Sacrifice needs choice
Michael Sweikar
sophomore
During the past weeks, we should have been experiencing a time of anticipation for Easter and the resurrection of Christ. Although many people generally choose different avenues to reflect on Christ's death and resurrection during the Lenten season, most of us at Notre Dame follow the Catholic ritual of sacrifice.
Most commonly, this sacrifice is exhibited in several significant days throughout Lent where we abstain from eating meat. This sacrificial exercise of not eating meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday goes back to early church history and is supposed to help Catholics reflect upon Christ's own sacrifice in the desert.
If the objective of this Catholic tradition is to sacrifice, then I question the University's decision not to allow meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday during the Lenten season. Is it such a sacrifice for the student body to give up meat on these designated days when our choice is taken away? The answer is no.
God doesn't ask us to follow him and then take away all freedom to do wrong. He allows us free choice and similarly, we need to have a choice on Fridays when we go to our dining hall. Without the opportunity to choose, are we really making a sacrifice at all? Are we really contemplating how Jesus suffered in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights when we can grab anything we want at the dining hall without any thought? If we are given a choice to eat meat during Lent, we will being making a meaningful decision about what we eat and will experience the sacrifice that the Lenten season is supposed to convey.
Furthermore, not all of us here at Notre Dame are Catholic. In my opinion, part of being a Christian is accepting everybody who follows Christ no matter what specific traditions are important in his or her own faith.
We should also consider that the Bible implies that to be crucified with Christ does not mean resorting to extraordinary asceticism. In 1 Corinthians 10:25-26, Paul writes, "Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, for the earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Paul tells us that contemplating the crucified Christ does not mean abstinence from any kind of food.
Not having meat in the dining hall doesn't show acceptance of non-Catholics who may have a sound belief found in the Bible, but most importantly, this practice also takes away from the sacrificial experience that we as Catholics attempt to achieve during Lent.
Michael Sweikar
sophomore
Alumni Hall
April 19, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, April 19, 2001
