True meaning of Lent?

Question

We have been told we have to give something up for lent that we "love" but really, what is the true meaning behind lent??

Answer 1

+ Lent +

The Catholic Church and many other Christians Churches follow the Biblical practice of Jesus Christ and the Jews in setting aside days where the entire Church fasts and prays as one in a attitude of constant renewal.

By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert and in spiritual preparation for the celebration of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

This season of penance is an intense moments of the Church's penitential practice and are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and charitable and missionary works.

+ What to give up +

You do not have to give up something you love. You have other choices:

Look at your bad habits.

Are you cynical?
Are you sarcastic?
Do you gossip?

Find the one bad habit that hurts your relationship with God the most.

Work on that bad habit during Lent and then when Lent is over keep working on it.

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

For me, the best part about Lent is that it proves how blind and stupid religious people are. Everyone talks about the 40 days of lent but Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday which is 46 days. Church people can't even count the freakin' days on a calendar, go figure.

Answer 3

The highlight of the year for Christians is Easter, the day when our Lord rose from the dead. Lent is a forty-day season of preparation for Easter. Lent always begins on Ash Wednesday.
Why 40 days? Because, Jesus fasted and was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Lent, then, is our time of fasting, prayer, temptation, and repentance. Lent is not required anywhere in the scriptures, but it has been a custom, which Christians have practiced for most of the last two thousand years.
In many languages, the word "Lent" actually means "fast". This is where the custom of giving something up for Lent originated.
However, just to confuse things, Lent is actually 46 days long rather than 40 days. Why? Because the 40 days of Lent are supposed to be days of fasting, which means days of discipline and self-restraint. But Sunday, the Lord's Day, should never be a day of fasting, but a day of celebration! So each Sunday, we suspend our Lenten disciplines and celebrate. Lent is 40 "fasting days" spread out over a total of 46 days beginning on Ash Wednesday.
The focus of Lent was always three-fold:
1. It was a time to prepare new converts for baptism through intensive classes and instruction.
2. It was a time for long-standing Christians to review their lives and renew their commitment to Jesus Christ.
3. It was a time for backsliders to be restored to the faith.
In every case, it is a time for serious, disciplined self-examination, a time spent in intensive prayer and repentance before the Cross of Calvary. Put simply, Lent is a time to examine ourselves carefully. Here are some questions upon which you might meditate and pray during Lent:
-Am I sharing gladly what I have with others, especially strangers and the poor?
-Do I have a gracious and patient attitude with others, especially those who irritate me?
-Do I feel the power of connection to God and the church in corporate worship?
-How is my devotional and prayer life progressing? Am I listening to God more and complaining less? Is it time for a change or a growth in my Bible study and prayer life?
-What are the lurking sin problems, which still plague me?
-Am I as thoughtful and forgiving of family as others or do I take out my frustrations on them?
-Do I speak up for the maligned and oppressed, or do I remain silent in order to remain popular?

I truly hope this helps you! God's blessings to you...
Melissa

Answer 4

"Lent" is actually originally a pagan tradition; the modern celebration of Lent begins after Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday" - the last day to splurge) before "Ash Wednesday", which is the beginning of Lent, when people are to fast and repent in sackcloth and ashes, which is why Catholics put ashes on their foreheads. But this period predates Christianity, in which Lent began at the death of Tammuz, who was the "love child" of Semiramis, an ancient demi-goddess who had been married to Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah (of the Flood). These people were actually real people who were simply given "demigod" status after their deaths, and gave rise to all pagan religions since then. Tammuz, a great hunter, was eventually killed by a wild boar. Thus began the 40-day period of fasting for Tammuz, which ended with Easter (Ishtar, another name for Semiramis), and the traditional eating of the Easter ham, to commemorate revenge upon the pig that killed Tammuz. Semiramis herself became representative of a fertility goddess, so many rituals that surround the holiday of Easter today, like bunnies, chicks and eggs are actually leftovers of ancient fertility rituals.

Answer 5

The idea of lent that most people think is to go on a diet and loose weight.. that is not it... lent is about stopping bad habbits or doing things you usually wouldnt do, like prayer for jesus... that is what it is Truly supposed to be about.

Answer 6

Lent is a time of preperation leading up to Holy Week. It symbolizes many things. Remembering a time before Jesus, when sacrifices were necessary, a time of mourning for the death of Jesus (leading to the celebration of his resurrection).

Its a time of prayer, fasting and penance and closeness to God.

http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=23114

Answer 7

The aspects of Lent,
and other acts of penance.

prayer (justice towards God),
fasting (justice towards self),
and almsgiving (justice towards neighbor).


.

Answer 8

To commemorate the 40 days Jesus spent alone in the desert before his crucifixion.

Answer 9

it's the time for "reflection" of our relationship to God and His will for us. it's the time also to think of the "passion" of Christ and how much God love us by giving up His only Son to free us from sin.

Answer 10

It's a chance for fast food joints to push fish sandwiches once a year.