THE P
RTAL
Wither Lent ?
March 2017 Page 9
Fr Julian Green contemplates the purpose of Lent
As an Englishman , I have often resented the fact that we are called upon to celebrate St David ’ s day as a liturgical feast . This is made even more the case by the fact that the Welsh , Scottish and Irish don ’ t return the favour by including St George as a feast in their proper calendars . Well , this year , there will be nothing of St David if you are not in Wales , for his feast has been supplanted by Ash Wednesday .
For most people , I guess , the idea of replacing a feast day with a fast day doesn ’ t sound too appealing . However , I think that in our affluent western culture , we do an awful lot of feasting and celebrating , and the constant availability of food , drink , entertainments and opportunities to have a good time can become rather cloying . While I used to see Lent as an assault course to be endured , these days I actually look forward to this annual impetus to a simpler lifestyle .
What is the purpose of Lent in the Christian year ? In antiquity , it marked the final and rather intense period of preparation for the reception of the Sacraments of Initiation – baptism , confirmation and Holy Communion – by adults at the Easter Vigil . This has been , to some extent , restored in the Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults . Catechumens , who would have spent at least a couple of years , St David of Wales and sometimes decades , preparing for baptism , would spend forty days in strict fasting and prayer , receiving the exorcisms of the bishop .
St Augustine refers to this , in a couple of his Easter homilies , as being like the grains of wheat being ground down ready for the water and fire which would make them into bread . With the extinction of the catechumenate , as baptism was normally given to infants , Lent ceased to be a time of preparation for receiving the Sacraments , and became a time of seeking the renewal of the baptismal grace which was already received . In old English , the word ‘ Lent ’ means ‘ springtime ’, which is , of course , when it occurs in the calendar . But the greater spring time is the time for the putting behind us the cold winter of sinfulness and greeting the new buds of grace in our lives .
If you mention Lent to anyone , they will know that
it is a time for giving something up . Many people who would not even class themselves as Christians observe Lent by giving up some personal indulgence . However , the giving up of sugar , or chocolate , or cakes can have more to do with our idea that ‘ sin ’ is something to do with consuming things which are very rich . I ’ ve even seen a chocolate fudge cake described , on the menu of a chain of restaurants , as ‘ seriously sinful ’. It sounds like some sort of puritanism . And yet , those of us who are taking Lent seriously often fall into a similar token approach to fasting .
We have turned the Lord ’ s injunction to fast into something which has little more than sign value . Even on the two remaining days of fasting in the Church ’ s year – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday – the requirement for these days in the old moral manuals is of one meal and two collations , or snacks . For many , that ’ s a normal day . For those of us who are pastors , we baulk at suggesting to people that they should take the fasting any more seriously , only feeling justified to do so if it ’ s ‘ for charity ’, such as on the CAFOD fast day .
Have we become so caught up in consumerism that we cannot imagine what possible benefit can come from stopping for a time ? In this age of the New Evangelisation , it is time to begin to embrace serious fasting once again .
In the great Christian spiritual tradition from the apostolic times , through the Fathers , the medieval flourishing of monasticism , and more recently in the apparitions of Our Lady , we are told of the immense value of uniting prayer to fasting .
So let ’ s get serious about this again .