Rules of lent are always up for interpretation

IT’S THAT time of year again when we are asked to look at our lifestyles and sacrifice the luxuries for the greater good.

Yes, it’s lent which starts next week with Ash Wednesday.

For some, lent is a six-week time of sacrifice during which they forgo a luxury or two and try to re-set their lives – a bit like another New Year’s Day a few months into the year.

For others, it’s actually a good time to check what addictions we still have some control over.

However, like most things Catholic, lent comes with a few rules but, hey, rules are up for interpretation and every year I find myself in debate with family and friends over just what we can get away with during the six weeks leading up to Easter.

Some argue as to the official end of the Lenten fast being either Good Friday, Easter Saturday or Easter Sunday.

(For the record, I sought counsel some years ago with a senior cleric on the Darling Downs who assured me it was Easter Sunday.)

Others, like my shy and sensitive tax accountant mate, invoke the over-60s clause in that those over 60 years of age no longer have to participate in the fasting.

Even before he reached the age of 60, the same tax accountant used to argue that Sunday is the day of the Lord and that there is no fasting on Sundays which left him free to enjoy a plethora of beverages at the footy on Sunday afternoons – lent or no lent.

Others again go the whole hog, as it were.

My younger brother, for instance, is a stickler for the rules and each year he gives up all booze and junk food and never breaches his fast.

If no-one else, his GP is impressed by the effort.

‘‘ I MEAN, ONE CAN HARDLY CELEBRATE HIS IRISH HERITAGE BY TOASTING IRELAND’S PATRON SAINT WITH A GLASS OF PINEAPPLE JUICE.

Me, being of much weaker resolve, I tend to set similar goals but in the full knowledge that there’ll be times when the fast will have to be broken for various reasons – not least that St Patrick’s Day, March 17, always falls within the period of lent.

I mean, one can hardly celebrate his Irish heritage by toasting Ireland’s patron saint with a glass of pineapple juice.

Now, as fate would have it, my beloved St George/Illawarra Dragons are playing the Cowboys in Townsville on the St Patrick’s Day weekend and a few of us long-suffering Dragons supporters have arranged to fly north for the weekend.

Surely, even St Patrick wouldn’t expect me to be sipping on a skinny latte in the tropics while my mates are toasting his feast day with Guinness and/or Kilkenny beer.

And, this is where some adjudication from the rules panel has been sought.

The proposal I put to my fellow Lenten observers was to start my lent early, thereby banking a few days before the official start on Ash Wednesday, then claim a four-day Lenten sabbatical during our trip to Townsville for the St Patrick’s Day weekend.

This, as is usually the case when I announce my annual lent rule stretching intentions, was met with much scoffing and guffawing from my fellow Lenten observers.

So, in seeking a judgment on these proposed rule changes, I’ve gone to the top – I’ve emailed the Pope.

I know, that seems a bit over the top, but I initially emailed Australia’s top Catholic only to get an “out of office” reply.

And, there was no date for when he’d be back at work either, as is customary with “out of office” replies.

Anyway, as of the time of print, I hadn’t yet heard back from Pope Francis and even if I do before the St Patrick’s Day weekend, I suspect it will be Easter before I can have His Holiness’s response translated from Latin into English.

Although, I do know that “nullo modo Jose” is Latin for “now way

Jose”.

However, in the absence of any official ruling forthcoming from the Vatican, I’m going with the St Patrick’s Day four-day sabbatical clause.