From a feast to a famine in space of just six weeks

Country Living with Francis Farragher

Scarcely have we emerged from the excesses of Christmas and the bleakness of January than we’re now facing into the season of pain, fast and abstinence that we call Lent, its arrival being particularly early this year due to our full moon of March 22, a celestial happening that gives us an early Easter.

The visit of Ash Wednesday on February 10 this year is a bit like a young lad being called too early in the morning by his mother for school when he feels like sleeping on for another hour or two, but like it or not the Lenten season is at our doorstep long before there’s even a mention of St. Patrick’s Day.

In my great vocation of journalistic research for the benefit of the general public, I’ve delved into some apparently well-researched writings on the origins of Lent, a custom that dates back to the early days of the Christian Church. Its origins are in the concept of preparing for baptism, with penance being the key driving force.

The word Lent has its origins in two old Anglo-Saxon words: lencten, meaning Spring; and lenctenid, the latter translating into both Springtide and March, according to a Fr. William P. Saunders, an American priest who writes on giving straight answers to questions about the Catholic Faith.

According to the learned pastor, Lent started to become a regularised event in the Catholic culture around 300AD when the principle of a 40 day period of fasting became established. 40 was quite a significant numeral for the early faithful, with Moses fasting for 40 days before receiving the Ten Commandments while Jesus also fasted and prayed for 40 days and nights in the desert before beginning his public ministry.

This leads me nicely into a little conundrum over Lent that I’ve tried to figure out over the years. If Lent is meant to be a period of fasting and penance for 40 days, then why does our Lenten term extend out to 46 days which is exactly the span between the start (Ash Wednesday) and the final day of the penitential period (Good Friday).

For  more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.