Lent, the desert, and Fridays
Why do Catholics celebrate Lent? Why is this season marked by “giving something up” and various penitential acts? Because, in the 40 days of Lent, “the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 540). When our Blessed Lord encountered Satan, He was doing something quite deliberate, His aim being to “recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert” (538). Jesus, as the new Adam, remained faithful where Adam had fallen and, in contrast to the Israelites who provoked our Lord, Jesus fulfills Israel’s vocation. In this, Jesus “is the devil’s conqueror: He ‘binds the strong man’ to take back His plunder” and, in His victory, anticipates the victory achieved at His Passion (539). In our Lenten practice, therefore, we can unite ourselves, both individually and corporately, to His victory over the enemy.
In other words, the mystery of Christ in the desert has a salvific meaning, for in this, He atones for our disobedience through His obedience. All He did, said, and suffered “had for its aim restoring fallen man to his original vocation” (518). In all aspects in which we have failed, He fulfilled and gained magnificent victory. In uniting ourselves to His atoning acts, we can participate in making expiation and restitution not only for our own misdeeds, but those of others as well.
In Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 (as well as Mark 1:12-13), we find the Gospel accounts of Christ’s temptations in the desert. Lenten practice aims at penitential practices which aid us in uniting ourselves to His actions. This is why, in this time of year, we are reminded of the “acts of religion” — fasting, prayer, and almsgiving — acts which give pious expression to our contrition (1434, 1969). Lent, however, should never be a season closed off unto itself. Rather, it should serve to spring us to new life with a renewed vigor which reverberates into the rest of the year.
To this end, we are reminded of the days of penance the Church gives us outside of Lent, notably “each Friday in memory of the death of our Lord” (1438, Code of Canon Law 1250). Yes, you read that right. Every Friday (aside from solemnities). In short, “Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year” (NCCB, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, no. 23 [Nov. 18, 1966]).
Most Catholics are familiar with “no meat on Fridays during Lent” and have keen memories of their parish fish fry. What is not so familiar is the universal norm of every Friday of the year (aside from solemnities) being a day of penance set apart in celebrating the memory of our Lord, specifically through abstaining from meat (CIC 1251; Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, no. 18-28). Of course, outside of Lent, the Catholic is free to abstain from some other food. This being the case, our bishops still “give first place to abstinence from flesh meat” (Pastoral Statement, no. 24).
Why should we bother with practices which may seem, to some, to be trivial? In short, because it helps us prioritize God. The worship of God, separated from concrete practice, becomes abstract, and we have difficulty with the abstract. Possessing composite natures of soul and body, we need the practicalities of the physical to ground us. When you center your weekly schedule around Sunday Mass, it orients you toward prioritizing your time. When you center your grocery list around Friday, it helps keep your mind on the things of God and the purpose of every week: the worship and glory of God.
How well are you prioritizing God these days? To do so is to achieve the union our Lord seeks of you.
Jason Whitehead was received into the Catholic Church in 2012 and subsequently received a master’s degree in Theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He began working for the Diocese of Fort Worth in 2014 and currently serves as Department Director of Evangelization and Catechesis. Find his regular columns for the North Texas Catholic here.