Faith in Focus: The Origin and Meaning of Lent

“Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.” -Zechariah 1:3

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of the liturgical season known as Lent (from the Old English Word for spring). This season is one of preparation and prayer, of giving up things so as to be free from them, and giving to others so as to be bound to them. Throughout the world, the Church becomes a penitent and a catechumen, preparing and repairing ourselves in anticipation of the Lord’s great gift, manifest in the Easter Triduum (literally “three days”). This journey to Jerusalem is the first act in the great play of salvation, the “Paschal Cycle” which comes to fullness in the establishment of the Church at Pentecost, celebrated fifty days after Easter.

While many of us were raised to consider Ash Wednesday, which we observed on March 2 of this past week, the beginning of the Lenten season, there are actually two traditions for when the 40-day liturgical season of Lent begins. In one, Lent begins on the first Sunday of Lent and goes to Holy Thursday evening, when the brief season of Triduum begins. In this tradition, the days from Ash Wednesday to Sunday are a pre-Lenten preparation period and the 40 days of the season are inclusive of all days from Sunday to Holy Thursday. However, an older tradition says that Lent begins with a “universal day of fast,” on Ash Wednesday, when Christians mark themselves with ashes as a symbol both of the passing nature of life and the need for repentance. In this tradition, the 40 days of Lent are marked from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, excluding Sundays, which—because they memorialize the cross and resurrection weekly—exist outside of the Lenten discipline and its fasts.

Whatever tradition we hold, let us reflect on the history into which we enter—a history which connects us to our role as pilgrims and penitents, seeking the healing love of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem. Let us leave behind what hinders us, through fasting and penance, and help others to walk with us, through the giving of alms. This is the promise and structure of Lent.