And Lent is...

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lil~peanut

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While we are all talking and being helpful. Explain to me Lent. I know you have to give something up. Is it forever? And where did Lent start? I know Mardi Gras started from Lent. right? Sorry if I don't make any sense, yesterday was a VERY long day! Thanks for putting up with me. :)
 

Kepha

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lil~peanut said:
While we are all talking and being helpful. Explain to me Lent. I know you have to give something up. Is it forever? And where did Lent start? I know Mardi Gras started from Lent. right? Sorry if I don't make any sense, yesterday was a VERY long day! Thanks for putting up with me. :)
No, when you give up something during Lent it is only from Ash Wednesday till Easter Sunday.
 
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Highway of Life

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Sorry, posted this in your other thread.

Theme:
Retreating Into the Wilderness with Jesus

Dates:
Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. Lent begins on 9 February 2005 and ends on 26 March 2005. In the Roman Catholic Church, Lent officially ends at sundown on 24 March (Holy Thursday), with the beginning of the mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. (See The Apostolic Constitutions, Book V, Section III.)

The Western Church

Lent always begins on Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter.

In many countries, the last day before Lent (called Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Carnival, or Fasching) has become a last fling before the solemnity of Lent. For centuries, it was customary to fast by abstaining from meat during Lent, which is why some people call the festival Carnival, which is Latin for farewell to meat.

The Eastern Church

The Eastern Church does not skip over Sundays when calculating the length of the Great Lent. Therefore, the Great Lent always begins on Clean Monday, the seventh Monday before Easter, and ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday—using of course the eastern date for Easter. The Lenten fast is relaxed on the weekends in honor of the Sabbath (Saturday) and the Resurrection (Sunday). The Great Lent is followed by Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, which are feast days, then the Lenten fast resumes on Monday of Holy Week. Technically, in the Eastern Church, Holy Week is a separate season from the Great Lent.

Special Days

The purpose of the liturgical calendar is to relive the major events in Jesus’ life in real time, which is why Lent is forty days long. If Jesus were born on 25 December, then His conception would have been nine months earlier, on about 25 March. That is when the angel Gabriel would have announced Jesus’ birth to Mary. Thus 25 March is known in the historic church as The Annunciation.

Roughly speaking, the western Church consists of Protestants, Catholics, and Anglicans. The eastern Church consists of the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the eastern-rite churches affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.


Highway of Life
 
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JJM

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I don't know where lent started but it is forty day where you fast in repentance before the celebration of our salvation. the 40 days repellents the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert after his baptism. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. Fat Tuesday is an unofficial Holiday for Catholics where you indulge in something you are about to fast from for 40 days.
 
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D'Ann

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Greetings All and Highway of Life,

Okay, now I have a question... On Fridays, we are not suppose to eat meat during Lent... right? I mean we can eat fish, but it is recommended as like a "fasting" to sustain from all meat. Since we have been Catholic, we do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent. (We don't eat fish either... My dh and kids do not like fish. :))

God's Peace,

D'Ann
 
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Highway of Life

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We talk about “imitating Christ,” but we only want to imitate whatever He did that fits our tastes.

Some of us are deeply concerned about social issues, so we seek to “imitate Christ” in His concern for the poor and needy. We run homeless shelters and soup kitchens; our churches house AIDS clinics and AA meetings. We rent our building to a start-up congregation, and we have joint services with a different denomination.

Some of us are deeply concerned about moral issues, so we seek to “imitate Christ” in His confrontations with the Pharisees. We picket inappropriate contento shops and demonstrate about abortion; our churches work with political candidates. We hold youth rallies and family nights to build good values and we hold alternative celebrations for teens where no alcohol is served.

Some of us are deeply concerned with doctrinal orthodoxy, so we seek to “imitate Christ” in His teachings. We give classes in exegetics and Biblical languages; our churches host guest speakers on archaeology and hold public seminars on prophecy. We host trips to the Holy Land and we educate each member on every doctrinal point.

But how many of us retreat to a mountain to pray for a whole night just because we have important decisions to make the next morning?

How many of us fast, as Jesus fasted, as an adjunct to prayer? Jesus never ran a homeless shelter. He never picketed for new legislation. He didn’t start study groups on end-time events. But He prayed all night on the mountain, and once He fasted for forty days. Are we truly imitating Christ, or are we rationalizing our behavior?

When Jesus taught us how to pray, He didn’t say, “If you elect to pray, do it this way…” and when He taught about fasting, He didn’t say, “If you elect to fast, do it this way…”

He said, when you pray, don’t do it for show like the hypocrites do. It’s a conversation between you and God. And He gave us the Lord’s prayer as an example of what we should pray about.

Similarly, Jesus told us that when we fast (not if) we are not to make a show of it, like hypocrites do. A fast is different from a hunger strike: a fast is a personal act of devotion to God, while a hunger strike is a public act most often used to shine a spotlight on injustice. A fast is also different from anorexia nervosa: it is disciplined diet, not total abstention from food. During a religious fast, you still eat, you just abstain from certain foodstuffs. Traditionally, people have fasted by eliminating luxury items from their diets, such as meats. You could have a fast that consists of eating whatever you want, but drinking only water. Orthodox Christians recognize five levels of fasting:

* Abstaining from meat
* Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese
* Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and fish
* Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, fish, oil, and wine
* Abstaining from all foods and beverages except bread, water, juices, honey, and nuts.

The ancient Jews fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. The ancient church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, because they believed that Jesus commanded them to observe those days as fast days; Wednesday to commemorate His betrayal, and Friday to commemorate His crucifixion. (This is recorded in the Apostolic Constitutions, Book 5, Section 3, which the Orthodox Churches still use as a manual of church discipline.) So it has been historically customary for Christians to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Do we fast and pray? If we don’t, our spiritual life is unbalanced. If we are a soldiers of the Lord, we can hardly expect to be commended for our conduct if we never check into headquarters for instructions.

Highway of Life
 
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lil~peanut

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Wow, Thank you. Highway, I didn't think anyone was going to reply to the other post, so I opened this one. If you folks have any more things to share with me, please do. I'm a sponge today! :) ( and a goof!) :blush:
 
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JJM

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lil~peanut said:
Wow, Thank you. Highway, I didn't think anyone was going to reply to the other post, so I opened this one. If you folks have any more things to share with me, please do. I'm a sponge today! :) ( and a goof!) :blush:

share about lent or other things in General?

also You tend to get more answers if you start a new thread for each question although some people feel more comforatble asking in one long one. which ever works for you is fine I just thought I'd tell you.
 
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Chilldogg77

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But how many of us retreat to a mountain to pray for a whole night just because we have important decisions to make the next morning?

How many of us fast, as Jesus fasted, as an adjunct to prayer? Jesus never ran a homeless shelter. He never picketed for new legislation. He didn’t start study groups on end-time events. But He prayed all night on the mountain, and once He fasted for forty days. Are we truly imitating Christ, or are we rationalizing our behavior?

Highway, I feel like the answer is probably not many. But ironically, if people are fasting and praying in the way they are supposed to, you and I wouldn't hear about it or know about it.
 
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Highway of Life

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Chilldogg77 said:
Highway, I feel like the answer is probably not many. But ironically, if people are fasting and praying in the way they are supposed to, you and I wouldn't hear about it or know about it.
Indeed we would not.

I'm really not sure that question could be answered, it really is a challenge for us, if I don't fast, I will, if I do fast, I will fast more often!

Blessings,
Highway
 
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It said this...

The Season of Lent

What is Lent?

Lent is a forty day period, excluding Sundays, beginning on Ash Wednesday, and ending on Holy Thursday before Easter, where the faithful "retreat into the wilderness with Jesus." This means that it is a time of reflecting on our faith, our baptism, and to practice "dying to ourselves," so that we may follow Jesus more fully. Just as Jesus went into the desert for forty days to pray and to fast prior to His ministry, we imitate Jesus in order to repent and strengthen our religious devotions prior to His crucifixion and Resurrection remembered at Easter.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says…“By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert."

In the early Church, the forty days before Easter were the final stage of preparation for those about to be baptized. The rest of the Church prayed and fasted in solidarity with them and this theme has reappeared since the Church restarted the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) process.

Lent involves fasting, prayer, and almsgiving as its three main pillars. The increase of prayer during Lent is meant to draw the faithful closer to God and to obtain the graces necessary to renew our baptismal promises. Fasting is useful for fighting off sin, reminding us of those that are hungry not by choice, and as a tool leading to deeper prayer. Almsgiving is another way of living out our baptismal duties and of uniting us with those living in poverty.

The Catholic faithful are required to fast and to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is encouraged, but not required, to abstain on all Fridays during Lent. The fast on these days means that two small snacks may be eaten in additional to one regular meal. This requirement can be lifted by a priest for those that are young, elderly, sick, or those with special dietary needs. It should be noted that fish does not count as ‘meat.’

Lent is also the primary time for celebrating the Sacrament of Penance, because it is the season for baptismal preparation and baptismal renewal. Thus, when the already baptized confess their sins and obtain forgiveness through the Sacrament of Penance, they are again “brand new” and “clean” like those getting baptized will be.

In addition to these practices, the faithful observing Lent will typically be seen "giving something up," which could be anything from chocolate to smoking, in order to deny themselves. The idea is to give up something that you will feel deeply, so that you can be reminded daily that Jesus gave up Himself for us. This is in addition to the fasting and abstaining observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Lent as Preparation

It must be remembered that Lent is simply a preparation for something bigger. The ‘Triduum’ is the term for the three days following Lent. These days are Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The three days are counted as the Hebrews counted their days, from dusk to dusk. Therefore, the three days of the Easter Triduum are from dusk on Holy Thursday to dusk on Good Friday (day one), dusk on Good Friday to dusk on Holy Saturday (day two), and dusk on Holy Saturday to dusk on Easter Sunday (day three).

On Holy Thursday, we remember the Last Supper when Jesus gives us the Eucharist and tells us to "Do this in memory of me." On Good Friday, we remember the Passion and death of Jesus. We celebrate the Resurrection of Christ either at the Easter Vigil on Saturday night when new members are baptized and welcomed into our Catholic faith, or on Easter Sunday.

Lenten Trivia

Why do we get Palm Branches?

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, also called ‘Sunday of the Passion’, and continues through Holy Thursday (when Holy Communion was instituted at the Last Supper) and Good Friday, (when Jesus was tried, crucified, and buried). The Palm branches on Palm Sunday are in remembrance of Jesus’ prophetic entrance into Jerusalem, when he rode in on a donkey and was met by the crowd carrying Palm branches.

Why do we get ashes on Ash Wednesday?

The ashes are made from the burning of the palms of the previous Easter’s Palm Sunday. The faithful get marked on the forehead with ashes in order to remind us that we came from dust and we will return to dust. This is intended to motivate repentance on the part of the faithful and to signify the start of the Lenten season in which we die to ourselves.

What does the word Lent mean?

It is from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘lengten', which means 'spring'. The Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, determined that Easter should be celebrated the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. So if we count back six Sundays before Easter, in order to get 40 days in Lent, the Wednesday before the first of these Sundays is Ash Wednesday.

This derivation is something unique to English, and in almost all other languages its name is a derivative of the Latin term ‘Quadragesima’, or "the forty days."

Why is Lent forty days long?

Forty days is a traditional and symbolic in the Bible. Examples of this are: Moses stayed on the Mountain of God forty days (Exodus 24:18 and 34:28), the spies were in the land for forty days (Numbers 13:25), Elijah traveled forty days before he reached the cave where he had his vision (1 Kings 19:8), Nineveh was given forty days to repent (Jonah 3:4), and most importantly, prior to undertaking his Ministry, Jesus spent forty days in wilderness praying and fasting (Matthew 4:2).
 
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