Catholics Celebrate Lent Amidst COVID-19
March 2021. For Catholics, it is the year of Saint Joseph, as well as the month of Saint Joseph, the legal father of Jesus Christ in Christianity, who also bears the namesake of our town. In the midst of Catholic Lent as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, how does a centuries-old tradition manifest itself in a year like this?
Though practicing Lent wasn’t made official until The First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, it’s expected that a period of fasting was in practice since the time of Christ. The council was a convention of Christian bishops that set to address the whole of Christianity and formalized many Christian holidays such as Lent and Easter. Lent is not a practice specific to just Catholicism, but practiced in many different Christian denominations. It is a period of 40-day fasting meant to honor the 40 days that, according to Christianity, Jesus Christ spent in the wilderness of the Judean Desert while being tempted to sin by Satan. Many different sects of Christians give up different pleasures in the 40 days to honor His fortitude. For Catholics in 2021, their Lent began February 17 and ends April 3, a Saturday. That Saturday falls between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the former being the day which Jesus was crucified at Calvary and the latter being the day he supposedly resurrected. February 17 through April 3 is actually 45 days, 5 being Sundays, which are exempt from fasting. The first day of Lent, or Ash Wednesday, is a day after a holiday with unexpected Christian roots-Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday-where Christians would feast before beginning the Lent season. This tradition was popular in medieval Europe, and is still practiced in cities such as New Orleans to this day.
Traditions for Lent are about giving something up, similar to how Jesus resisted temptation during the 40 days. In the Eastern Othodox church, traditions remain fairly strict for Lent, with members being expected to give up things such as meat, fish, alcohol, and more for the whole 40 days. This is not the case for Catholicism, which has relaxed many practices. Many Catholics only fast from meat on Fridays, and many give up things such as sweets or social media for the whole 40 days. It’s a way to establish self-control and resist urges and temptations.
“The history of Lent is really about baptizing and/or receiving new adults into the Catholic Church,” Father John Fleckenstein of St. Joseph Catholic Church said,“ it was a period of learning and reflection in preparation for their baptism/reception into the Catholic Church at Easter. So 40 days were used for the ‘final preparation days.’ Eventually, it grew to be a special 40 days for all Catholics. Days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.”
According to many SJHS students in the survey, Lent hasn’t changed much during the pandemic. Sure, many churches aren’t doing large gatherings, such as an in-person service on Ash Wednesday. But in many cases, the tradition of giving up something has remained the same.
“My father and I have been going to church after school on Wednesdays and Sundays to keep up with the season,” Ira Foster, 10, said. “We both gave up any type of meat and anything sweet because giving up meat is what Jesus gave up for 40 days in the desert, and the sweets to discipline ourselves.”
In many Catholic churches in the United States, expectations for Lent are being relaxed. Due to the pandemic, many Catholic congregations across the country have been allowing churchgoers to eat meat on Fridays, along with indulging in other pleasures normally given up for the 40 days.
Though plague and pressure have tested it in the past and present, Catholic Lent and its traditions have endured for thousands of years, and will continue to long after Corona has faded away.