Pre-Lent

[Fish and Bread]

Some churches have a "pre-Lent" period that including some combination of either fasting, liturgical changes, penitential or preparatory devotions, or some similar adjustments. Others go straight into Lent from Ordinary Time (or the season after Epiphany or some similar liturgical season).

Regardless of which church you are each affiliated with and what their practice is, I wonder if we could get some thoughts posted here about the advantages and disadvantages of such a system. Does the pre-Lent make Lent a deeper spiritual experience or does it drag it on too long? Does it not give enough "recovery time" from Advent and Christmas or does sanctify the calendar more and create more special time? How might it make you feel on Ash Wednesday or whenever Lent starts in your jurisdiction as opposed to how you might feel otherwise? If you are, say, an extraordinary-mass Roman Catholic, does it make Fat Tuesday less happy and does it give Ash Wednesday less meaning, or does it strengthen those traditions?

 

[Mary of Bethany]

What I like about the Orthodox pre-Lenten focus is that it is on:

a) humility (the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee) . . . . and we are not allowed to fast at all that week, to remind us that we can do nothing to earn our salvation;

b) repentance (Zaccheus Sunday) Zaccheus repented and Christ came into "his house" and changed his life; and

c) forgiveness (Forgiveness Sunday) - this is the eve of the Great Fast (we don't have Ash Wednesday - Lent begins on Monday for us). At Forgiveness Vespers that Sunday evening, every person present, beginning with the Priest, prostrates himself before every other person present, even children, asking to be forgiven for any offenses, and receiving forgiveness from the other. We are usually in tears before it is over.


Mary

 

[WarriorAngel]

The Catholic Church priests prepare the laity before Lent, for Lent.

I am not sure if you asking for a specific type of rite before Lent, or if you are asking if we prepare for Lent at Mass.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I don't think I really answered your question in my first post, though I was trying to make a point.

When Pascha/Easter comes early, it does seem as if there's too little time after Theophany/Epiphany to enjoy the feasting season. However, the 3 pre-Lenten Sundays are very important for the reasons I gave above, and they definitely do prepare us to move through the Great Fast with the proper focus. So, yes, I think they are very good and necessary.

Mary

 

[Fish and Bread]

I'm enjoying reading all the responses so far! Thanks everyone for your input. I'm looking forward to reading more.

The Catholic Church priests prepare the laity before Lent, for Lent.

I am not sure if you asking for a specific type of rite before Lent, or if you are asking if we prepare for Lent at Mass.

My questions are not so much a question of actual practices. I know that for latin-rite Catholics who use the ordinary calendar, ordinary time ends on a Tuesday and Lent begins the next day, Ash Wednesday. I am also aware that for those who use the extraordinary calendar (1962), the 16 days preceding Lent are a separate penitential season called Septuagesima (a pre-Lent of sorts), with the liturgical color of purple.

What I am more interested in people's perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of each system. For example, are you glad ordinary time extends right up to Ash Wednesday in your liturgical calendar? Do you like the added breather between Epiphany and Lent? Or would you prefer a more formal preparatory like Septuagesima used to be? Pretend the Pope approached you and said "WarriorAngel, I need your input on this from your perspective as a faithful member of the laity attending a weekly parish mass. I am not sure whether I should bring Septuagesima back or not for the ordinary mass.". What advice would you give his holiness and why?

 

[E.C.]

I always look forward to Forgiveness Sunday.

Keeps us all humble.