What I do during the Lenten Season
In lieu of the holy week celebration, this blog post is dedicated to the season of lent :)
Growing up from a Catholic Christian family, I was exposed to church teachings, practices and traditions for different occasions. Especially this holy week, the holiday week was already packed with activities on how to honor our Lord Jesus Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. A lot of people would ask me on what kind of things we do in church or at home to celebrate this event. Allow me to write about the most common practice people do in this season, which is Fasting and Abstinence.
Disclaimer: As much as I can, I follow this practice throughout the entire season of lent. However, there are really times that I can say that the struggle was real when you have to be really picky with the food you eat and what’s on the table. Also, when there’s free food (no fish or vegetables) in the pantry at work. ;)
Fasting and Abstinence
This is the most common activity that Catholics practice during lent. This starts from Ash Wednesday and ends on the last day of Lent, Black Saturday. This is following Jesus’ act of fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Many people confuse fasting as not eating meat during the 40 days. The act of fasting is limiting the amount of food you consume every day. This includes not having that extra rice, or not eating that dessert when you know you’re already full.
This is our way of penance and sacrifice.
Actually, not eating meat during Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday is called Abstinence. As lifeteen.com says it, “Abstinence from meat is more than just “going without” during Lent or just a reminder that Christ offered His flesh for us on the cross. Abstinence is a form of prayer, a discipline. When we abstain from meat, we focus on Christ and on our souls, rather than on self and on our bodies. It is faith in action, placing our attention on Jesus and offering Him ‘our flesh’ as a sacrifice (Romans 12:1–2), a vessel through which He can and does work. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I guess you could say that abstinence makes the body (and soul) grow holier… if we embrace it and allow it. Meat is great, but Jesus seemed to do pretty well with just bread and fish, and so did everyone else who received the feast that day (Matthew 15:34–37). Remember, God made vegetables, too.”
Fasting and Abstinence is not limited to food. It also applies to abstain in our guilty pleasures or our common hobbies that takes an effort to live without. Some people abstain from social media, going to the mall, consuming chocolate and sodas.
Common Questions Answered:
Is not following Fasting and Abstinence a sin?
Now, what would happen in case you didn’t follow these rules? Is this a sin? No. This act of sacrifice is a church teaching on how we can commemorate and remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us in the cross. It is within ourselves on how we use this time to become closer and one with Lord, not thinking about our worldly pleasures.
If I didn’t go to mass on Ash Wednesday, can I not follow this practice?
Another confusion that people have during the season of lent is if they didn’t go to church on Ash Wednesday, they are not required to fast or abstain. Given that Ash Wednesday is a holy day of obligation, we are pretty much expected to go to church. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the day many Christians mark as the first day of Lent, the time of reflection and penitence leading up to Easter Sunday. Clergy all over the world dispense ashes, usually made by burning the palm fronds distributed on last year’s Palm Sunday, making the sign of the cross on the bowed foreheads before them. As they “impose” or “dispense” the ashes, the pastor or priest reminds each Christian of Genesis 3:19: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return.”
However, in cases that we really can’t come to mass, we should still practice fasting and abstinence. The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday.
In the Philippines, as I am writing this post, Easter vigils are happening in different parts of the country. As we renew our vows as Christians, let us use this time to begin and continue living and following Christ ❤
Happy Easter Everyone!
XOXO,
Frances
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