The season of Lent is the 40-day period before Easter in which Catholics pray, fast, contemplate, and engage in acts of spiritual self-discipline. We do these things because Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection of Christ, is the greatest holy day of the Christian year (even above Christmas) and Catholics have recognized that it is appropriate to prepare for such a holy day by engaging in such disciplines.
The reason Lent lasts 40 days is that 40 is the traditional number of judgment and spiritual testing in the Bible (Gen 7:4, Ex 24:18, 34:28). Lent bears particular relationship to the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert before entering into his public ministry (Mt 4:1-11). Catholics imitate Christ’s triumph over sin and death. Fasting is a biblical discipline that can be defended from both the Old and New Testament. Christ expected his disciples to fast (Mt 9:14-15) and issued instructions for how they should do so (Mt 6:16-18). Catholics follow this pattern by holding a partial fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Abstinence from certain foods is also a biblical discipline. In Dn 10:2-3 we read, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” Catholics use a practice similar to Daniel’s when, as a way of commemorating Christ’s Crucifixion on a Friday, they abstain from eating meat on that day of the week during Lent. The only kind of flesh we eat on Friday is fish, which is a symbol of Christ. |
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