In my previous post I said we’d look more closely at Pope Benedict’s statement in his new book concerning Jewish people and how they are not collectively responsible for the death of Christ. We will get to that, but in view of the fact that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, I decided to use today’s post as an occasion to provide information about Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, which follows it.
Over on my personal blog (jimmyakin.org) I have hosted for many years a collection of posts on this subject. Together, they are known as the Annual Lent Fight—because many of these questions have been disputed (at times harshly).
This is because there are a lot of popular ideas (read: legends) out there about Lent, often based on attempts to summarize the Church’s law in a popular manner that ends up slightly misstating it.
If you want a careful reading of what the Church’s documents actually saw, check out the material in the Annual Lent Fight.
Is Lent really 40 days long—or is that a traditional and biblically resonant number that is attached to the days of Lent, though current documents indicate a different literal period of time?
How much food can be eaten on days of abstinence? Do you have to measure the size of the “two smaller meals” you often hear about to make sure they don’t add up to a full meal? And how would you measure that anyway? Calories? Volume? Mass? Something else?
Do caloric beverages count toward this total?
What can be eaten on days of abstinence? Do you have to avoid animal fat? Why don’t eggs and fish count as meat? Is it true that the pope was trying to protect the Italian fishing industry by allowing fish? What about eating mammals like capybaras?
Do you have to give something up for Lent? And if you do, can you have it on Sundays?
Of course, keeping the spirit of Lent means going beyond what the letter of the law mandates. A minimalistic observation of Lent focused on the least one can get away with is contrary to the orientation toward spiritual growth that the season is meant to provide.
But that’s no excuse for getting the law wrong—or for failing to grapple with the questions people have about it.
And so, let the Annual Lent Fight begin!
To prepare yourself for the Annual Lent Fight, please check out the following links:
GENERAL
DURATION
- THE DURATION OF LENT
- LET’S COUNT THE DAYS OF LENT
- "FORTY" DAYS
- THE INFAMOUS SUNDAYS IN LENT CONTROVERSY: I, II, III, IV, V
PENANCE IN GENERAL
ABSTINENCE
- THE LAW OF ABSTINENCE
- FISHING INDUSTRY HOAX
- CAPYBARAS AND OTHER AQUATIC NON-FISH
- SOLEMNITIES THAT FALL ON FRIDAY DURING LENT
- SOUPS MADE WITH MEAT
ASH WEDNESDAY
HOLY THURSDAY
GOOD FRIDAY
FRIDAY PENANCE OUTSIDE OF LENT
What do you think?
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I don’t think tomorrow is Ash Wednesday…today being Monday and all…
True. Though I write this on Monday night (west coast time) for Tuesday morning consumption. :-)
I love the meat/fish/soups discussion. For heaven’s sake! It’s ONE DAY at a time. If we can’t live the rule as strictly as possible (when in doubt, don’t), what does that say about us?
Thinking of places like Hawai’i, Korea & Japan where fish is a staple how is the Friday fish rule observed?
probably pretty easily.
I’ll be doing what I did last year: giving up reading blogs! See you on Sunday, maybe….
http://therecusanthousemate.blogspot.com/
perhaps you can clarify… in reading some of the older comments to your post on “This Rock,” it appears that the tradition of 40 days of *fasting* did not include the Sundays of Lent. However, the actual liturgical season of Lent does, in fact, last longer than 40 days. Is this correct?
As an aside, we always grew up with our fast including all the days from Ash Wed. to Holy Sat. I then learned of other families that did not fast on the Sundays of Lent. I recently heard Fr. Rocky on Relevant Radio specifically discuss that *every* Friday (not just during Lent) is a day of penance, while *every* Sunday is a day of rejoicing and we should therefore NOT fast on Sundays. (I hope I’m paraphrasing correctly.) Any thoughts?
Rachel…As a pre-Vatican II catechized Catholic I can tell you that eating meat on any Friday was considered a mortal sin. When this was lifted by Vatican II many life- long Catholics were “scandalized”. The practice had become so ingrained Catholics( in good humor of course)were often referred to as “Mackeral snappers”! Everyone knew that practicing Catholics did not eat meat on Fridays. However over the years, though all followed the letter of the law, many forgot WHY this
was practiced..some even mistakenly thought that eating an expensive lobster dinner
at a fine restaurant fulfilled the law. What was forgotten was Catholics observed all Fridays as a day of penance in recognition of that
one Friday we call Good Friday. In order to correct this misunderstanding it was reiterated at Vatican II and that all Fridays were still to be considered a day of penance, but now how one wished to observe that was up to the individual pentitent. The abstinance part was lifted for that reason except for the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday. All Catholics could decide for themselves how they would observe the day of penance every Friday….hoping that people would do just that and understand the reason behind the law…and not just robotically observe only the letter of the law.
Meat now can be eaten if you choose another form of penance to perform in place of its abstinance. If you choose to continue ( remember a choice is not given in Lent nor on Good Friday) to abstain you should understand that an extravagant seafood meal is not the practice of penance or denial.
In regard to Sunday being a day outside Lenten denial I think it was and is up to the local Bishop. For example, in my particular diocese which has a large Irish component the Bishop ( who is usually Irish himself)always dispenses Catholics from Lenten fast and abstinance when it falls on Fridays on St Patrick’s Day and allows
the traditional corn beef and cabbage feasting to take place. In another diocese where I currently reside where there is a large Polish component it is never done. I hope I have answered at least in part your questions.
God bless you on your Lenten journey.
Re the capybara thing: WHEEE! However, a memory of Vatican II surfaces: when the Friday abstinence was discussed, the bishops of South Africa asked that their people be dispensed because most of them had no refrigeration and got meat protein mostly from the rats they trapped. If they trapped a rat on Thursday night they had to keep it alive in the trap (almost impossible) till Friday midnight or it would rot in the heat before they could eat it. Maybe capybara falls in the same class - a source of food for the poor that they really would have a hard time finding a substitute for.
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