Annual Lent Fight!

Oyez! Oyez! Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for that annual powerhouse of pugilism, that feast of fisticuffs, and that mother-of-all-liturgical-battles,

THE ANNUAL LENT FIGHT!

Yes, indeed. It’s time once again to hash through all those vexing questions about Lent that are caused when Catholic folk tradition smacks into the Church’s official documents, with all their ambiguities, complexities, and lacunae!

Countless illusions and popular rumors about Lent will be dashed! Disputes will be started! Friendships will be ended! Ashes will be smeared! Hamburgers will be skipped!

Yes, the annual Lentomachy has it all!

To prepare yourself for the Annual Lent Fight, please check out the following links:

GENERAL

DURATION

PENANCE IN GENERAL

ABSTINENCE

ASH WEDNESDAY

HOLY THURSDAY

GOOD FRIDAY

FRIDAY PENANCE OUTSIDE OF LENT

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

30 thoughts on “Annual Lent Fight!”

  1. Nuevamente es esa época del año…

    Donde las almas se preparan en refelxión y penitencia para celebrar la alegría del universo ante la redención del ser humano, evento central de la historia y culminación de los tiempos. Donde cada cristiano en un acto libre de generosidad, renuncia a…

  3. Friends, Roman Catholics, countrymen, Lent me your ears

    I greatly admire those bloggers who give up blogging for Lent, but as for me I will continue blogging as…

  7. I decided that, instead of giving up something for Lent, I’m going to do a spiritual exercise each day of Lent. I’m going to write a meditation (or mini-homily if you will) based on each day’s Mass readings. I started posting my Lenten meditations at http://spaces.msn.com/jamiebeu
    Please feel free to comment, as I don’t expect them to be as theologically sound as some of the posts made here. I just think it may be good practice for me, if God is calling me to be a deacon later on in life.

  8. Great links – but if you know all the facts, what’s left to fight about?
    What fun is that?

  9. Sorry, Steve. If you haven’t been part of the “fun” in previous years, you missed it. Tongue in cheek style aside, I suspect that Jimmy would probably prefer to skip having the same conversation year after year after year. What fun is that?

  11. Hmm… I’m due for a haircut again, as I apparently was last Ash Wednesday (going by my comment in the Ash Wednesday post). I wonder if my hair is synchronized with the liturgical seasons.

  12. Julia,
    Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation.
    Go to Mass today anyway.
    Brad,
    haircut or hairshirt?

  14. One might get the impression that you’ve done this a time or two. 🙂
    Or thirteen.
    This has happened every year since I started working as an apologist.
    (It just wasn’t on the blog in the early days since blogs didn’t exist yet.)

  15. You missed a couple of Lent topics. What about laypersons administering ashes on Ash Wednesday and women being included in the foot washing on Holy Thursday?

  16. Claire has exclaimed: “MAN, I’m really sad that I missed out on the Lent Fight”.
    I answer: “WOMAN, it’s not too late, because it ain’t over yet.”
    (This volley also participates in the Inclusive Language Fight.)

  17. Here’s a question I don’t think has come up yet: if Lent ends at the beginning of the Holy Thursday evening mass, then are the hours between the Holy Thursday mass and the midnight that begins Good Friday considered to be part of the penitential time? In other words, if you give up meat for Lent, can you eat meat during that window of a few hours? 😛

  18. David,
    The Church speaks of the “Paschal Fast” in relationship to the “Paschal Triduum” that begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.
    I’ve already quoted elsewhere on this blog from entry 110 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Since you may have to search for it, I’m going to post it here in reply to you.
    “Nevertheless, let the paschal fast be kept sacred. Let it be celebrated everywhere on Good Friday and, where possible, prolonged throughout Holy Saturday, so that the joys of the Sunday of the resurrection may be attained with uplifted and clear mind.”
    David, since the PASCHAL Triduum begins with evening of Holy Thursday, you might consider that the PASCHAL Fast is also then in effect.
    As a spiritual encouragement, be aware that our Lord appears to have taken no nourishment (except vinegar) from the end of the Last Supper until the Day of his Resurrection. (I’m not advocating you do the same.)

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