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Originally, I was debating between doing a reflection on the readings, and an episode on Lent. But I decided to do this episode on Lent before the Season of Lent. And this year I decided that I would do a great amount of research into the Lenten Season. Diving into the history of the season, and not just what we should do. As well, I will also dive a bit into the practice of the east in the celebration of their equivalent season of Lent.

Before we talk about Lent, let’s talk about the Pre-Lenten Season. The Pre-Lenten Season begins with Septuagesima, which roughly means 70-days. It takes place roughly three/four weeks before Ash Wednesday. It is first documented under Pope Gregory the Great. The thing that stands out most about Septuagesima and the subsequent pre-Lent season is the lack of the alleluia and the use of violet or purple vestments. This can be defined as a “more penitential” mood. Here is a sermon that describes the lack of an Alleluia:

“Moreover this day, which is, as it were, the gate of the fast, and takes away from us the song of joy, that is, Alleluia, shows our state of penitence and sorrow, teaching us that we ought to cease from immoderate joy, and remain in tears of repentance. We therefore repeat the hymn again and again, and address Alleluia itself, desirous of retaining it as a guest, and saying to it, Abide with us, for the day is far spent; and we then give it our last farewell, saying, The good angel of the Lord accompany you, that you may return again to us; that we may know that we shall not have perfect joy, until, renewed by the Body and Blood of our Redeemer, we receive that song with gladness.”

If you follow the ICKSP or FSSP or the Canons Regular of John Cantius, they often post at the time of Septuagesima a special liturgical, or rather, pseudo-liturgical celebration, where the Alleluia is ceremoniously buried or removed. And this sermon recounts this well. More than that, is represents that we are now at the gate of the penitential season of Lent. We start to enter into a somber mood. Practices of Lenten fasting are yet to begin.

There are three Sundays, which take place before Ash Wednesday, Septuagesima, meaning seventy days. Sexagesima, meaning sixty days. And Quinquagesima, meaning fifty days. These days were removed following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. However, in many protestant churches these feasts remain. And for those who celebrate the Extraordinary form, like the FSSP, these three Sundays are still celebrated. One time I went to these masses, and these days came to me by surprise. I had ready a certain Sunday after the Epiphany, but was surprised when the readings did not line up, and the priest came wearing purple. But the priest explained it, and the Sundays leading up to Lent.

In Eastern Churches, those of Orthodox and Catholic, there also exists a three week pre-Lenten season. In the Eastern Churches, however, lent is called, the Great Lent, which begins on Monday, rather than Wednesday. Our priest shared this anecdote once from when he was in seminary. When in seminary there was an Eastern Catholic seminarian, while all the Roman seminarians were enjoying their feasting on Fat Tuesday, the Eastern Seminarian was made to fast.

In Eastern Churches there are four Sundays: The Publican and the Pharisee, the Tenth Sunday before Pascha, the Eastern Easter, which is 70 days before easter, which is a fast free week. The Prodigal Son, 63 days before Easter, the Ninth Sunday before Easter, is the last day in which lay people may eat meat or meat products. The next Sunday is the Last Judgement, or Meat-Fare Sunday, with Sundays before Easter, 56 Days. And the last Sunday is the Sunday of Forgiveness or Cheese-Fare Sunday, this last Sunday, no meat products may be consumed, only dairy products. This is 49 days before Easter, the Seventh Sunday. The next day begins the Great-Lent for Eastern Catholics. Great Lent begins at Vespers the Night of the Sunday of Forgiveness.

While we are on the topic, let’s continue talking about the Eastern Practice of the Great Lent. The great lent invites faithful not only to commemorate but enter into the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Great Lent is intended for faithful to be uplifted and strengthened in their lives of faith, with fasting and prayer, turning their lives away from wrong, and deeper in faith and good works, dedicating themselves deeper to the Gospel.

Lenten fasting is mean to allow believers to reach and accept the calling of the Savior, these practices are meant not only for monastics or clergy, but for the lay people as well. These laws are not meant to be burdens, like those of the Pharisee, but something to strive for, to be a purification of the heart, mind, soul, and body, turning away from sin, and perfecting ourselves in virtue, and love of God.

In Eastern tradition, Lent is of fasting and abstinence, as well as increased prayer, self-examination, repentance, and confession, as well as almsgiving. Many go without food and water from midnight to sunset, and then one meatless meal is permitted. Most abstain from meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, wine, and oil. With wine and oil only permitted on Saturdays and Sundays, with fish allowed on Palm Sunday and the Annunciation (if it occurs during the Great Lent). Meat and dairy are prohibited until Pascha or Easter. There are also liturgical differences during this time, including the structure of the week. Additionally, during weekdays, the full Divine Liturgy is not celebrated, and the Liturgy of the Presanctified gifts is celebrated.

Now, let us look at the Western Practices of Lent. Lent in Latin is called Quadragesima. Which means forty days. In English we call it Lent, which comes from the Old English lencten which means “spring season”. The modern Greek is Sarakostí, from the earlier TessarakostíI, meaning fortieth, same as the Latin, which is where most Latin-languages derive their word for Lent. The French is careme, the German is Fastenzeit, meaning fasting period, and the Polish is wielki post. In India it is Charam Chalisa, meaning “climax forty”. The Arabic is “al-sawm al-kabir”, meaning “Great Fast”. This is unnecessary for understanding Lent, but I am sure you enjoyed listening to me butcher several languages.

The purpose of Lent is repentance, in preparation for the celebration of Easter. The Second Vatican council says that Lent was to be “brought into greater prominence both in the liturgy and by liturgical catechesis”, a season for “recalling or preparing for baptism” and penance, “[disposing] the faithful, [to] more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, and celebrate the paschal mystery. “

The pillars of this season are: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Generally, Catholics resolve themselves to do something in each of these three categories. Prayer is an important thing, even outside of Lent. Prayer allows us to grow deeper in our relationship with God, prayer is our communication with God. Fasting, allows ourselves to bring our desires closer to God. For example, we can remove obstacles to our relationship with God, we can give up something we like greatly. The point of this fasting is to either give our time to God, or to draw our appetites away from earthly things and towards those things of heaven. And almsgiving is not only giving money to the poor. What we often now simply call “charity” is really almsgiving. You can either give money to the poor or do things to help in your community. One way of looking at this is prayer: justice to God, fasting: justice towards self, and; almsgiving: justice toward neighbor.

Practices generally also include daily devotionals. For example, there used to be little purple or blue books with reflections. Now, you can also find reflection books from Bishop Robert Barron on the daily gospels. Additionally, in the west is the practice of Stations of the Cross, where the Passion of Our Lord is remembered.

A practice also in the west, in the last two weeks of Lent, in the veiling of the statues and crucifix on the altar. In the pre-conciliar missal, at the Easter Vigil, such veils would be removed, as the priest and deacons remove their Penitential Violet, and put on festive White. Additionally, the altar is to be more barren, with a lack of flowers. Additionally, in the west is Laetare Sunday, when the priest and ministers wear rose rather than violet. The use of rose is to signify joy in the midst of penance. This Sunday, instrumental music is allowed, as during other Sundays of Lent, instruments like the organ are only used for support of the voices, or not at all. Instrumental music is strictly prohibited. Besides the lack of an Alleluia, the Gloria is not said or song.

The Last Week of Lent is Holy Week. However, we will be looking at Holy Week and Practices on Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, and the Easter Vigil, in a later video that will be published during that week.

The root of the forty-day Lenten season is the biblical fasting of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, who all fasted for forty days. This forty-day preparation was a preparation for the work that they were called to do. Early Christians recorded the practice of fasting before Easter. Early Christians believed in the consumption of only bread, vegetables, salt, and water in Lent, with meat and wine being forbidden from consumption. Saint Augustine, who lived in the fourth and fifth century writes: “Our fast at any other time is voluntary; but during Lent, we sin if we do not fast.”. Other records from Athanasius, as well as John Chrysostom, Chrysostom writes that the early Christians abstained from meat for the entirety of Lent.

Additionally, is it also considered to be a fast in preparation for baptism. Baptisms in the early church were generally celebrated on Easter, the Easter Vigil, as Tertullian recounts it is the most solemn day for baptism. The Council of Nicene is credited with the 40-day fasting period. And the Council of Laodicea prescribed it as one of “strict necessity”.

Lent concludes in the West on Holy Thursday. However, there generally is fasting on the Days leading up to Easter, including Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Sundays also generally count as only days of abstinence. In the West there was the long practice of meatless Fridays. All Fridays were meatless, however following Vatican II the general reception was that this did not apply to all Fridays, and instead it generally only applies on Fridays in Lent. However, the Church still teaches that Fridays are days in which meat should not be consumed, however, in the US it applies that you can substitute this for another penitential practice.

In the Ambrosian Rite, Lent  begins on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, with the first Sunday being a more festive celebration, under the revisions of the Rite by Saint Charles Borromeo. On this day the Gloria and Alleluia are chanted.

As you can see, in the Eastern Church there is still a much deeper practice of fasting in Lent, than in the West. The Early Church believed in a similar much deeper fasting time. Now adays then West. In the older tradition of the church is the fasting on each day, where two small meals and one large meal are consumed. Now adays that only applies to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Additionally, in the modern church meatless Fridays are done only in Lent, even though this is not the teaching of the church. Besides Fridays in Lent, Saturdays in Lent were also days of abstinence from meat.

The practices of the church have changed and developed over time. However, the ultimate goal of Catholic fasting during Lent is to prepare oneself for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Paschal Mystery. In this time of Lent, ask yourself, besides the fasting that the church asks of us, how can I best prepare myself for Lent? The requirements of the church are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and to abstain from meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday. The previous practice of the church was fasting on all forty days of Lent, that is two small meals and one large meal, with the smaller meals not equaling the one large meal, and to abstain from meat on Friday and Saturday.

While many like to fgve up something for Lent, that is to fast from it for all the days of Lent (with Sunday either inclusive or not), this technically is not a requirement of the church. This is a lay practice, as are devotionals like Lenten Books, that are not required. The often used Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving, too, is not a requirement of Lent, rather, it is something that many Catholics choose to practice. The only required fastings of Lent are the Fastings on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence days of Fridays and Ash Wednesday. However, Catholics are encouraged to fast all forty days of Lent, however this is not under pain of grave sin, or mortal sin. As well, in many places abstinence of Fridays in Lent and on all Fridays of the year can be replaced with forms of penitence. This is apart of the fasting obligations of 1966. Additionally, fasting is required for ages 18 till 59 (the previous rule was 21 to 59), and abstinence for ages 14+. With exemptions for those who are sick, and other dispensations offered by priests or bishops.

Additionally, during feast dates, such as the Feast of St. Joseph and the Annunciation, as well as the Feast of St Patrick in places where he is the Patreon, and Ireland, and some bishops, right or wrong, offer dispensations if the feast of St. Patrick lands on Friday. This only applies in Lent, not during Holy Week.

There exist many lay Lenten practices. Practices such as the Stations of the Cross are often available at churches. Additionally, we have mentioned devotional books that you can find at your parish, such as books written by Bishop Robert Barron, that reflect on the daily Gospel. Additionally, I don’t know if they still make the little purple books, our parish has not offered it, but these are, at least to I know, beloved reflections for the Lenten, Advent, and Easter seasons. And most churches will also offer longer penitential services, since, after all, this is a penitential season, inviting us to repent. Especially in preparation for Easter, and Christ’s coming at the end of time.

So this concludes our look at Lent. I wanted to provide a Lent video to first, invite you to dive deeper into your faith this Lent. That is the purpose of Lent, after all, especially in preparation for the Easter Season. I hope you also liked this deep dive into the practices of Lent, not only in the west, but east as well. God Bless, and I will so you next time.