In this year of 2002 LENT begins in mid-February with Ash Wednesday.

In the reform of the Church in the sixteenth century, the Church of England retained this season of Lent but stripped it of various medieval ceremonies, doctrines and accretions. However, due to the influence of the Anglo-Catholic and Liturgical Movements some of these pre-Reformation ceremonies (e.g., the imposition of ashes upon the forehead) have been revived (but not always with the original meaning) in recent times.

The origin of this special season of ascetic discipline before the celebration of EASTER is to be traced to the preparation that candidates for holy baptism on Easter Eve were asked to engage in. Not only were they given special teaching in the months and days leading up to Easter, but they were also expected to fast and pray in the days of Holy Week.

The value of a time of special fasting not only for the baptismal candidates but also for the faithful was recognized by the Church and it quickly associated such a time with the forty days of fasting of the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of his ministry [See Matthew 4, Mark 1, & Luke 4]. And the duty of fasting was extended from candidates for baptism to all the faithful. There is great spiritual strength to be drawn from the knowledge that in union with the Lord Jesus we fast as he fasted.

The "forty days" were first called Quadragesima[Latin, forty fortieth] and began on the Sunday we now call the first Sunday in Lent. Later in order to get in forty weekdays (for all Sundays are the Lord's Day, feasts of the Resurrection and non-fasting days) the beginning was what we now call "Ash Wednesday." The name Lent attached to this season for in Europe it was the time of the year which heralded the beginning of Spring, and "Lent" derives from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "Spring."

In The Book of Common Prayer the relation of fasting to baptismal preparation is seen in the rubrics (in italics) at the beginning of the baptism service for older children & adults. "They be exhorted to prepare themselves, with prayer and fasting, for the receiving of this holy Sacrament." From this it is a natural extension to ask for fasting with prayer in Lent and especially on the first day, Ash Wednesday, and the last day, Good Friday.

Therefore in some editions of The Book of Common Prayer (e.g., the American edition) in the introductory material at the beginning there is "A Table of Fasts" where Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are specifically mentioned as fast days along also with "the forty days of Lent" (all Lent except the Sundays).

Fasting can be engaged in a various levels of intensity, depending upon health, age and other conditions. Thus it may be appropriate on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday only to drink minimal fluids for the whole day or at least until after dusk or until after the evening service of those days. During the rest of Lent something less rigorous but still demanding would be appropriate. And of course, fasting is to be combined with prayer, meditation upon Scripture and self-examination in the presence of the Lord. Money that is saved by not eating is to be given to the poor and needy.

The Sundays of Lent are only part of Lent in a general sense for they are not part of the forty days and being called "the Lord's Day" they are feasts of the Resurrection and thus not days of fasting. However, because there is such a poor keeping of Lent in the forty days most churches keep the Sundays as part of Lent as a means of maintaining at least a minimum observance of this season of preparation for the solemn and joyful celebration of the three great days from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day.

Lent always looks forward to Good Friday and Easter Day and its practical usefulness depends upon this connection. It is a more intense form of cultivation of our walk with the Lord than during the rest of the year. It is the period when we engage top gear and seek to stay there in order to please the Lord.

The normal services for the first day of Lent are "The Service of Commination" ( in the 1928 BCP called "A Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday") followed by the Order for Holy Communion. During the Forty Days we would be well served by seeking to use one or both of the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and the Bible readings from the Lectionary associated with them in the BCP. And where there are services in church that truly belong to the Lenten observance we should seek to attend.

Finally, a word about those long names for the Sundays before Ash Wednesday - Septuagesima [seventy, seventieth], Sexagesima [sixty, sixtieth] & Quinquagesima [fifty, fiftieth]. These names were selected in the late sixth century of the Christian era in Rome and by analogy with "Quadragesima" (the fortieth day before the Saturday after Good Friday). Only Quinquagesima (50th day) is mathematically correct while the others are only approximations.

Let us serve the Lord by observing a holy Lent and using the weeks before Ash Wednesday as preparation time for Lent.