Lent has been around for centuries, from the Church's early days. St Irenaeus (died 203) wrote of fasting as a preparation for Easter. After that, though there are references to prayer and fasting as an Easter preparation, Pope St Leo (died 461) set a fast of 40 days preparing for Easter. Biblical traditions of prayer and fasting to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness are in the Old and New Testament.
Why does the Church give us Lent? The Church during the year gives us the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary time. Each has its own special purpose, but each reminds us of the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Lent places before us that Easter is coming, the time of celebrating our salvation from sin through God’s love shown in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Lent is preparation for a celebration. Rather than see it as a time of negativity by just focusing on more prayer, fasting and giving help to those in need as a preparation for Easter, we can approach it as a time for drawing closer to our God, looking at what in our daily lives might be holding us back. So often, as a child and even as a young adult, my emphasis was on what I was doing for Lent and what I was giving up. Rather, it is a time of turning back to God, making a fresh start again, and using Lent to do that. So, Lent does mean some sacrifice and some inconvenience. Still, for me, it is an opportunity to look at my life and make some corrections if necessary, and that may require saying “No” to myself and trusting in God’s loving mercy and forgiveness. Prayer, fasting, and helping others are ways for me to deal with the temptations and attractions that arise in my daily life and could lead me away from, rather than towards God.
The Church, mainly through the Liturgy of the Word at Mass, puts the "two items which are especially characteristic of Lent - the recall of baptism... and penance” (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 109). So these are themes to look for when at Mass during Lent.
Rather than prayer or generosity, fasting has some requirements from our Bishops for its observance in Lent. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting. These days, too, are days of abstinence from meat. Those bound to fast are those who have turned 14 and are yet not 59. Abstinence has no upper age limit. Pope Saint Paul VI gave as a guide for fasting: “One full meal at or after midday and two smaller meals.”
A person with health issues has to act responsibly in this matter and quite properly can make the decision not too fast.
Prayer and giving generous help to others is left to the judgment of each person. With that goes an expectation that our decision will involve taking on something extra in prayer and our generosity. Some parishes have Lenten prayers, Stations of the Cross, and Sunday Gospel reflection groups at this time. Caritas Australia and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand have Lenten giving programmes to assist marginalised people in overseas countries.
In his Lenten Message for 2025, Pope Francis invites us to "begin our annual pilgrimage of Lent in faith and hope… so that we can celebrate with great joy the pascal victory of Christ the Lord over sin and death…” Let us join him and our fellow brothers and sisters, the People of God.
Columban Fr Reg Howard currently lives at St Columban's, Essendon.
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