Beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing through Holy Saturday, Lent is a time of interior renewal which traditionally has held to practices of fasting, prayer and alms giving in preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.
Lenten Practices
Since Lent is an invitation to more deeply enter into a spiritual commitment within the Christian tradition, it is considered a time for renewal and deeper awareness of the promises made at baptism. Within the Catholic tradition there has been great emphasis on identifying with the suffering of Jesus and expressing this by giving up specific things in daily life for the duration of the season. Catholic practice encourages days of fast on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and recommends that the faithful refrain from eating meat on Fridays during the Lenten season.
More Recent Expressions
Recent years have seen an adaption of traditional practices both within Catholic communities and extending to other denominations that formally did not embrace Lenten observances. Some Christians reject the traditional ideas of self denial as being suffering for suffering's sake, and instead seek to create change designed to encourage growth.
A more recent idea is to seek a framework of change that is designed to understand the role of things in the life of a person and through denial or even action to make the Lenten practice an act of self awareness and growth that is tied deeply to spiritual development.
Such practices can still include refraining from a specific food or drink, while using that denial as a starting point for understanding the role that specific food or drink plays in the life of the practitioner. These acts do not have to be primarily tied to sweets, meat, alcohol or tobacco, the most traditionally denied things. New ideas for restraint can include shopping, media watching or even gossiping.
Other newer Lenten observances can include self education on specific social issues with the idea that toward the end of Lent an adherent can take action on that social issue in some form. This notion of self education lends itself to the idea of Lent as a time of preparation for renewing one's awareness of what followers are called to do as they embrace this idea of themselves as practicing Christians.
Spiritual Acts
Both traditional and more recent Lenten practices are all expected to lead to a deeper sense of commitment to living as Jesus did and are designed to be part of a renewed and stronger commitment to prayer and practice in daily life. Lent thus becomes less about living without for a little while and more about living differently in a more permanent way. Lent becomes a time of change that is celebrated in witness of the ultimate change, that of death to life as seen in resurrection of Jesus.
Kathy Schlossmacher - I am a former teacher and social worker with degrees in psychology, social work and theology. I have many personal interests including ...
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