As a cradle Catholic, I have commemorated Lent my entire life. As kids, every year, we spent considerable time deciding what we were going to “give up” as part of our Lenten sacrifice. It had to be just right. Something you liked, but something not too difficult to do without for 40 days. I’m not sure how focused we were on the “sacrifice” part of it all.

As an aside, one year my son Court announced he was going to give up chicken for Lent. Seeings as it was – and remains to this day – one of his least favorite foods, I designated it a no-go. Not a great deal of sacrifice for anyone but me who would have had to figure out chickenless meals for 40 days and 40 nights.

In addition, Catholics over the age of 14 are supposed to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays during Lent. This is never a sacrifice for me, since I love all kinds of fish, and often order meatless pasta dishes. However, for Bill, this really is a sacrifice.

Bill is not a cradle Catholic. He was brought up and baptized in the Baptist Church. He converted to Catholicism somewhere around a year after we were married. He didn’t convert at my request, but felt the calling on his own. He is a very devout Catholic. I always love his fresh perspective because he sees things differently than I, a Catholic since birth and a child of Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school.

Bill loves almost everything about the Catholic Church, and agrees with most of the teachings. Save one. He simply can’t get his head around abstaining from meat. A man-made rule, he says.

He, of course, is right about that. The bible never says a thing about not eating meat on Fridays. It does, however, talk a great deal about penance, prayer, and sacrifice. Not eating meat, at least for many, is a sacrifice, and hopefully a prayerful sacrifice. I remind him that there are many man-made rules within the Catholic Church. All are designed, I believe, to help us know God better and to praise him more faithfully.

But I always assure him that I believe if he does, indeed, end up in hell, it certainly isn’t going to be because he ate a hamburger on Ash Wednesday.

My niece Maggie invited us to their house last night for a hamburger fry for her husband’s birthday. I accepted, but inwardly groaned. Lent has barely gotten underway and I am already faced with a quandary – meat or no meat?

The gospel on Ash Wednesday is one of my favorites. Jesus tells his friends to pray, fast, and give alms, but to do so in silence. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Don’t be like the hypocrites who pray but then make sure everyone knows they’re praying. If I turn down the invitation because I can’t eat meat, was I being like the hypocrites?

Initially I thought I would simply abstain from meat today instead of yesterday. After all, it’s just a day, right? But then I began thinking that on DAY ONE of Lent, I was already making sure my so-called sacrifice fit into my schedule. That seemed, well, not much of a sacrifice.

In the end, here’s what I chose to do. I made up a salmon burger for myself and my sister Bec and asked the grill master to cook that for us instead. I didn’t make a big deal out of why I was eating salmon instead of ground beef.

During this season of Lent, my hope is that I can be more prayerful and generous. My plan is to try to live a more simple life – eat out less, perhaps put down my IPAD a bit more, maybe not sit and read but instead, spend more time with God.

Oh, and I’m giving up desserts. All sweets. Yikes. Now that will be a sacrifice.

And, for the record, my salmon burger was delicious. So was Bill’s hamburger.

Nana’s Notes: The photo above is a piece of art located in the church of San Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. The church purports to contain many relics of the true cross. This particular crucifix was made using the image on the Shroud of Turin. It alledgedly duplicates the way in which Jesus was crucified. The body is twisted and the arms are clearly broken. That piece of art had the most profound impact on me and I think of it often. Jesus’ real sacrifice for us.