3-8-22
Why so many rules? You crazy Catholics with your "giving up things" and not eating meat on Fridays during Lent. And then you get ashes put on your head and walk around all Wednesday with dirt on your forehead. Who does that and why?
Dr. Taylor Marshall has a good overview of Lent and its history if you are not familiar with the Roman Catholic Lenten Season:
Lent for Traditional Catholics is a time to be penitential for our sins for 46 days before Easter. We begin this period on Ash Wednesday where burnt ashes from the previous year's palms are placed in the form of a cross † on the foreheads of each of the faithful with the words "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust though shalt return."
Why do Catholics do that? It sounds creepy and depressing. We do it to remind us that this world is not our home. That we are mere mortals. That there is an afterlife when our bodies decay to dust. Doesn't that sound like something ALL humans should reacquaint themselves with? Maybe if we are reminded yearly that WE ALL WILL DIE, we won't commit future freak-outs over common colds. Doncha think?
But why have Lent at all? Why not just do your little dust thing and move on? Why are you fasting, not eating meat, and giving up things until Easter? Seems like alot of work for nothing. The answer is Roman Catholics are following in Jesus' footsteps during his 40-day fast in the wilderness, where he battled with the devil. If Jesus did that for us, we can do the same for him in return.
Traditionally, Roman Catholics are to do the following during Lent:
† Abstinence
Do not eat meat on Ash Wednesday, Fridays, Good Friday, and Holy
Saturday up until noon.
On all weekdays and Saturdays, eat meat at only one meal.
No chicken
† Fasting
On Ash Wednesday, Fridays, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday eat only one full meal but a small intake of food at morning and night is allowed. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids are allowed.
If you are hardcore (and a great way to diet), it's recommended that fasting also occur on all weekdays and Saturdays.
I’m starving
† Penance
Give up doing something you like for all 46 days. This can be a food or activity.
Pledge to pray everyday.
Attend confession once during Lent.
Every day
† Charity
Pledge to perform an act of charity for all 46 days.
Increase giving to a charity or your parish weekly.
Give when you can
Phew! Who can do all that? Only saints, of which I am not one! But I try to do as much as I can, realizing I will forget that it's Friday when eating a hamburger. Or I will get tired of abstaining from the coffee/alcohol/chocolate. Or I will not feel like increasing my weekly giving when money is tight that week. Or I will dread going to confession and put it off to the last possible moment.
The key to Lent🔑, and why it is a needed activity for ALL people, whether you are Catholic or not, is it refocuses our lives for 40+ long days. We get out of the day-to-day humanistic grind and realize that life is short, we will all die someday, and we are going somewhere else for eternity, depending on how we lived our lives on earth.
Additionally, even if you are one of the "go-poof after we die" crowd, observing some aspect of Lent, will make you a better person on this earth during your one and only life. We all can improve from more acts of charity, more penance, and more fasting in our daily lives.
The Lenten season finally ends with the apparent success of satan on Good Friday when Jesus was crucified. But by the sacrifice of Himself, Jesus triumphs and gloriously arises from the dead on Easter morning. When our yearly Lent is over on Easter, not only can we again start eating meat and partaking in all the things we've given up over the past 46 days in this world, we are one step closer to receiving eternal life in the next world!
Speaking of Dark Night of the Soul. I need to write about my experience with it some day. I am just so lazy...
Good breakdown on what Lent is for Catholics.