and we already read this in the Summa, but I wanted to read it one more time. Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one's flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concubiscence, quenches the fires of lust and kindles the true light of chastity. And then he says, which wasn't quoted in the Summa, enter again into yourself. I like that. Here's another quote from St. Peter Chrysologus. He says, fasting is the soul of prayer. Mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So, if you pray, fast. If you fast, show mercy. If you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ears to others, you open God's ear to yourself. St. Jane Francis Chantel says,

Starting point is 00:26:22 God hides the prize of eternal glory in our mortifications and in the victory of ourselves, which we always strive for with great gentleness. Here's the fourth one. St. Isaac the Syrian says, when a man begins to fast, he straightaway yearns in his mind to enter into converse with God. in his mind to enter into converse with God. Number five from St. Gregory the Great, it is impossible to engage in spiritual conflict without the previous subjugation of the appetite. Love that quote. It is impossible to engage in spiritual conflict without the previous subjugation of the appetite. You know, we should pause here a moment and say that the reason we fast is in part to be more prepared for the spiritual conflict that's raging within us and around us.

Starting point is 00:27:11 That this isn't a joke. The point of Lent is not, as I said earlier, to diet. The point is you exist in a spiritual battle. Satan wants your soul for himself all eternity. He wants you to rot in hell. And that's a real possibility for you and for me. We're engaged in a conflict. So with that in mind, what is it that you and I will be fasting from this Lent? Here's the sixth quote from St. John Chrysostom. Fasting is the support of our soul. It gives us wings to ascend on high and to enjoy the highest contemplation. God, like an indulgent father, offers us a cure by fasting. St. Francis de Sales says, besides the ordinary effect of fasting in raising the mind, subduing the flesh, confirming goodness, and obtaining a heavenly reward, it's also a great

Starting point is 00:28:05 matter to be able to control greediness and to keep the sensual appetites of the whole body subject to the law of the Spirit. And although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast. St. Catherine of Siena says, without mortifying the taste, it is impossible to preserve innocence, since it was by the indulgence of his appetite that Adam fell. Ninthly, St. Basil says, penance without fasting is useless and vain. By fasting, we satisfy God. Finally, St. Alphonsus de Liguri says, he that gratifies the taste will readily indulge the other senses for having lost the spirit of recollection. This is exactly what I was speaking about earlier, wasn't it? When I say you have a couple of drinks and now you've just whatever,

Starting point is 00:29:00 you know, having forgotten, having, sorry, having lost the spirit of recollection, You know, having forgotten, having, sorry, having lost the spirit of recollection, he will easily commit faults by indecent words and by unbecoming gestures. But the greatest evil of intemperance is that it exposes chastity to great danger. So if you want to grow in chastity fast, huh? All right. So those are 10 quotes. I hope this episode has been really helpful for you. And I would love to hear from you what you want to give up this Lent. And if, for modesty's sake,

Starting point is 00:29:31 you don't want to share exactly what you're giving up this Lent, maybe share what you've given up in the past, or maybe what a good idea would be to give up. But again, sometimes saying something out loud can make you own it. So if you want to let me know what you're fasting from, something out loud can make you own it. So if you want to let me know what you're fasting from, do that over Instagram, Matt Fradd, or Twitter at Matt Fradd. Just put hashtag Pints with Aquinas and say, I'm fasting from blank, hashtag Pints with Aquinas, and we will retweet them throughout the day. How does that sound? So send us a tweet with hashtag Pints with Aquinas. We will retweet them throughout the day. That'd be pretty cool. All right. If you want to go, go. But if you want to stick around, I want to share with you 102 things that you can give up for Lent. This is on lifeteam.com and it's written by my friend,

Starting point is 00:30:12 Christina Mead. So I'm just going to smash through these, okay? Number one, sacking between meals. Number two, cracking your knuckles. Number three, plumber's crack. Number four, Instagram filters. Being a backseat driver. Listening to music in the car. Texting and driving. Making out. Using emojis to avoid talking about your true feelings.

Starting point is 00:30:36 Talking about true feelings through text instead of in person. Not inviting your friends to mass because of your reputation. Rolling your eyes at your parents. Number 13, spitting out your gum on the street, parking lot or sidewalk. Number 14, wishing for someone else's life, relationship or possessions. Number 15, complaining. Number 16, the phrase, I can't even. Number 17, only talking to Jesus when you need something. Number 18, only talking to Jesus when you feel like. Number 18, only talking to Jesus when you feel like it. Number 19, wearing clothes that are too tight and draw attention only to your

Starting point is 00:31:11 body. 20, give up pride. Instead, pray the litany of humility every day. Number 21, being selfish. Give away something every single day, be it time, money, or something you own. Number 22, greed. it time, money, or something you own. Number 22, greed. Don't buy anything besides the essentials during Lent. That is things like food, transportation, costs, allergy medicine, bare minimums. All right. Number 23, laziness. Give up TV and commit to going for a walk every day and praying the rosary. Number 24, gossip. Write 40 affirmation notes or a note every time you slip up and gossip. Number 25, impure thoughts and actions. Fast from eating between meals and from sweets. Train your body to be obedient to your will. Number 26, saying God or Jesus outside of prayer. Memorize Ephesians 4 verse 29 and repeat it on the hour, every hour during the day.

Starting point is 00:32:06 27. If you lie, get up. Walking is cool. 28. If you're angry, take up kickboxing. 29. If you're complacent, take up Zumba. 30. If you're my mum, please don't do either. 31. If you're addicted to porn, sign up to covenanteyes.com. Covenanteyes.com. Yes. Use the promo code Matt Fradd to get a month for free. Number 32, if you occasionally look at porn, sign up for covenanteyes.com. So not just if you're addicted, if you occasionally sign up for covenanteyes.com and use the promo code Matt

Starting point is 00:32:41 Fradd and you'll get a month for free. No space, Matt Fradd. Number 33, if you're an emotional eater, keep a food feelings journal and find your triggers. That's totally true for me. Number 34, if you're a wasteful volunteer once a week at a soup kitchen. 35, if you have road rage, don't drive maybe. Number 36, just kidding. See 28. Oh crap, what's 28? This is really good. If you're angry, take up kickboxing. All right, so if you have road rage, do that. Number 37, if you don't trust God, pray the chapel of divine mercy every day. Number 38, if you're judgmental, pray for every person you see. 39, if you're vain, give up makeup or your mirror. That's good. My wife did that once for Lent. Number 40, if you have no idea what sin you struggle with,

Starting point is 00:33:25 do an examination of conscience every day. Number 41, listen to Father Mike Schmitz's podcast. He's cool and humble about being cool, which is really cool. Number 42, give up tanning. She knows me well. Number 43, watching VHS tapes and not rewinding them. When was this written? Okay. I have to find out when this was. VHS tapes? I can't even tell. Okay. Who has VHS tapes? Number 44, forgetting to water your plants. Number 45, forgetting to wear pants. 46, fake cleaning your room. 47, using the word can't. 40, which is not a great idea. You might have to use that in appropriate occasions. Anyway, number 48, using the word bae. B-A-E. 49, using words that don't glorify God. 50, we're only halfway through, guys. We

Starting point is 00:34:21 got this. Bad jokes. 51. Trolling online. 52. Being sarcastic. 53. But that's impossible for you, so forget it. Oh, that has to do with being sarcastic. I get it. 54. Oh my gosh, I need to stop being sarcastic. Pray for me. 55. Don't back-to-back to-back novenas for the life, teen, staff, and missionaries? Or do? Okay. Okay, good. 56, pizza. 57, gluten. 58, eating meat. 59, eating animal products.

Starting point is 00:34:50 60, talking about your special diet to get attention. 61, texting the opposite sex to get attention. 62, sexting. 63, sending Snapchats of strangers. 64, sending Snapchats to strangers. 64, sending Snapchats to strangers. 65, not smiling at strangers. 66, I'm on a roll with the strangers topic. 67, pizza rolls.

Starting point is 00:35:13 Sorry, Tostinos. 68, not apologizing when you should because it's hard to admit you're wrong. 69, not going to confession because it's scary. 70, not dancing out of the confessional with the joy of an innocent newborn. 71, getting your nails done. 72, making excuses to not go to daily mass. 73, thinking about food all during daily mass. 74, eating donuts as a reward after daily mass. 75, sugar and or creamer in your coffee. 76, drinking more than one cup of coffee. 77, underage drinking. 78, energy drinks. 79,

Starting point is 00:35:53 soda. 80, buying spiritual books and not reading them. I like that. Give that up. 81, buying into the idea that relationship goals should be like movies and tumblr pictures 82 not reading the lives of the saints because they might be boring 83 not asking your favorite saints to intercede for you 84 taking off your saint metal saint bracelet scapula etc leave it on bruh 85 leaving facebook and or twitter open while you're doing homework. 86, checking your phone every two minutes. 87, opening the fridge just to look at the same stuff that's been there all day. Ah, funny. That's kind of like what we do when we refresh our Twitter feeds.

Starting point is 00:36:36 It's like it's the same thing. Just for goodness sake, get a therapist. 88, telling yourself you're fat. 89, and stupid and anything less than the truth that you're an amazing beloved child of God. 90, we've got 10 more people, 10 more. Leaving lights on, give that up. 91, hiding your light under a bushel basket. 92, not Instagramming the Shazam out of your bushel basket because it's rare to have one. 93, the basket is metaphorical. Number 92 was sarcastic. Please go back to number 54. 94, pulling the victim card when things go wrong. Number 95,

Starting point is 00:37:21 being embarrassed when you need help from a therapist in order to live a happy full life. Number 96, not going to counseling or therapy because you think it means you're weak. Newsflash, it means you're the opposite. Hulk, like strong and courageous. 97, pretending you don't have time to go to adoration. 98, pretending you don't have time to pray at home. Number 99, staying closed off to the glory of God's presence around you all day, every day. 100, refusing to recognize God in your neighbor. 101,

Starting point is 00:37:55 and God in your family, even the most annoying members. God loves them. How will you? 102, this is the final one, hiding your faith from those around you. It's Lent. Share what God is doing in your life these 40 days. Use the hashtag Lent. There you go. So come on, people. I mean, I know some of those overlapped with the 10 that I came up with, but I gave you 10, and then I just read 102. So if you don't know what you're going to give up slash and or take on slash and or giving up and or take on this land, it's your own fault. Do you understand? All right.

Starting point is 00:38:30 So there you go. We did a lot this episode. Thank you so much for listening and being a listener to Pints with Aquinas. If you haven't yet, do us a favor and review us on iTunes. Also, subscribe to The Matt Fradd Show. We've got a bunch of podcasts coming out. No, we don't. We have one podcast that comes out every month from The matt frad show but they're like two to three hour

Starting point is 00:38:48 discussions next month we have luke and gomer from catching foxes um also youtube subscribe to my youtube channel because i have weekly videos coming out that you're not going to want to miss they're really great and it's been really awesome to see the youtube channel take off and then finally if you love all of this work that i'm doing, like I don't have a job really. The job that I have is the support people give like you on Patreon. I don't have a boss. I don't have any big donors. I just have people who give small amounts. So if you believe in the work that I'm doing, if you want to see it continue, first of all, and then if you want to see it grow and become better, be awesome and choose to support me on Patreon. Or if you hate Patreon, which I don't blame you, you can support me by going to pintswithaquinas.com slash donate, and you can just donate directly. I'll still send you

Starting point is 00:39:36 the same stuff. You'll get like a free signed book. You can get a free beer stein. You can get a non-nicite domine t-shirt. I can send you all sorts of stuff, you know, and we have those daily meditations for Lent. We try and make this as appealing as possible and as helpful as possible to you. And then we're doing free live stream events and things like this. You can be a part of all of that just by supporting me. Go to pintswithaquinas.com slash donate. We have a lot more in store, store actually as far as rewards that are coming soon that even if you were to start supporting now you'll get access to once we launch them lots

Starting point is 00:40:10 of exciting stuff happening and all that is because of my awesome supporters who support me on patreon or directly at pints with aquinas so please consider doing that that would be the bomb diggity have a good Lent.

Pints With Aquinas - 148: How to CRUSH Lent this year (Aquinas' 3 reasons to fast)

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