Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
What is Lent about and can I participate?
I grew up in a secular household and I just want some information on Lent. I don't know that much about it, is it even something that a person who isn't Christian can take part in, or would that be considered disrespectful?
I want to do this for my friend because he is Catholic and he has always taken an interest and supported me in my own spiritual endeavors.
2 Answers
- ?Lv 58 years agoFavorite Answer
Over the centuries, Catholics have relaxed some of the strict fasting rules. Today, only Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays during Lent are considered fasting days. On these days, Catholics over the age of 14 are to refrain from eating meat. (Historically, this practice was meant to help unify people who could afford meat with poor people who couldn’t.) In addition, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, those between the ages of 18 and 59 are to eat only one full meal and two smaller meals and aren’t to eat between meals.
- ?Lv 68 years ago
Lent grew out of a time of preparation for Easter observed by the ancient church. It seems to have grown from just a two-day observance to 36 days by the fifth century and eventually to 40 days. It becomes 40 days today by skipping the Sundays in the count; Sundays are always days commemorating the Lord’s resurrection. Lent is power—spiritual power. The season of Lent gives me and all of us one more opportunity to remember Christ crucified—the central message of Lent in our Lutheran churches. Each Wednesday I come to church and renew my faith through the message of Jesus’ suffering and death. The apostle Paul wrote that the message of Christ crucified is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” and that the message of Christ is “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 1:24 & 2:4).
When we hear the story of Christ’s passion, it’s not just a reminder of something we once learned. It’s not just a refresher course on Jesus. Nor is it a familiar story we like to hear again and again, like the stories we tell and retell to our children and grandchildren. No, God imparts his power through the gospel. As Lutherans we understand that God promises to work only through the gospel. God assures us that through that means and that means alone the Holy Spirit works to strengthen faith, to comfort us, and to give us power to live as disciples of Jesus.