What according to you is Lent?

[wwolverine]

Is Lent celebrated only by Catholic Christians, or all Christians? And what is the duration of this celebration in your churches?

 

[Big_Ro]

Lent is a season of penance and fasting. We are preparing our souls for their eventual reunification with God. We should focus on our relationship with God and repent from sin. I used to believe that it was a strictly catholic thing, but it was brought to my attention some years ago that many protestants also oberve Lent. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, today, and runs throught the Mass of the Lord’s Supper which is the Thursday before Easter Sunday. I don’t remember the date and I’m at work so can’t really get my calendar out. I have it programmed into my phone. There are many traditions and rituals that surround this part of the Liturgical year and there is some disagreement as to what is actually required by the Church. I’m sure that if you visit this site regularly over the next 6 weeks, you’ll learn plenty. You will almost certainly get plenty of very wise and learned responses to this thread. Some of it may actually be true. God bless.

 

[Joe_5859]

Is Lent celebrated only by Catholic Christians, or all Christians? And what is the duration of this celebration in your churches?

Lent is celebrated by more than just Catholics, but it’s not celebrated by all Christians.

 

[Le_Cracquere]

Lent is a season of penance and fasting. We are preparing our souls for their eventual reunification with God. We should focus on our relationship with God and repent from sin. I used to believe that it was a strictly catholic thing, but it was brought to my attention some years ago that many protestants also oberve Lent. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, today, and runs throught the Mass of the Lord’s Supper which is the Thursday before Easter Sunday. I don’t remember the date and I’m at work so can’t really get my calendar out. I have it programmed into my phone. There are many traditions and rituals that surround this part of the Liturgical year and there is some disagreement as to what is actually required by the Church. I’m sure that if you visit this site regularly over the next 6 weeks, you’ll learn plenty. You will almost certainly get plenty of very wise and learned responses to this thread. Some of it may actually be true. God bless.

Well, that’s already more than I’d learned until recently! Having grown up in a Baptist, then a Pentecostal church, I was an adult before ever encountering the word “Lent,” much less its definition. Much appreciated.

Still, in my experience one can’t learn much about Lent’s “associated traditions and rituals” in these forums, well-meaning though nearly all the posters are. I find that anyone who knows anything about these mysterious traditions assumes they’re common knowledge among Christians. Christendom is sort of divided between people who draw a blank at the word “Lent,” and people who can’t imagine having to explain the concept and its elaborate implications (which ensures that the first group will continue to draw blanks). Ah, well.

 

[Joe_5859]

Well, that’s already more than I’d learned until recently! Having grown up in a Baptist, then a Pentecostal church, I was an adult before ever encountering the word “Lent,” much less its definition. Much appreciated.

Still, in my experience one can’t learn much about Lent’s “associated traditions and rituals” in these forums, well-meaning though nearly all the posters are. I find that anyone who knows anything about these mysterious traditions assumes they’re common knowledge among Christians. Christendom is sort of divided between people who draw a blank at the word “Lent,” and people who can’t imagine having to explain the concept and its elaborate implications (which ensures that the first group will continue to draw blanks). Ah, well.

If you’re looking for what the Catholic Church says about Lent, I’ve assembled links to many of the Pope’s messages and audiences on Lent here:

http://catechesisofthepopes.wikispaces.com/Lent

If you’re looking for a more “nuts and bolts” apologetics type of explanation of what Catholics do and why during Lent, Jimmy Akin has written a bunch about it:

Annual Lent Fight

 

[Nine_Two]

Lent is celebrated in the East as well, although we start it on the first day of the week and count the Sundays, however we consider it to be finished on the Friday before Lazarus Saturday (Saturday before Holy Saturday), and consider Holy Week to be a different, though related period.

 

[Lapell]

Lent is celebrated in the East as well, although we start it on the first day of the week and count the Sundays, however we consider it to be finished on the Friday before Lazarus Saturday (Saturday before Holy Saturday), and consider Holy Week to be a different, though related period.

You mean to say that in the East they don’t start Lent on Ash Wednesday?
I do remember that in my youth, that is, before Vatican II, there used to be Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which I used to find oddly named since there are only 7 days in a week, not 10… (Septuagesima stood for “70”, Sexagesima for “60”, Quinquagesima for “50”.)

 

[Lapell]

You mean to say that in the East they don’t start Lent on Ash Wednesday?
I do remember that in my youth, that is, before Vatican II, there used to be Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which I used to find oddly named since there are only 7 days in a week, not 10… (Septuagesima stood for “70”, Sexagesima for “60”, Quinquagesima for “50”.)

And these Sundays used to precede the Lent (in Fr.: careme, in Latin: Quadragesima)

 

[Le_Cracquere]

If you’re looking for what the Catholic Church says about Lent, I’ve assembled links to many of the Pope’s messages and audiences on Lent here:

http://catechesisofthepopes.wikispaces.com/Lent

If you’re looking for a more “nuts and bolts” apologetics type of explanation of what Catholics do and why during Lent, Jimmy Akin has written a bunch about it:

Annual Lent Fight

Many thanks, Joe! I’ll take a try at implementing some of the info you linked; wish me luck. (The tropical fish are eyeing me a little nervously, but I think the shrimp boats are unloading down the street, so they’re safe for now.)

 

[Nine_Two]

You mean to say that in the East they don’t start Lent on Ash Wednesday?
I do remember that in my youth, that is, before Vatican II, there used to be Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, which I used to find oddly named since there are only 7 days in a week, not 10… (Septuagesima stood for “70”, Sexagesima for “60”, Quinquagesima for “50”.)

Nope, the first week is called “Bright Week” and the first day of Lent is “Bright Monday”, we don’t observe Ash Wednesday at all.

We mark the beginning of Lent with Forgiveness Sunday, when everyone formally asks - and grants - forgiveness to everyone else in the parish, however even this isn’t technically a part of Lent as Ash Wednesday is in the West.

 

[Xavierlives]

I observe Lent because I feel it brings me closer to God. Historically, I have attended non-lent protestant churches, so I always seem to have to improvise the time. Although I have never attended an Ash Wednesday Mass, I thought about it this year. Ultimately I decided against it because I would be be lost in any Catholic liturgy. (I did listen to the Papal address on the radio this morning, if that counts for anything).

So, to answer the question:

Lent is fasting.
Lent is prayer.
Lent is repentance.
Lent is reading the Bible and reflecting on the sacrifices Jesus made leading up to the cross and then actually on the cross.