What to give up for Lent: Catholic ideas that actually help

Give up something you will actually miss, that gets between you and God or the people you love, and that you can keep for all of Lent: sweets, alcohol, social media, the snooze button, complaining. The thing itself matters less than what it makes room for. A good Lenten sacrifice frees time for prayer and money or attention for others. Lent 2027 begins on Ash Wednesday, February 10, and Easter is March 28.

Why do Catholics give things up for Lent?

Lent is forty days of preparation for Easter. Through it, the Church joins Jesus in his forty days of fasting in the desert (CCC 538, 540). The plan for the season comes from Jesus himself. In the Gospel read on Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18), he speaks of three practices: giving alms, praying and fasting. He assumes his followers will do all three, and he asks that they do them quietly, for the Father who sees in secret.

The Catechism names the same three as the main forms of penance, expressing conversion toward yourself, toward God and toward others (CCC 1434). Giving something up is a small, personal fast. It isn't a diet or a test of willpower. Saying no to something good, freely, trains you to say no to sin when it counts, and every time you feel the lack, it reminds you why you're doing it.

Your personal sacrifice is separate from the fasting and abstinence the Church asks of everyone on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Fridays of Lent. Those rules, and who they apply to, are in Lent fasting rules.

How do I choose what to give up?

Before you pick, ask yourself a few honest questions, ideally in prayer:

• What do I reach for without thinking when I'm bored, tired or anxious?
• What eats the time I say I don't have for prayer?
• What would my spouse, roommate or kids be glad to see me give up?
• Which sin do I confess most often, and what usually leads to it?

Then make it specific. "Less phone" fades by the second week. "No social media apps from Ash Wednesday to Easter" is something you can actually keep. Choose something that costs you, but not so much that you'll quit by February 20. And don't choose something that harms your health or your duties: a parent of small children shouldn't give up sleep.

Ideas for what to give up for Lent

Food and drink

• Sweets, dessert or snacking between meals
• Alcohol, or drinking at home
• Coffee, or your favorite coffee-shop drink (put the money aside)
• Eating out or takeout
• Second helpings

Phone and screens

• Social media, entirely or on weekdays
• Your phone in the bedroom: charge it in the kitchen
• Streaming shows on weeknights
• Video games, or news checking after 8 p.m.
• Headphones in the car or on walks, so there is some silence for prayer

Comforts

• The snooze button
• Hot showers: try them lukewarm
• Online shopping for anything that isn't a need
• Music while you work

Habits

• Complaining, about work, the weather or your family
• Gossip, and the conversations that feed it
• Sarcasm or cutting remarks
• Swearing
• Being late

Giving up a habit is often the hardest and the most fruitful. Nobody sees it but God and the people you live with, and they will notice.

Can I add something instead of giving something up?

Yes, and many people do both. Lent is about prayer and almsgiving as much as fasting. Some good things to add:

• A few quiet minutes of prayer each morning, before the phone.
• An evening examination of conscience. The daily examen takes about five minutes.
• One weekday Mass a week.
• The Stations of the Cross on Fridays, which many parishes pray together during Lent.
• Reading one Gospel from start to finish over the forty days.
• Almsgiving: give away what your sacrifice saves. If you give up coffee out, put that money toward the poor.
• Confession. Many parishes add extra hours and penance services in Lent.
• A call or visit each week to someone who is lonely.

A simple pairing works well: give up one thing, add one prayer, give one gift. That covers all three of the practices Jesus names.

Do Sundays count in Lent?

From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday is 46 days. The traditional count of forty days leaves out the six Sundays, because every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection, a little Easter.

Customs differ on what that means for your sacrifice. Some families relax their Lenten sacrifices on Sundays. Others keep them every day until Easter. The Church has no rule about it either way, because a personal Lenten sacrifice is your own discipline, not a Church law. Both are good choices. What helps most is deciding before Ash Wednesday, so you aren't bargaining with yourself every Saturday night.

Solemnities are a separate case. When a solemnity falls on a Friday, the Church's own Friday abstinence doesn't apply that day (Code of Canon Law, can. 1251). In 2027, the Solemnity of St Joseph, March 19, falls on a Friday of Lent.

The main dates for Lent 2027:

• Ash Wednesday: February 10, 2027
• Palm Sunday: March 21, 2027
• Holy Thursday: March 25, 2027
• Good Friday: March 26, 2027
• Easter Sunday: March 28, 2027

Should children give something up for Lent?

They can, and many love to, as long as it fits their age. The Church's fasting and abstinence rules don't bind young children, so whatever they choose is a family practice, not an obligation. Help them pick one small, concrete thing: no candy, no tablet before school, no fighting over the front seat. Let them add something too, like a short prayer at bedtime or putting coins in a box for the poor. Keep it light. A child who sees you keeping your own sacrifice cheerfully learns more than one who is pushed. For more help, see how to teach your kids to pray.

What if I break my Lenten sacrifice?

Start again. A personal Lenten resolution isn't a Church law, so breaking it isn't a sin in itself. Most people slip at some point, often in the second or third week. That moment is part of what Lent teaches: you need God's help even for small things.

If you find you chose something unrealistic, adjust it rather than dropping it. Change "no sweets ever" to "no sweets on weekdays." What matters is that you keep turning back to God for all forty days.

If you aren't sure where to begin, choose one small sacrifice tonight, write it down, and tell one person you trust. Then let Lent be about Easter, the joy the whole season is leading you toward.