Lent
Lent is a significant period in the Christian liturgical calendar that spans forty days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and concluding with Easter Sunday. It commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the desert, marked by repentance, fasting, and prayer. While the observance of Lent is most prominent among Catholics, other Christian denominations also participate in its practices. Traditionally, the period is preceded by celebrations like Carnival or Mardi Gras, where people engage in feasting and revelry before the solemnity of Lent begins.
The observance of Lent includes various customs, such as the application of ashes on Ash Wednesday, representing penance. The color violet is often associated with this period, symbolizing mourning and detachment. Over the centuries, the practices have evolved from strict fasting to include acts of kindness, charity, and personal reflection on one’s faith and behavior. Holy Week, the final week of Lent, culminates in celebrations that highlight Jesus' resurrection. Lent remains a time for Christians to focus on self-improvement and spiritual growth, emphasizing the importance of community and outreach.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Lent
The solemn holy days of Lent begin with Ash Wednesday and end with Easter. To the faithful, these are forty days of repentance, fasting, and prayer that commemorate the forty days Jesus spent in the desert reflecting, praying, fasting, and seeking guidance from God before he launched his ministry. Observance of Lent is strongest among Catholics, but other Christian groups also observe Lent holy days. Christians celebrate Carnival, as it is called in Brazil, or Mardi Gras in America, preceding Lent. They party, drink alcohol, and eat to excess. The Latin term carne vale translates to farewell to meat, from which many Catholics abstain on Fridays during Lent. The last day of Carnival is Fat Tuesday followed the next morning by Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Ashes are applied to foreheads as a sign of penance and solemnity. Lent is an abrupt withdrawal from temptations replaced by living the word and spirit of Christ.
Background
Lent is a Teutonic word meaning spring season. Greek, French, and Italian words for Lent mean forty days. The importance of language holds meaning for understanding the act of fasting before Easter, which Christians began in earnest by the third century. Fasting was not uncommon as an act of contrition and repentance, and there are anthropologists and theologians who believe early Christians modeled Lent after Jewish fasts depicting contrition. Early Jews fasted Monday and Thursday mornings; ancient fasts were observed on the High Holiday of Yom Kippur; on Tisha B’Av to mourn the destruction of the Temple; and brides and bridegrooms fasted on the day of their wedding. Muslims also adopted fasting during the daylight hours for the entire Islamic month of Ramadan. Christians living in in the fourth century CE fasted one or two days. Others fasted for forty days before Easter. It is in the origin and application of words that we understand when fasting became common in the fourth century. Some theologians relate it to the forty days the body of Christ lay in the tomb following his crucifixion and preceding his resurrection.
By the eighth century, some Christian church leaders were reportedly eating during Lent small portions of bread, an egg, and milk mixed with water. In the Middle Ages, they abstained from meat for reasons of piety, and the more pious and devout were also forgoing all lacticinia, i.e., cheese, milk, and eggs. All these practices reflected on the importance of Lent as days of penance. The arrival of Easter Sunday marks the end of Lent. People ate regularly again even giving eggs as gifts. Easter eggs became a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ thanks to Caesar who allegedly and sarcastically said, "Christ is raised like this egg is red"—and the egg turned red, signifying the blood of Christ. Dyeing and decorating eggs for Easter became a symbol of the end to Lent and Christ’s resurrection.
Social and political change in the 1960s affected Christian rigorous practices like no meat on Friday. They were forsaken. Vatican Council II was convened in response to the changes and new outlooks among the faithful. The Church turned to teaching the two characteristics of Lent through the sacred liturgy: the baptism and penance to prepare the faithful for the Easter celebration.
Lent Today
The holy times of Lent are an occasion for theatrical recreation and special prayer liturgies. Sundays during Lent celebrate the resurrection of Christ with festive Sunday dinners and events that are acceptable to the Church. Sundays are each a mini-Easter when it is appropriate to be joyful and partake in the temptations one gives up for Lent.
There are re-enactments during Lent by the faithful following the stations of Christ on the cross until his entombment. Some still pray to sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, instead of the traditional joyful mysteries on Sundays during Lent. The emphasis today is on prayer, and Catholics are free to choose whichever prayers bring them a sense of penance. Church leaders wear purple robes as a sign of mourning and the royalty and majesty of Christ’s status as king.
The last week of Lent is Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday a week before Easter. Throngs of faithful Christians line parade routes to greet Christ with palm branches in the recreation of his arrival in Jerusalem.
Lent has taken on new meaning for believers in advanced societies and with changes in the Church. Doing good deeds and acts of kindness complement the traditional acts of penance. Lent is a time of outreach to help those who have fallen away from their church to prepare for Holy Week and the Easter vigil. Lent is seen as the time to change the heart through prayer and care for the neighbor.
The message today from the Catholic Church is to remind the faithful about the admonition of St. Paul that everyone is a citizen of heaven and must make the Gospel relevant today. Lent is a time to focus inward and address personal sinfulness. A major theme about Lent from Christian theologians reflects on personal body beautification. Lent, they warn, is the time to fulfill and elevate one’s body to that of Christ’s whose body was crucified and entombed. Lent is the time when divine nature shines, radiant like the sun, dazzling brightly, illuminating the nature of God in an age when people are searching for the meaning of life. Acts of penitential practices in modern days are expanded to matters like apologizing to an injured person, healing family divisions, performing menial tasks that might humble oneself but enrich the person’s soul. Lent is a time to give charity and make commitments to giving. Catholics in Goa, India, Malta, Peru, and the Philippines continue a custom of veiling religious objects with purple color fabric during the forty days of Lent. In other countries, it is done for a week. Others turn the faces of religious objects to the wall. Flowers are removed—all in a sign of solemn mourning for the death of Christ.
Bibliography
Bartels, Frederick. "Second Sunday of Lent: The Transfiguration Offers a Window Into Your Future." Catholic Online. Catholic Online, 21 Feb. 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.
Bowman, Marion, and Ülo Valik, eds. Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life: Expressions of Belief. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
"Easter/Lent." Catholic Online. Catholic Online, 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.
Hildago, Michael. "Why Lent Still Matters." Relevant. Relevant Media Group, 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 8 June 2016.
Klett, Leah M. "Lent 2016 Meaning, Fasting Ideas, Bible Verses, and Traditions." The Gospel Herald. The Gospel Herald, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.
Knight, Kevin. "Lent." New Advent. Catholic Encyclopedia, 2012. Web. 8 June 2016.
McRoy, Anthony. "How the Fast of Lent Gave Us Easter Eggs." Christian History. Christianity Today. Feb. 2010. Web. 8 June 2016.
Pilarczyk, Daniel E. "Lent: More than Penance." Seasonal Features. AmericanCatholic.org. 7 June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.