Lent - A Teaching

As I am writing this, we are one day into the Lenten season, having observed Ash Wednesday just yesterday.  As these articles have a catechetical dimension, it is important to also focus on some aspects of the Church/liturgical year, and Lent is a very important season in the life of the Church. I am not going into the particulars of Ash Wednesday, as I want to save that for another lesson, but rather this will be an overview of what Lent signifies from a Catholic perspective.

Being a catechist for sixth-graders at our local parish, one important aspect of that vocation is transmitting the faith as it relates to the liturgical year, and this past Sunday I gave the kids the lesson on Lent.  Of course, I anticipated the inevitable question, and one I personally wanted to find out about myself - from whence does the word "Lent" come?   Of course, that question was asked in the class, and I am sure that some of you reading this may be curious as well, so I am going to give a word study so to speak on the word "Lent" itself.

"Lent" is an Old English word, I found out, that has to do with the season of Spring, and it comes from the word lenctin which literally means "Spring."   As such, it also has to do with the word "long" or "length," and in that context, it refers to the gradual lengthening of days as Winter morphs into Spring.  When the season of Lent itself begins, the earth, for the most part, is still locked in the hibernation stage of Winter, as there is snow often on the ground and daylight, therefore, tends to be early, at around 5 or 6 in the evening.  This, therefore, means then that the word "Lent" is not synonymous with the fuzz one picks out of their navel (which is actually the word lint) but rather is based on the seasons of the natural world.  And, it makes perfect sense as being an ideal penitential season for us as Christians also.  (information is taken from a PDF document entitled "Lent" found at http://www.ecumenical-catholic-communion.org/eccpdf/lent.pdf - accessed 2/7/2019).

In the Church year, the Lenten season is generally about 40 days long, starting on the Western Church calendar at Ash Wednesday and ending the day before Palm Sunday, at which point Holy Week begins.  In the Eastern Church, Lent (or the Great Fast, as many Eastern traditions label it) begins two days earlier on a Monday.   There is, naturally, provision to prepare for Lent in the Church calendar as well, and in the older Roman and Anglican traditions there are three Sundays preceding Lent called Septuagesima, Sextagessima, and Quinquagesima, which designate the seventh, sixth, and fifth weeks before Holy Week respectively.  In the Christian East, these Sundays are indicated by fasting regimens - Sextagessima, for instance, would be called "Meat-Fare Sunday" in the East, as it is the last Sunday before Lent that meat can be consumed.  Likewise, Quinquagesima in the East is known as "Cheese-Fare Sunday," in that it is the last Sunday dairy products are allowed before the Lenten fast starts.  This period of preparation is actually helpful to the observant believer in that it makes the regimens of fasting and abstinence more gradual.   And, that leads to the next question - why is Lent 40 days in length?   To answer that, let us now look at the significance of the number 40.

Numbers have special significance in Scripture, in particular, the specific numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, etc.  One number that can be seen repeatedly in Scriptural accounts is 40, and here are a few examples of where we see it:

1.  Genesis 4-5 - the story of the Flood.  The rain lasted 40 days and 40 nights

2.  The Book of Numbers - Israel's wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

3.  Matthew 4:1-11 - the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days

4. I Kings 19 - Elijah spends 40 days fasting on a journey to Mt. Horeb

5.  Acts 1 - Jesus spends 40 days instructing the Apostles after His Resurrection before he ascends to heaven.

In looking at just these examples, the number 40 throughout Scripture seems to indicate trial, challenge, and personal growth.  It also symbolizes purging and rebirth in many aspects.  Lent for us has a similar objective - the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes this relationship in CCC 540 when it states that Christ, through His own example, provides the pattern for us to unite ourselves as a Church each year in the season of Lent with His own overcoming of temptation in the wilderness.  For us, this involves voluntary self-denial via what the Church calls the three Lenten virtues - fasting/abstinence, almsgiving, and prayer (CCC 1436).  This connects Lenten observance as well to the idea of penance and indeed the true function of supernatural grace, which of course is to heal, elevate, and perfect us to be what God originally intended to be as he created us.  Christ, who was as God the Son perfect in every way, nonetheless led by example in His own practice of self-denial.   And, that leads to another aspect of Lent - the catechetical.

Lent was originally a season of preparation for those who were to be baptized and received into the Church via the Sacrament of Chrismation.  It was therefore tied directly with the Sacraments of Confession, Confirmation, and Baptism.  Even today in the RCIA process of the current Roman Rite, the catechumens and candidates are expected to go through what is called "scrutinies" during the Lenten season in order to better prepare them for their reception as full members of the Church at Easter, and often this involved a significant period of self-examination and renunciation of certain things in one's pre-conversion life that would hinder the new faith they have agreed to accept.  This tradition of Lenten observance goes back to at least the 3rd century, and believers were expected at that early time in the Church's liturgical development to share in the preparation of the catechumens by fully participating in the disciplines of fasting and penitent acts as well (Prokurat, Golitzen, and Peterson, Historical Dictionary of the Orthodox Church.  Lanham, MD:  Scarecrow Press, 1996. p. 194-195).   Likewise, Lent prepares the believer for the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ as commemorated during Holy Week - it recalls the baptismal commitment of the believer as well as preparation for baptism of the catechumen, and it also emphasizes a penitential spirit (Robert C. Broderick, ed.  The Catholic Encyclopedia, Revised and Updated Edition.  Nashville:  Thomas Nelson, 1987. p. 346).  It emphasizes therefore that salvation is lifelong, and not merely a one-time event as some of our Protestant brethren believe.

Speaking of Protestant misconceptions, many of those come from the more iconoclastic, anti-liturgical and often hyper-fundamentalist subgroups within the Protestant spectrum as a whole.  Protestants in general - conservative and liberal - don't necessarily reject Lent and its observance, and often even encourage it although not in the mandatory sense that Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and traditional Anglican High Churchmen do.  Many of them do see the value of penance in the life of the faithful Christian and see no conflict with Lenten observance.  However, on occasion, some over-zealous Fundamentalists will take issue with Lent, and some rather bizarre allegations have sprung up in their circles regarding it.   One, in particular, comes from a page of one of these people who I know as a friend, and although this person is a friend, they are tragically misguided on this issue.  Often, this misunderstanding is rooted in one of the most destructive of "traditions of men" among conservative Protestants, that being ingrained anti-Catholicism.  For such people, even the mention of anything that can be remotely identified as "Catholic" is a trigger mechanism for them, and at this point, the speculations and mythology start to surface.  In the case of this particular friend of mine, here is what they stated on their website in summary - in this case, it is an argument based on the assumption of Sola Scriptura, in that for this person Scripture doesn't specifically set aside times of fasting, and thus based on a faulty exegesis of Matthew 6:16-18, this person believes God condemns Ash Wednesday observance and other acts of piety during Lent as "show," and thus Christians are only to fast "in secret." (information gleaned from an article "Lent is an Abomination," March 2014 on http://www.libertyadvocate.com/Lent.htm - accessed 3/7/2019)  However, is this the case?  Other than the ash crosses on people's foreheads on Ash Wednesday, many Catholics are actually quite low-key about their fasting and abstinence regimens during this time, and you really don't see them doing it otherwise other than maybe seeing Red Lobster and Long John Silver's picking up a little extra business on Fridays maybe.  Also, there are plenty of Old Testament references to seasons of fasting if one wants to get really technical about it - even the kings of Judah called fasts at certain times, with powerful results.  For the Fundamentalist who hates Catholics and thus wants to discredit Lent, however, this is not good enough because it is "Old Covenant" and Jesus didn't do it - what do they think He did for 40 days in the wilderness, for crying out loud??  Far from being "showy," many devout fellow Catholics I know are actually quite discreet with their fasting disciplines during Lent, and thus the charge of doing it "for show" is absurd.  Also, what some self-styled "critics" fail to grasp is that fasting is an act of worship, and as such it is a spiritual battle often in its own right - try passing the Ponderosa on a Friday during Lent as a Catholic, and you will see quickly how much of a struggle it is, but also there is a peace with overcoming as well.  That discussion now leads me to a short discourse on the difference between fasting and abstinence.

While often used interchangeably, fasting and abstinence are in reality two distinct disciplines.  The major distinction is illustrated this way

1.  Fasting has to do with the quantity of consumption - during Fridays of Lent when fasting is observed, it is recommended that two small meals and only one large meal should be taken for those between the ages of 18 and 65.

2. Abstinence deals with the quality of food consumed.  On Fridays, for instance, you don't fast meat, but you abstain from consuming it on those days.  This is also what is meant when faithful Catholics say they are "giving up something for Lent" also.

It is important to make that distinction.  In the Roman Catholic tradition, abstinence is actually rather mild compared to other Churches - the minimum that Roman Catholics are required to do fasting and abstinence is on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent.  However, if you happen to be Eastern Orthodox, the requirement is somewhat stricter - Orthodox are to abstain from all meat, dairy, alcohol, and other similar foods, and the so-called "monastic fast" is one of the strictest of all as it mandates what is called xerophagy.  Xerophagy is basically a bare-bones diet consisting of uncooked vegetables, fruit, juice, bread, and water.  It takes a lot of fortitude to carry out that type of fasting/abstinence discipline, and it is not something that someone who has special dietary restrictions or health concerns should undertake, and that leads to a couple of other things to note concerning this discipline.

First, fasting/abstinence is not to be treated as a dictatorial penance - fasting is first and foremost to be seen as an act of worship in that you are giving up a distraction of some sort in order to focus more on worshipping God.  That being said, fasting and abstinence do not always involve food - you can also abstain from certain recreational activities, behavioral actions, and other things (such as giving up watching a favorite sitcom during Lent).  Also, the Lenten observance is not about just giving up things - it is also a time to commit to more actions that glorify God or serve one's fellow man with acts of charity and giving.  For instance, a fast is little more than a diet plan in many cases for some unless that money one buys the weekly steak dinner is maybe invested in something like, say, the diocesan Bishop's Appeal or something similar.  Or, it could involve an act of charity, such as volunteering one's time at a shelter, a retirement home, or in some parish activity.  No one should be able to argue against the merits of that, provided they are done in the right attitude - not as a soteriological "brownie point" but rather to genuinely serve and be concerned about the needs of others.  Understanding Lenten practices in that light bring a whole new meaning to one's spirituality, and also promotes a level of spiritual growth and renewal for the person performing these actions.

I will continue this study next week by focusing more specifically on Ash Wednesday and a little history behind that, as well as the Shrove Tuesday traditions that precede it.  Hopefully, a study like this will accomplish two things.  First, for the faithful Catholic, may it give a better understanding of why we do what we do, and also a greater conviction to take our own commitments seriously.  For the detractor, especially the Fundamentalist Protestant, it will hopefully be educational in that a lot of bad speculation and mythology, rooted in the "tradition of men" known as anti-Catholicism, will be dispelled and one can better appreciate and understand the Lenten devotional practices even if they themselves do not feel any compuncture to participate in them.  If these teachings accomplish that, then all of us will benefit from the wisdom they hopefully will communicate.  Thank you, and will see you next time.