Like most lifelong Baptists, I grew up with no understanding of Lent. I saw Ash Wednesday on my calendar but didn’t know why. “Marti Gras” made the news and was anything but religious.
For liturgically challenged people like me, let’s begin with
some facts.
“Lent” comes from the old Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic word Lencten, which simply means “spring.” By the end of the second century AD, it designated a period of spiritual preparation for Easter. The season begins on Ash Wednesday (February 26 this year), always the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday. Ashes are placed on worshippers’ foreheads as symbols of humility and gratitude for Jesus’ death.
The three days before Ash Wednesday are known historically as Shrovetide, from the Old English word for “repent.” These days were originally used as spiritual preparation for Lent and closed with a Tuesday feast before the fast which began on Ash Wednesday. That Tuesday was sometimes called “Fat Tuesday” (Marti Gras in French). The ancient Christians who first observed the day would scarcely recognize it today.
The first observers of Lent fasted for a day, or a few days, or forty hours. The Council of Nicea (AD 325) designated Lent as forty days, with only one daily meal permitted and meat, fish, eggs, and milk products forbidden. By the fifteenth century, these food restrictions were dropped in the Western Church (they are still upheld in the Eastern Church today), and only breakfast was forbidden. In 1966, the Roman Catholic Church restricted the obligation of fasting to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
How can Lent help you prepare for Easter?
As you follow Christ to his cross and resurrection, be
public with your faith. If you don’t wear ash on your forehead, what will
you do to tell others you worship the risen Christ?
Be penitent, remembering Jesus’ crucified sacrifice
for you with humble gratitude.
And be sacrificial. Skip a meal and spend…
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