Today we feast. Tomorrow we fast. That's the idea anyway, but what's the point? Bishop James Crawley, retired of this diocese and at 85 still going strong, gave an excellent homily this last Sunday on the idea of the Lenten Discipline as being focused on others and not merely on sacrificing chocolate or beer. In doing so we should increase our charity and other virtues, and conform our lives to that of Christ.

While there is a certain value in sacrificing something you enjoy, it is only complete if you take the time or money saved and devote it to others, or make your Lenten discipline an active effort to improve the virtue in your life and your charity to others. This could mean treating security guard and waitresses as hard-working human beings, or even forgiving immature pedants who throw water bottles onto the arena floor.

Nonetheless, some of the traditional practices should be put into context and not simply taken for granted. Fasting is currently defined as a regular meal and two smaller meals with no snacking. For a college student on the Flex-14 plan, this is ridiculous – you don't get that much food on a normal day. So try simpler eating at the normal meals. Avoid ordering Papa John's or doing Fajita-'Rita nights. Whatever it is, the idea is not so much to starve yourself as offering up to God a cleansing of body and soul. The idea is also to make an effort to know communion with the poor of our Christian family by being mindful of the luxury that our dining halls offer us daily.

The idea that we should abstain from meat, as we should all know, originated when meat was a regular luxury and the Roman families needed a boost in their fishing businesses. But red meat is hardly the common luxury, and no one really gets anything out of giving it up anymore. Instead, why not abstain from TV? After all, that's the staple luxury of our society today. Or throw in N64, DVD or the Internet, depending on which you depend on most. Give the time to the Knights of Columbus, Circle K or some other charitable organization. Be mindful of life without these technologies that we sometimes assume are our rights to have access to but which are in reality useless luxuries that more often distract us from our lives than add to it. And while you're at it, be charitable to guys who use phrases like "be mindful."

Lent is an opportunity for reconciliation and penance (and Mardi Gras is an opportunity to do things worth seeking penance for), but try to approach it in a new light this year. Actively seek to reconcile differences with family or friends. Try to reestablish a lost correspondence; have a reunion with separated friends; accept gracefully the annoying attention of that one friend who you always thought of as platonic but seems to have something else in mind. (Yes, I am serious about that last one.) Lent need not be a time of sackcloth and ashes, but of joyful reunion brought about by sincere repentance, whether it is between you and God or you and a friend.

In the mean time, have an exciting Mardi Gras!

• Tomorrow we fast