How to Observe Lent

By eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor

Rate: (5 Ratings)

The old Teutonic word "lent" meant simply the spring season. Since Anglo-Saxon times, though, it's been used to denote the 40-day period of fasting and purification leading up to Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 21, 2007) and ends on Easter Sunday (April 8, 2007).

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step1
Decorate your church and/or home in purple, symbolizing both suffering and death, but also royalty and thus hope for the resurrection.
Step2
Spend the Lent season in prayer, reflection and repentance. Lent is a time for soul-searching, facing great challenges and overcoming mistakes.
Step3
Follow the tradition of Lent by fasting, done in honor of Christ's own 40-day fast in the desert. You can do this in whatever way seems appropriate to you - its intensity has varied from total abstinence to refraining from eating meat. Note that some churches focus less on fasting and encourage charitable deeds. For example, visit elderly people, baby-sit for young mothers or visit prisoners.
Step4
Give up something you love for the 40-day period, symbolizing the Lenten season's return to simplicity and purity. It doesn't matter what you give up - cigarettes, chocolate, television, surfing the Internet - as long as the meaning of its absence holds significant value to you.
Step5
Banish the gloom of winter and make room for Easter and the new life of spring. While this season might be tinged with solemnity, it should also be a time of looking forward to renewal and triumph.

Tips & Warnings

  • Giving up something for Lent is primarily a Catholic custom, but even if you're not a devotee of any formal religion, the voluntary surrender of a cherished substance or pastime can have powerful spiritual and psychological benefits. If nothing else, it will show you what you can do when you put your mind to it.
  • Clean your house from top to bottom. It's a modern - and thoroughly practical - metaphor for purification and renewal. Organize your closets and get rid of clutter.
  • Why not consider being more virtuous for a few weeks? Don't lose your temper, don't gossip, don't complain, go to church more often, or improve yourself in whatever way seems most appropriate to you.
  • Folk wisdom holds that it takes six weeks - a tad more than the length of Lent - to establish a new habit. So beware: what you begin as a temporary act of willpower could wind up as a whole new way of life.

Comments

| View All Comments
Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 3/30/2006 Instead of giving something up for Lent, I pick one bad habit and worked on changing it. I have used Lent in the past to stop many self-destructive habits.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 11/22/2005 For Lent each year, our family keeps a small bowl filled with rice on the kitchen table. On Fridays, we prepare a simple meatless meal, like those eaten in Third World countries. We
donate what we would have spent on dinner to food for the poor.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 8/8/2006 I am asking God to help me give up my terrible anger against people who have wronged me.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 3/18/2006 I gave up cookies for lent this year.
Never realized how often I eat one.
I feel better knowing that I can do this.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 11/22/2005 Each year for Lent I give up listening to my car stereo while driving. I use the quiet time to pray the rosary, talk to God or just quietly reflect and take an accounting of my day.

View All

Post a Comment

POST A COMMENT

Request a New How-To Article

Looking for more How To information? Chances are there’s an eHow member who knows how to do what you’re looking to do. Submit an article request now!

eHow Article:  How to Observe Lent

eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor

Related Ads