A: They are called Lent because that is the Old English word for spring, the season of the
year during which they fall. This is something unique to English. In almost all other
languages its name is a derivative of the Latin term, or "the forty days."
Q: What is a day of fast and abstinence?
A: Under current canon law in the Western Rite of the Church, a day of fast is one on which
Catholics who are eighteen to sixty years old are required to keep a limited fast. In this
country, one may eat a single, normal meal and have two snacks, so long as these snacks
do not add up to a second meal. Children are not required to fast, but their parents must
ensure they are properly educated in the spiritual practice of fasting. Those with medical
conditions requiring a greater or more regular food intake can easily be dispensed from the
requirement of fasting by their pastor. A day of abstinence is a day on which Catholics
fourteen years or older are required to abstain from eating meat (under the current discipline
in America, fish, eggs, milk products, and condiments or foods made using animal fat are
permitted in the Western Rite of the Church, though not in the Eastern Rites.) Again, persons
with special dietary needs can easily be dispensed by their pastor.
Q: When does Lent begin?
A: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is the day on which the faithful have their
foreheads signed with ashes in the form of a Cross. It is also a day of fast and abstinence.
Q: Why are Sundays excluded from the reckoning of the forty days?
A: Because Sunday is the day on which Christ arose, making it an inappropriate day to fast
and mourn our sins. On Sunday we must celebrate Christ's resurrection for our salvation. It
is Friday on which we commemorate his death for our sins. The Sundays of the year are
days of celebration and the Fridays of the year are days of penance.
Q: Is there a biblical basis for abstaining from meat as a sign of repentance?
A: Yes. The book of Daniel states: "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia . . . 'I, Daniel,
mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used
no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.'" (Daniel 10:1-3)
Q: Why is giving up something for Lent such a salutary custom?
A: By denying ourselves something we enjoy, we discipline our wills so that we are not
slaves to our pleasures. Just as indulging the pleasure of eating leads to physical
flabbiness and, if this is great enough, an inability to perform in physically demanding
situations, indulging in pleasure in general leads to spiritual flabbiness and, if this is great
enough, an inability to perform in spiritually demanding situations, when the demands of
morality require us to sacrifice something pleasurable (such as sex before marriage or not
within the confines of marriage) or endure hardship (such as being scorned or persecuted
for the faith). By disciplining the will to refuse pleasures when they are not sinful, a habit is
developed which allows the will to refuse pleasures when they are sinful. There are few
better ways to keep one's priorities straight than by periodically denying ourselves things of
lesser priority to show us that they are not necessary and focus our attention on what is
necessary.
Q: Why are the forty days called Lent?
A: They are called Lent because that is the Old English word for spring, the season of the
year during which they fall. This is something unique to English. In almost all other
languages its name is a derivative of the Latin term , or "the forty days."
Q: Is the custom of giving up something for Lent mandatory?
A: No. However, it is a salutary custom, and parents or caretakers may choose to require it of
their children to encourage their spiritual training, which is their prime responsibility in the
raising of their children.
Q: Are acts of repentance appropriate on other days during Lent?
A: Yes. Thus the states: "All Fridays through the year and he time of Lent are penitential days
and time throughout the universal Church" (CIC 1250).
Q: On what basis does the Church have the authority to establish days of fast and
abstinence?
A: On the authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus told the leaders of his Church, "Whatever you bind
on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven"
(Matthew 16:19, 18:18). The language of binding and loosing was a rabinnic way of referring
to the ability to establish binding or rules of conduct for the faith community. It is thus
especially appropriate that the references to binding and loosing occur in Matthew, the
"Jewish Gospel."
Thus the states: "BINDING AND LOOSING (Hebrew, . . . Rabinnical term for 'forbidding and
permitting.' . . . "The power of binding and loosing as always claimed by the Pharisees.
Under Queen Alexandra the Pharisees, says Josephus (1:5:2), 'became the administrators
of all public affairs so as to be empowered to banish and readmit whom they pleased, as
well as to loose and to bind.' . . . The various schools had the power 'to bind and to loose';
that is, to forbid and to permit ( 3b); and they could also bind any day by declaring it a fast-day
( . . . 12a . . . ). This power and authority, vested in the rabbinical body of each age of the
Sanhedrin, received its ratification and final sanction from the celestial court of justice (9;
23b). "In this sense Jesus, when appointing his disciples to be his successors, used the
familiar formula (Matt. 16:19, 18:18). By these words he virtually invested them with the same
authority as that which he found belonging to the scribes and Pharisees who 'bind heavy
burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but will not move them with one of their fingers';
that is 'loose them,' as they have the power to do (Matt. 23:2-4). In the same sense the
second epistle of Clement to James II ('Clementine Homilies,' Introduction [A.D. 221]), Peter
is represented as having appointed Clement as his successor, saying: 'I communicate to
him the power of binding and loosing so that, with respect to everything which he shall ordain
in the earth, it shall be decreed in the heavens; for he shall bind what ought to be bound and
loose what ought to be loosed as knowing the rule of the Church.'" ( 3:215). Thus Jesus
invested the leaders of this Church with the power of making for the Christian community.
This includes the setting of fast days (like Ash Wednesday). To approach the issue from
another angle, every family has the authority to establish particular family devotions for its
members. Thus if the parents decide that the family will engage in a particular devotion at a
particular time (say, Bible reading after supper), it is a sin for the children to disobey and skip
the devotion for no good reason. In the same way, the Church as the family of God has the
authority to establish its own family devotion, and it is a sin for the members of the Church to
disobey and skip the devotions for no good reason (though of course if the person has a
good reason, the Church dispenses him immediately).
Q: What is a day of fast and abstinence?
A: Under current canon law in the Western Rite of the Church, a day of fast is one on which
Catholics who are eighteen to sixty years old are required to keep a limited fast. In this
country, one may eat a single, normal meal and have two snacks, so long as these snacks
do not add up to a second meal. Children are not required to fast, but their parents must
ensure they are properly educated in the spiritual practice of fasting. Those with medical
conditions requiring a greater or more regular food intake can easily be dispensed from the
requirement of fasting by their pastor. A day of abstinence is a day on which Catholics
fourteen years or older are required to abstain from eating meat (under the current discipline
in America, fish, eggs, milk products, and condiments or foods made using animal fat are
permitted in the Western Rite of the Church, though not in the Eastern Rites.) Again, persons
with special dietary needs can easily be dispensed by their pastor.
Q: Is there a biblical basis for abstaining from meat as a sign of repentance?
A: Yes. The book of Daniel states: "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia . . . 'I, Daniel,
mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used
no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.'" (Daniel 10:1-3)
Q: Aside from Ash Wednesday, which begins Lent, what are its principal events?
A: There are a variety of saints' days which fall during Lent, and some of these change from
year to year since the dates of Lent itself change based on when Easter falls. However, the
Sundays during the Lenten season commemorate special events in the life of Our Lord,
such as his Transfiguration and his Triumphal Entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday,
which begins Holy Week. Holy week climaxes with Holy Thursday, on which Christ celebrated
the first Mass, Good Friday, on which he was Crucified, and Holy Saturday -- the last day of
Lent -- during which Our Lord lay in the Tomb before his Resurrection on Easter Sunday, the
first day after Lent.
Q: Why do we fast and abstain during Lent?
A: We fast and abstain: Because Jesus told us to. "Unless the grain of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it will produce much fruit." Unless you do
penance you shall all likewise perish. Whoever does not renounce all that he has, cannot be
my disciple. The Christian must take up his Cross daily and follow Christ. Walk in the spirit
and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. St. Paul says, those who belong to Christ have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If you live according to the flesh, you will die.
Whoever seeks to lose his life, will gain it. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes
himself an enemy of God. Many live as enemies of the Cross of Christ. Their end is
destruction, their god is their belly. And their glory is their shame, with minds set on earthly
things. If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me. You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God. Enter by the narrow gate for
the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter it are
many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are
few.
