Lent —Lent is a time of abstinence and penance for Christians, to help purify the body and soul. It lasts for 40 days, from Ash Wednesday to the Thursday before Easter.”
According to Pope Benedict XVI, who is both political head of the Vatican City State in Rome and religious head of the Catholic Church, Lent is “a pilgrimage of repentance, conversion and renewal.”
“The Church’s Lenten discipline is meant to help deepen our life of faith…we may draw nearer to the Lord … and conquer the desert of our spiritual aridity, selfishness and materialism.”
The 40-day period of Lent echoes the 40 days during which Jesus, as a younger man, is said to have fought temptation from the Devil and fasted in the desert before the start of his public preaching ministry from 27 - 30 AD. So Lent can have several meanings: it reminds Christians of the value of sacrifice, reflection and soul-searching, as well as marking the period before resurrection — whether a physical rebirth of life from a deathly state, or a personal, symbolic rebirth from an unaware, empty life to a life of more meaning and understanding....
During Lent, Orthodox Christians pray, do penance, repent, give to the poor, and deny their appetites. In the early Church before the 14th century, Lent in Europe was observed with a “Black Fast” of strictly no more than one meal a day after sunset, with no meat, dairy, oil or wine. Contemporary Christians have adapted the idea of abstinence, using temporary or selective fasting, or giving up non-food items or pleasurable habits.....
There are parallels between the fasting of Christian Lent and other faiths. The Bahais fast during March, to aid spiritual growth; the Vinaya Buddhists fast everyday after the noon meal, to aid meditation and to promote routine good health; Protestants believe in optional fasting, as a choice rather than an obligation; Jews, like Christians, fast as a means of repentance, especially during Yom Kippur (their Day of Atonement — a 25-hour period of total fasting and intense prayer); and for Hindus, fasting is an integral part of life, often practised for personal reasons or during the nine days of Navratri, just before Divali, when the Divine Mother is worshipped..........
In Islam, fasting for the month of Ramadan is obligatory, to promote humility, self-control, God-awareness, and truthfulness. Ramadan fasting aims to boost self-discipline and purification, whereas Lent fasting focuses more on atoning for sins. In all of Trinidad’s current major faiths, however - Christianity, Hinduism and Islam — fasting is believed to help spiritual concentration. As the Christian priest Father Elias Mallon says.....
“Fasting is closely connected to prayer and contemplation. It is the setting aside of the ordinary that allows the believer to focus on the transcendent.”........
