Near the end of the show, a call-in question about penance from a child prompted her to turn her attention to children and parents. And that’s how you can be holy for Lent.” Why don’t you just be nice to people the rest of Lent? Some of you have a hard time being nice, being kind, being loving, being compassionate coming home tired and not letting everybody know it, giving something to some poor beggar and having to tell the whole world what you did. If you haven’t done something nice for somebody, you’re grouchy or irritable, I would think about your penance because it’s not the purpose of a penance. She again repeated, “You see, if you fast, be cheerful.

“Five times! The last time he said it, ‘You know, I’ve been fasting for 10 days.’ I said to him, ‘John, you’ve been fed.’ He said, ‘What do you mean? I haven’t eaten anything.’ I said, ‘Oh, yeah, you’ve told the whole world you’re fasting.’ I said, ‘You’ve been fed.’” To drive the point home, she told the story of a man who visited her within about 20 minutes, she recalled, he told her five times he was fasting. Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.’” Our Lord said, ‘When you do penance, wipe your face, put oil on your head, and don’t let anybody know. “And nobody said we are to give other people a penance during Lent,” she said, repeating, “If you’re going to do penance, do it cheerfully - cheerfully. … Doing without food is not your penance - it gives everybody else a penance.” That witty turn of phrase brought a round of chuckles from the audience, as did other examples she went on to give. I’d rather you eat three eggs and be cheerful than not eat any eggs and be a grouch.

Then she stressed the proper Lenten attitude. “I don’t like to say, ‘Give it up.’ Well, you’re going to take it back. “There are a lot of things you can give to Jesus,” she added. She said, “Mortification is a wonderful time, not to just give up something, but to give it up for a reason, for Jesus. Mother reminded her audience of the importance of mortification, too.

Mother angelica quotes on disciples