People of different faiths ask- What is lent in the Catholic Church?
Lent is a 40 days’ period set aside on the Church liturgical calendar where we are invited to spiritually prepare ourselves before we celebrate Easter or the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are to observe the three pillars of lent – which are prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
We are to intensify our prayer in reading the scriptures and meditating on the sufferings of Christ to help us get close to our creator and our Redeemer. Prayer will help us to come close to God and build a deeper relationship of a loving Father and a child.
Fasting is a call not only to fast from food and drinks that we like but also to refrain from bad habits which we have developed such as alcohol abuse, smoking, gossiping, stealing etc. Fasting helps to intensify our petitions and heed to the call from God in the scriptures Acts 14:23; Joel 2: 12; Joel 1: 14; Ezra 8: 21 & 23.
Almsgiving is a call to reach out to our brothers and sisters who are in need economically, but also they can be in need of morally, physical or spiritual support. The important aspect is to reach out to the suffering Jesus in our brothers or sisters in need. Math. 25: 35- 40; 2Corit 9: 6-7; 1Jn.3:17; 1Tim 6: 18; Prov 19: 17; Heb13:16;
The aim of observing these three pillars of lent is to try to be perfect as our father in heaven is perfect and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
The season of lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday and this year Ash Wednesday is on the 14th February and Holy Saturday is on 30th March.
On Ash Wednesday Christians are reminded that from dust we came and to dust we shall return and that we need to repent from our sins and believe in the gospel.
