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PrintLent kicks off next week on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday. This wonderful 40-day spiritual boot camp allows Catholics to put aside the world for a while and focus on how the Lord loved us so much that he sent his only son. By fasting, abstaining and “giving something up for Lent” we say to God, “I’m not of this world. Through this sacrifice, I remember what you did for me and that my eternal home is elsewhere.”
We’ve put together some brief information about Lent in hopes of jump-starting your penitential season.
- Joyce Duriga
40 days not in order
If you count it all up and include Sundays, Lent totals 46 days, but we say there are 40 days. What gives? Well, we follow Jesus’ lead who spent 40 days fasting in the desert.
Since 1970, Lent has officially started on Ash Wednesday and ended Holy Thursday when the Triduum begins.
If you count the days from Ash Wednesday through Holy Thursday, that’s 44. Subtract the six Sundays, which are considered feast days when we don’t fast, and you get 38. Confusing. In a 2006 U.S. Catholic magazine story, David Philipart sorted out the confusion: “So today, while the season of Lent (Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday) is technically 44 days, the number of days for penance and fasting before Easter is still 40: 44 days minus 6 Sundays equals 38, plus Good Friday and Holy Saturday equals 40.”
One dish meal
Best thing we do in Lent is go for a fish fry at our local restaurant with my son and his family. We share stories of what we can do for others, sowing seeds of kindness for Lent with the grandkids.
I just received a book in the mail that I intend reading during Lent: “Days of Deepening Friendship (For the Woman Who Wants Authentic Life with God)” by Chicagoan Vinita Hampton Wright
My favorite Lenten recipe is an easy one-dish meal with a salad:
Crab Quiche
- 2 T. minced shallots
- 1 T. butter
- 1 c. shredded crabmeat, well drained
- 1 T. flour
- 1½ cup coarsely-shredded Swiss cheese, divided
- 1 (9 inch) pastry shell, partially baked
- 3 eggs
- 1 c. half & half or milk
- ½ tsp. salt
- Dash of pepper or hot sauce
- Dash of nutmeg
Saute onions in butter about 2 min. Mix with crab and flour; setaside. Sprinkle half the cheese in the pie shell, Then spread crab mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese. Beat eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour into shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
-- Shirley Hermes, president, archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women
Why does fish make the cut?
The word meat, under culinary standards, most often refers to warm-blooded animals. Under this categorization, fish and birds are excluded. Many religions use this classification in rituals like Lent.
Fridays remind us of Jesus
Through tradition, Catholics believe that Friday is the day that Jesus died on the cross. It is never an ordinary day in the life of the church. In the past, Catholics used to abstain from meat every Friday as a sacrifice in unity with Jesus’ sacrifice. But in 1966, the U.S. bishops said that “the renunciation of the eating of meat is not always and for everyone the most effective means of practicing penance,” and called on every Catholic to make some type of penitential act that best suited them. An act of charity, perhaps.
Most of us have gotten out of the habit of doing anything at all on Fridays but some Catholics continue abstaining from meat after Lent is over. The Code of Canon Law still holds that Fridays are days of penance. Consider what can you do.
Lent defined
From the Middle English word “Lenten” meaning spring.
Source: Catholic Dictionary, Rev. Peter M. Stravinskas
Movies for meditation
- “The Passion of the Christ,” (2004)
- “Jesus of Nazareth,” (1977)
- “King of Kings,” (1927)
- “Peter and Paul,” (1981)
- “Therese,” (2003)
- “Song of Bernadette,” (1943)
- “A Man for All Seasons,” (1966)
