The Season of Lent

Lent spans the forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter excepting Sundays, which are always meant to celebrate the resurrection, even during Lent. This forty-day period seeks to emulate Christ’s forty days in the wilderness. The Hebrew meaning of the word forty wasn’t always literal. Forty also meant something like “a long time,” or “long enough.” Often forty signified a struggle: Moses on the mountain for 40 days, 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days of rain, and 40 more days on the ark. This is the significance of the forty days of Lent. It is traditional to “give something up” for Lent, or fast from something for these six weeks. By giving up something – we are taught – we gain deeper insight into the suffering of Christ, and perhaps see God and yourself in a different light. There is nothing magic about fasting. It is a via negativa – a negative discipline or discipline of abstinence which will only have its intended effect if we do it expectantly.