Raging office debate between the Catholics who think that if you are giving up chocolate for Lent you only have to do so from Monday to Saturday and the Catholics who think that you have to abstain the entire time.
Question: Who is right?
Second (Related) Question:
When does Lent officially start and end?
(In support of their argument, the “it’s OK” crowd says that Lent is 40 days long and that when you go from Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday, that is 40 days if Sundays are excluded).
GOOD OBJECTIVE AUTHORITY WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. WE’VE GOTTEN FAR BEYOND THE “BECAUSE MY PRIEST SAYS SO” LEVEL
I was taught that if you give something up, you give it up for the entire time, even though Sundays aren’t technically counted as part of Lent.
Sundays are considered “celebration” days, which is why they are not considered part of Lent. As such, I believe that it then becomes a more personal situation. Personally. I feel that if you give something up for Lent, you give it up from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
I’ll do some more hunting, but I didn’t find specifications in the Catholic Encyclopedia online-admittedly, I skimmed the article.
Well, Lent does begin on Ash Wednesday and end at Easter. I’m not Catholic but Episcopalian(and raised Lutheran). While I never HAD to give anything up for Lent it was usually assumed that if one DID it was for all the time. Nowadays there is a trend not to give up something but to do something extra, like extra prayer times, volunteer work, etc. I myself have given up meat for Lent, with no “days off” but this is a spiritual exercise, not something required. And let me tell you, being a slavering carnivore myself, it’s not fun… But when I deny myself something that I like it makes me remember what was done for me. (But at Easter dinner don’t get between me and my ham!)
Don’t know for sure if this is what you were looking for but there it is.
Forgot to say that I DID fall off the wagon once and had a spicy chicken sandwich. Tasted great but, believe it or not, I felt guilty afterwards. And i’m not trying to be funny, it wasn’t meant as a joke.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration of the Easter Vigil Mass (usually celebrated on the evening of Holy Saturday, although it may be celebrated at midnight or Easter dawn–in the early part of the 20th century, my Mom has memories (I don’t know how accurate) of the Vigil being celebrated at noon, Saturday).
Canon Law limits itself to the general expression of Penance without getting into the technical details of the days:
The inclusion of Sunday gives Lent 46 days, but since the practice of “giving up stuff” for Lent is not a specific requirement of Church Teaching or Law, they don’t seem to worry too much about the particulars. The attitude of penance is supposed to reflect ones overall activities throughout the period, not any specific act within that period (other than the fasting (one large meal, no snacks) and abstinence (no mammals as food) that is indicated for specific days.
As a former RC and now Lutheran )ELCA) ,I’d like to just say that nothing in the NT indicates that you have to give up anything anytime. Lent falls under the heading of “tradition” rather than a biblical commandment.
I’m not trying to attack anyone here for their beliefs, I just want to point this out.
I needed to double check my sources before having a difference from tomndebb’s posting.
The lenten season starts on Ash Wednesday but (and this is being fairly technical)the observation of Lent begins on the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday.
Lent now officially ends on Holy Thursday with the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper.This also marks the begining of the Easter Triduum.
Ending Lent on Holy Thursday is also consistent with the current * General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar * for which I could not find an on-line version.
This is a fairly recent change. I know that the 1969 General Norms has Lent ending with the Easter Vigil as Tom cited.
jayjay, you are correct. I was thinking warm-blooded and typed mammal. (I should cut back on my late night posting.) (Even the “warm-blooded” is a recent description of what abstinence applies to, but it is consistent with what has been included in the meats to avoid since the second or third century.
barker, thanks.
Somehow I missed the proclamation of Paschale Solemnitatis. (The Triduum* has begun on Holy Thursday for hundreds of years, but moving it out of Lent is new.)
