Sundays in Lent

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Hey,
just wondering how you guys approach sundays during lent? I have heard about only doing penances for 6 days and then not abstaining on Sunday because it is a celebration of the resurrection (which is why lent is 40 days not counting sunday)… and that the apostles were even forbidden from fasting on Sundays. But it seems like Sundays during Lent are still an appropriate time for some amount of penance… after all, we omit the Gloria from mass. And if we give up something for lent knowing we can just indulge on Sunday it doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice… not that it would be EASY just not as hard as it could be… after all Christ didn’t just go in the desert for 6 days then get a break on the 7th.

Also, I know that the Church doesn’t “require” penance except for fasting on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, so it is a personal thing, but I was just interested in hearing how others out there approach Lent/Sundays in Lent.
 
I include sundays in my Lenten fast, because I agree with you that Jesus didn’t get a break once a week. I have read somewhere that we can relax the rules a bit on sundays during Lent, but I’m afraid I don’t remember the source. Hopefully someone will shed more light on this.
 
Including Sundays in your lenten observance is optional.

Lent is 40 days not including Sundays. So, it’s always been the norm not to fast on Sundays, but again it’s optional.

Jim
 
tee_eff_em said:
Lent is 40-ish days, whether you count Sundays or not. 😉

tee
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The Sundays are not considered to be part of Lent, and so you can do penance then or not as you “feel led” to do. 🙂

The only way you can count backward from Good Friday (which is not part of Lent) 40 days and get to Wednesday (AW) is if the Sundays are skipped.

The season of Lent is 46 days long.

ICXC NIKA
 
kgerber20 said:
Hey,
just wondering how you guys approach sundays during lent? I have heard about only doing penances for 6 days and then not abstaining on Sunday because it is a celebration of the resurrection (which is why lent is 40 days not counting sunday)… and that the apostles were even forbidden from fasting on Sundays. But it seems like Sundays during Lent are still an appropriate time for some amount of penance… after all, we omit the Gloria from mass. And if we give up something for lent knowing we can just indulge on Sunday it doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice… not that it would be EASY just not as hard as it could be… after all Christ didn’t just go in the desert for 6 days then get a break on the 7th.

Also, I know that the Church doesn’t “require” penance except for fasting on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, so it is a personal thing, but I was just interested in hearing how others out there approach Lent/Sundays in Lent.
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As it so happens, I was looking for more information on how “Lent” is currently defined as a liturgical season (I’ve seen Lenten handouts that clearly exclude at least the Triduum) and found a page on the USCCB site.

Questions and Answers about Lent and Lenten Practices

The first two questions:
Q. Why do we say that there are forty days of Lent? When you count all the days from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, there are 46.
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Q. So does that mean that when we give something up for Lent, such as candy, we can have it on Sundays?
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The answers are along the lines of what you’ve been mentioning, and I mention this page primarily because of the parallels. For instance, the answer to the second question says that Lenten practices may be “more effective if they are continuous,” but no legislation requires them to be, and such details are more up to us.

My own approach to Lenten observance has varied. I haven’t been completely on one side or the other concerning Sundays, although in any case I haven’t historically given up anything completely for Lent anyway (for no obvious ideological reason, I’ve tended more towards adding things, such as reading, reflection, and prayer).
 
kgerber20 said:
Also, I know that the Church doesn’t “require” penance except for fasting on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, so it is a personal thing, but I was just interested in hearing how others out there approach Lent/Sundays in Lent.
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It depends what I am “giving up.”

Sometimes I include Sundays sometimes I don’t.
 
Pax Christi!

Our Lord didn’t take the seventh days off, but fasted for 40, not 46 days. He hadn’t revealed Himself as the Bridegroom yet, either.

Additional thought: we don’t fast on Solemnities, either, do we? This would include the feastdays of St. Joseph (March 19) and the Annunciation (March 25).

But should we be “looking for loopholes”? We’re not filing our tax returns, here.

God bless.
 
I do not continue my Lenten practices on Sunday because"

A. Lent is 40 days long, not 46, and

B. Doing so would seem to me to ignore our celebration of the day on which Our Lord rose from the dead, the reason the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday.
 
kgerber20 says : "it seems like Sundays during Lent are still an appropriate time for some amount of penance… And if we give up something for Lent, knowing we can just indulge on Sunday, it doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice."

The Church has a DOGMA : Sundays are NOT part of the 40 days of Lent.
And, that we should celebrate on those Sundays.
Part of that celebration is NOT treating the Sunday as a day of Lent.

So, any Catholic who obeys that Dogma, is in good stead with Church teachings.
Those Catholics who rebuff the Church’s teachings, are in rebellion.

And, if it doesn’t SEEM like a sacrifice to take Sundays off during Lent, please remember, that God thinks like God, and people think like people.
Many people find some of the Church teachings and Dogmas annoying (or confusing, or whatever).
This is OK. But obeying the Church is a good thing in itself.
 
kgerber20 said:
Hey,
just wondering how you guys approach sundays during lent? I have heard about only doing penances for 6 days and then not abstaining on Sunday because it is a celebration of the resurrection (which is why lent is 40 days not counting sunday)… and that the apostles were even forbidden from fasting on Sundays. But it seems like Sundays during Lent are still an appropriate time for some amount of penance… after all, we omit the Gloria from mass. And if we give up something for lent knowing we can just indulge on Sunday it doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice… not that it would be EASY just not as hard as it could be… after all Christ didn’t just go in the desert for 6 days then get a break on the 7th.

Also, I know that the Church doesn’t “require” penance except for fasting on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, so it is a personal thing, but I was just interested in hearing how others out there approach Lent/Sundays in Lent.
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A few points because I don’t want you to get the wrong impression based on some previous replies.

To this day some of the Eastern Church’s in communion with Rome do not eat meat or dairy products on Sunday even though it is not a fast day. Your comparison of dropping the Gloria is appropriate, because while they are not eating flesh meat on Sundays they are also not going to bed hungry.

Also, based on some of the previous replies I don’t want you to get the impression that it would be wrong or impious to continue some of your penances on Sunday. You are not bound to indulge yourself on Sundays during Lent, so for example if you give up Movies during Lent you don’t have to watch one on a Sunday during Lent.

As far as learning more about how to properly celebrate Lent, I have a few homilies to suggest if you have the time to listen to them

alleluiaaudiobooks.com/catholic-lent-homily-series-the-joy-of-penance-and-the-transfiguration/

romans10seventeen.org/audio-files/20110227-Lent-Fasting-and-Abstinence-in-the-Tradition-of-the-Church.mp3

I hope you find that these homilies will round out your knowledge on how to have a fruitful Lent, God bless!
 
Last year for Lent I took on a lot of fasting in all areas of my life. It was so rewarding and spiritual, nothing can describe it. That being said I didn’t feel at all wronged or cheated by indulging on Sundays (and man, I really did indulge!). It’s a day of celebration and feast, a day which God demanded be used for such.

Nothing wrong with fasting on Sundays as well but true appreciation of the Sabbath should ideally not involve fasting. Even outside of Lent I always see Sunday as such a relaxing day, in which even praying feels somewhat harder and less connected. I usually pray less on Sundays anyway. Mass and communion are more than enough for the whole week, let alone for a day.
 
Domiy said:
Last year for Lent I took on a lot of fasting in all areas of my life. It was so rewarding and spiritual, nothing can describe it. That being said I didn’t feel at all wronged or cheated by indulging on Sundays (and man, I really did indulge!). It’s a day of celebration and feast, a day which God demanded be used for such.

Nothing wrong with fasting on Sundays as well but true appreciation of the Sabbath should ideally not involve fasting. Even outside of Lent I always see Sunday as such a relaxing day, in which even praying feels somewhat harder and less connected. I usually pray less on Sundays anyway. Mass and communion are more than enough for the whole week, let alone for a day.
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Matthew 9:

14 Then John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’

15 Jesus replied, 'Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

This is why we do not fast on Sundays.

It is actually harder to do it this way than to fast straight through as you will build tolerance to what you are lacking and get used to it whereas by stopping on Sundays mean you have to start a fresh every Monday.

I eat chocolate a lot. When I give it up for Lent Mondays are the hardest and by the time I get to Saturday my body is more used to doing without it but after eating on Sunday I am back to square one on Monday again when my body wants the sugar and my brain is looking for chocolate.

🙂
 
4love2God said:
kgerber20 says : "it seems like Sundays during Lent are still an appropriate time for some amount of penance… And if we give up something for Lent, knowing we can just indulge on Sunday, it doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice."

The Church has a DOGMA : Sundays are NOT part of the 40 days of Lent.
And, that we should celebrate on those Sundays.
Part of that celebration is NOT treating the Sunday as a day of Lent.

So, any Catholic who obeys that Dogma, is in good stead with Church teachings.
Those Catholics who rebuff the Church’s teachings, are in rebellion.

And, if it doesn’t SEEM like a sacrifice to take Sundays off during Lent, please remember, that God thinks like God, and people think like people.
Many people find some of the Church teachings and Dogmas annoying (or confusing, or whatever).
This is OK. But obeying the Church is a good thing in itself.
Click to expand...
The Lenten Requirements set by the Church are not “dogma.”

The Church can change Lenten requirements to be observed by Catholics, but not "dogma,’ which is divine truth which has been revealed by God, through Scripture, Tradition or inspiration to the Church, such as the Immaculate Conception…

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS points out :** “The Lenten Requirements set by the Church are not ‘dogma’.” **

I did not say that the Lenten Requirements were a Church dogma.
I said that NOT counting Sundays (in the 40 days of Lent) is a Church dogma.

I was taught that a Saint had this revealed to him/her centuries ago.
And, if this never-on-Sunday issue is not a Church dogma, then what is it (citation please)?

I ask this because, realistically, the Church cannot (at the same time) say :
40 days of Lent … and
46 days of Lent.

And, I believe that it would be near-Impossible for this to change (hence a dogma).
 
4love2God said:
JimR-OCDS points out :** “The Lenten Requirements set by the Church are not ‘dogma’.” **

I did not say that the Lenten Requirements were a Church dogma.
I said that NOT counting Sundays (in the 40 days of Lent) is a Church dogma.

I was taught that a Saint had this revealed to him/her centuries ago.
And, if this never-on-Sunday issue is not a Church dogma, then what is it (citation please)?
Click to expand...
It is folklore, which by definition is un-citable.
4love2God said:
I ask this because, realistically, the Church cannot (at the same time) say :
40 days of Lent … and
46 days of Lent.
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The Church currently specifies the season of Lent to span (most of) 44 calendar days.
cf. The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar #28
4love2God said:
And, I believe that it would be near-Impossible for this to change (hence a dogma).
Click to expand...
Your belief is mistaken. The duration of Lent has varied a number of times over the centuries.

tee
Armchair Liturgical Calendar Nerd 🤓
 
Interesting.

So if we give up something for Lent then really you just give up the item for 6 days a week, and Sunday is not a fast day?

That is helpful.
 
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