Chai Brady
Despite its enduring popularity, the Lenten period is sorely misunderstood by many, Chai Brady writes
It has been joked that the Lenten period never ended last year as the rolling pandemic restrictions meant everyone having to make tough sacrifices, but Lent is much more than just forgoing pleasurable activities, food or drink – which it has been reduced to in the minds of many.
Conversion
In Pope Francis’ message for Lent this year, which he delivered last week on Friday, he highlighted the basics and the need for hope during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that “Fasting, prayer and almsgiving, as preached by Jesus (cf. Mt 6:1-18), enable and express our conversion. The path of poverty and self-denial (fasting), concern and loving care for the poor (almsgiving), and childlike dialogue with the Father (prayer) make it possible for us to live lives of sincere faith, living hope and effective charity”. It seems most of the focus is on the self-denial aspect of Lent nowadays, which is certainly not going to be wholeheartedly welcomed after a year of lockdowns and tribulations of all shapes and sizes.
Importantly, the Pope also spoke of how it can be challenging to speak of hope during these times of “trouble, when everything seems fragile and uncertain”. However, he said that Lent is the season of hope: a time when people turn back to God.
During Lent, he asked that the Faithful be increasingly concerned with “speaking words of comfort, strength, consolation and encouragement, and not words that demean, sadden, anger or show scorn”. In order to give hope to others, he said it is sometimes enough simply to be kind, to be “willing to set everything else aside in order to show interest, to give the gift of a smile, to speak a word of encouragement, to listen amid general indifference”.
Highlighting the importance of love – following in the footsteps of Christ – the Pope said it is the highest expression of faith and hope. “To experience Lent with love means caring for those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In these days of deep uncertainty about the future, let us keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant, ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you’ (Is 43:1). In our charity, may we speak words of reassurance and help others to realise that God loves them as sons,” he said.
The Pope’s message goes a long way to describe the true meaning and richness of Lent and how it can be a fulfilling period instead of a slog. But why do Christians take part in Lent and how did it come to be in the first place? How can we fully take part in a Lent imbued with hope and love?
In the rest of the Catholic world it was known as quadragesima, which is the 40 days, because obviously that was the period”
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Dublin-based Bro. Richard Hendrick OFM Cap says that Lent remains in popular consciousness even when other elements of the Christian calendar have somewhat disappeared. He says: “I think Lent is actually something that as a cultural reference people know about, at least in their awareness of the practice of giving up something, we see every year the health campaigns and anti-smoking campaigns that are done and that do tend to be present or made more present during the Lenten time. I suppose what maybe is missing is the understanding of where the period comes from and how it’s fitted into the Christian understanding of human life.”
The word Lent comes from the Old English word Lencten which meant a period of time leading to spring. Bro Hendrick says: “In the rest of the Catholic world it was known as quadragesima, which is the 40 days, because obviously that was the period. And it was paired off with various other lengths or fasts that took place throughout the Christian year, so obviously the advent fast would be one that people would be familiar with now.
“The Lenten fast was the 40-day period that was established very early on in Church history as a way to prepare for Easter but also as a particular time of preparation for adult catechumens who were preparing for Baptism at the Easter vigil, the Easter celebration.
“Where that then extended out to the rest of the Church world as a way of preparing for the Easter Mysteries, calling ourselves to our baptismal confirmation and the baptismal promises that are made as a way of renewing our conversion each year.”
Of course, as the majority of people know, in observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.
Pillars
The pillars of Lent are a unified method of “recalling ourselves to the presence of God” and to the conversion that is necessary for everyone day by day, but in a special way during Lent, Bro. Hendrick explains, “They are of course increased prayer, fasting – which includes not just giving things up but also taking on extra practices – and then almsgiving, looking after our brothers and sisters in their need”.
The fasting then also allows us not to just give up things or to feel a lack but there’s also a solidarity with those who are under a forced lack”
“Those three together, they are three pillars of the Christian life rather than just three pillars of Lent, it’s important for us to recognise that we’re only really living the Christian commitment to inner conversion if all three of those are present in our life and we also need to explore then what the fasting means.”
Pancakes
Lent has moved on from a very strict fast, when it wasn’t just meat that people gave up but also dairy and alcohol for example. Pancake Tuesday stems from this. Also known as Shrove Tuesday, occurring the day before Ash Wednesday, it was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients.
“We call it Shrove Tuesday and Shrovetide because we’re looking towards a cleansing. To be shriven means to cleanse, not just our souls but to cleanse the house that would bring temptation in during Lent,” says Bro. Hendrick.
“The fasting then also allows us not to just give up things or to feel a lack but there’s also a solidarity with those who are under a forced lack. Those who don’t have enough so we begin to feel their condition and that in turn raises a greater charity and compassion toward others and that pours itself out in almsgiving.
“I think it’s important to recognise that almsgiving is not just about money, we give the alms of our time and of our presence and of our listening and of our accompaniment of others. The greatest alms you can offer to anybody is love and understanding.”
He adds that another element of fasting could be a fast from “needless chatter”, giving family, friends and neighbours “the benefit of silence and space from us in as much as we can give them that space”.
40 days
Prayer is also an important part of Lent but that doesn’t mean just adding a few more prayers or devotions during the 40 days according to Bro. Hendrick, who says it is more of a “deepening of the spirit of prayer, a deepening awareness of the presence of God in our lives and in the lives of others and making time to listen for God, to listen for his word”.
He mentions images in scripture, apart from Jesus in the desert himself: the prophet Joel, which is used on Ash Wednesday each year to recall the Faithful to conversion; the time spent by Elijah in the desert where he was recalled to a new understanding of his vocation and to hear the word of God speaking to him; the story of the prophet Jonah, where Christians are assured that repentance always results in mercy and in the compassion of God.
“When we think about those messages the scripture is giving to us, it’s an understanding of human beings particularly today in a very busy and distracted life – with the best will in the world – God can move from the centre of our life and the centre of our existence to the periphery, so this is a way of recalling ourselves to a reordering of being that allows God to dwell in our hearts and speak through our hearts then to the presence of God in ourselves and in our world and in others,” Bro. Hendrick says.
I think for some people Lent will have changed them forever because of the time and the reflection”
For Sr Sheila Kelleher of the Presentation Sisters in Cork, entering Lent with the challenges of the pandemic and a lockdown could be beneficial as many people have had more of an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of their lives.
“I think we have a very different type of society today and I think if Lent was properly explained as a positive rather than a negative it might have more of an impact and might bring about a better outcome,” Sr Kelleher tells this paper.
“I have heard people say that despite the difficulty of lockdown it has benefited them in the sense that they have realised now that the race they were part of, the rat race, is really not what life is about and that it’s passing them by, for that reason I think people are in a better place this year to buy-in to Lent because Covid has slowed them down.”
Sr Kelleher says that she doesn’t see Lent as a time to give things up, but as a time to build relationships and “be a better person”.
“I would be more fired up by that kind of thinking rather than saying I must give this up, give that up and that never really appealed too much, not that I was very good for giving up things,” she laughs. “Very often it’s about how I can get a better relationship with myself, with God and with the people around me. I believe relationships are crucial.”
She adds: “I think for some people Lent will have changed them forever because of the time and the reflection. For other people it has been very, very difficult because if you’re working from home, the house has turned into an office, children are being taught from home, the kitchens I’ve seen in some houses have been turned into classrooms, that’s not easy and those parents get very little time to reflect because life is maybe as busy or busier, but I think overall Lent will mean something very different to most people this year.”
Sacred space
There are a few things people can do to make the Lenten period more rewarding according to Bro. Hendrick, who recommends creating a sacred space in the home, much like the tradition of having a May altar, a Lenten space or Lenten altar could be made by simply placing a candle, crucifix or icon in a space to allow a point of focus.
“We are sacramental, not just in the sense of the seven sacraments but we believe that all of reality and everything that is beautiful comes from God and so to have a little sacred place to remind us of the sacramentality of our time and of our space,” Bro. Hendrick explains.
“The second thing is to encourage a little bit of spiritual reading every day even if it’s only a few lines from scripture or looking at the Gospel of the day as we go along. You can easily find that by Googling or going online and just maybe sitting with the Word for a few minutes each day and to remember it’s not just about reading, it’s about resting in silence with the Word as well, to increase our traditional meditation on the passion of the Lord and maybe to think about his isolation and his loneliness, his aloneness in the midst of the passion, in the sense that he himself has gone through seclusion and isolation and knows what it is to feel alone, it’s important for us to recognise that there is no human feeling or human experience that Christ doesn’t enter into through his people.”
It’s Jesus own promise to us that nothing will come against us that will ever separate us from his love”
Despite the pain and even death that people have been going through and affected by with regard to Covid, Bro. Hendrick says we can look at it as God’s way of increasing quality of presence. One of the things that the lockdown has taught us “is the importance of the presence of others, whether that’s the friends and family that we’re currently missing or even the people we’re sharing lockdown life with”.
“Maybe also to recognise we’re called to reach out as brothers and sisters to one another as best we can, whether that’s virtually or in real life and maybe to look at the quality of our relationships over the last number of months, how has it been for us?”
“How could we allow this to be a period of conversion, of heart, with regard to how we treat our families, our communities, our children, our spouses, our partners whatever it might be, but those who are closest to us, how can we extend patience and compassion to them and also then how can we increase our presence to God. God is always presence to us, but how can we work on tuning in to the presence of the Lord particularly at times when we may not be able to be present to him sacramentally, we should always remember the Christians saints speak of the sacrament of the present moment, that whatever we are going through God is with us in that moment and we can tune ourselves to his presence through the practices associated with Lent.”
He adds that as Easter approaches, it’s important people recognise that no matter the manner of celebration, or the lack of public celebration, Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and “we believe that he is the Lord of history and this is one of many times that the Christian people have gone through periods of plague and pandemic and disaster and worldwide stress but we’ve passed through them all and we’ll pass through them again and it’s important for us to remember that we keep our feet grounded firmly on the rock of Christ and of his Church”.
“It’s Jesus own promise to us that nothing will come against us that will ever separate us from his love. I think there are practical small, little things we can do within our own homes and lives to honour the sacred, to honour the presence of God but also to remember in the bigger, overall picture, we believe in a Christ who has already won the victory for all of us.”