By Deacon Mike Manno
(The Wanderer) -- This week we begin our annual journey
to Easter via Ash Wednesday. But there is an interesting story around how our
practice of Lent has evolved.
In the early Church the celebration of the Resurrection was not celebrated as
an annual event, thus the Sunday liturgy was a weekly reminder of the
Resurrection and the preceding Friday was the commemoration of the Crucifixion.
The practice of fasting before the celebration of the Resurrection can be
traced back almost to apostolic times. We know from a letter from Irenaeus, a
disciple of John the Apostle, to Pope Victor I (189-199) that Irenaeus tells
Victor about his church’s Easter celebration and the fast preceding it:
“Some think that they ought to fast for one day, some for two, others for still
more; some make their ‘day’ last 40 hours on end,” he wrote. The 40 hours
referenced was in response to the early Christian belief that Christ spent 40
hours in the grave before His Resurrection.
Many of the earliest Lenten fasts were associated with the preparation of
catechumens for their Easter Baptism. While the fasts were very strict, some
allowing only one meal per day, the length and severity of them varied greatly
from region to region. Gradually Fridays were set aside for the abstinence from
meat. After Christianity was legalized by Constantine (313), the Council of
Nicaea (325) took up the issue of a 40-day Lenten season of fasting, but it is
not clear whether the intent was that it was to be applied to all or just those
preparing for Baptism.
A 40-day period was ultimately chosen not only to represent Jesus’ 40 days of
fasting before his public ministry, but, also the 40 days Moses stayed on Mount
Sinai (Deuteronomy) and Elijah’s 40-day fast on His way to
Mount Horeb (1 Kings). But how those days
were chosen was still open to dispute.
The East only fasted on weekdays, making Lent last for eight weeks; but in the
West, Lent was six weeks because it included Saturdays. Both observed a strict
fast: only one meal per day in the evening, no meat, fish, or animal products.
Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) wrote to St. Augustine of Canterbury, stating:
“We abstain from flesh, meat, and from all things that come from flesh, as
milk, cheese and eggs.”
It was Gregory who moved the start of Lent from Sunday to Wednesday — including
Saturdays — to produce an exact 40-day period. Sundays were always excluded
from fasting since it is considered a festive day celebrating Christ’s victory
over sin and death.
By the ninth century, Lenten fasting practices were becoming more relaxed.
Eating was allowed after 3 p.m. and by the fifteenth century that became noon.
Finally, some foods previously forbidden, such as fish, were allowed.
Currently, fasting is required only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with the
Fridays during Lent days of abstinence — no meat.
Ashes for Ash Wednesday are a sign of public repentance and they were mentioned
in connection with Easter preparation as early as the third century by
Tertullian. In the Old Testament, the custom of receiving ashes on the head was
a reminder of humility and mortality and a sign of sorrow and repentance for
sins. Use of the ashes was mandated throughout the Western Church by the Synod
of Benevento (1091).
The use of ashes as a symbol of repentance and humility can be traced back over
3,000 years and can be found in many cultures. Homer, in his epic The Iliad, wrote about it in 800 BC and other evidence
demonstrates that it was also used by the Greeks and other cultures along the
Mediterranean.
In the Old Testament ashes were not only a sign of repentance, but a sign of
mortality and sorrow and are referred to in many passages including those found
in Job (4:6), Daniel (9:3), Esther (4:1), and Jonah (3:5-6).
So, it was only natural that the early Church encouraged the use of ashes.
Tertullian (d. 220) wrote that the penitent must live “in the squalor of
ashes.”
Later the practice of sprinkling was replaced by making a Sign of the Cross
with the ashes on the foreheads of the faithful. The practice of “marking” or
“sealing” the individual was also a symbolic reference to the Book of Revelation and passages from Ezekiel which spoke of sealing God’s servants for
their protection. “Go through the city (Jerusalem) and mark (with an X) the
foreheads of those who moan and groan over the abominations that are practiced
within it” (Ezekiel 9:4).
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper
on Holy Thursday. That day begins the Easter Triduum, which ends with the
evening prayer of Easter day. However, fasting continues through Holy Week,
which is included in the traditional 40-day Lenten fast, even though Lent
liturgically ends on Holy Thursday.
The word “Lent” itself was not used in the Latin speaking world. The word Lent
comes from the German or Teutonic “Lenz” which means “long” and was originally
meant to identify the season of spring.
And so, we begin another Lent, a season dedicated to prayer, fasting and works
of charity. And as we do, we might remember the words of Pope Benedick
XIV who in 1741, a year after assuming the papacy, wrote:
“The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it
we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the Cross of Christ. By it we
gain strength against a prince of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help.
Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment
to God’s glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to the
Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become
the source of misery to the world, or public calamity and of private woe.”
May you find peace and comfort in this healing season.
(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial).
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