Forty consecutive mornings without your latte. Forty consecutive nights without your nightcap. Could you do it?
Millions of Christians around the world sacrifice their daily pleasures during Lent to prepare for Easter, also knownas Pascha ? the holiest day in Christianity. But Lent isn?t merely a test of willpower.
“We say no to ourselves in order to be more free ? to be able to say yes to others,” said Sister Kathleen Moore, coordinator of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd community in Baltimore.
Volunteering, reading scripture, giving alms and reflecting on the 14 Stations of the Cross are a few ways Catholics enhance their lives during Lent, Moore said.
Walking through the Stations of the Cross, Catholics “look at what Christ has done for us,” she said. “We have to be willing to follow in his footsteps, to bare the crosses in our own lives.”
Christians believe Christ ascended into heaven on the third day of his death by crucifixion.
Lent is a time for introspection to prepare for spiritual redemption, according to Katharina Von Kellenbach, chair of religious studies at Mount St. Mary?s College.
“Christians imitate the 40 days and nights Jesus spent fasting in the desert before he was crucified,” she said.
From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, Christians abstain from meat on Fridays and give up certain wants, she explained. Forgoing coffee, alcohol and chocolate are common sacrifices. Orthodox Christians fast during Lent, giving up meat and other animal byproducts such as dairy. However, Great Lent is not about taking away things, but adding to your life, said Father Dean Moralis, pastor of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Annunciation in Baltimore.
Cathedral of Annunciation holds special services throughout Lent in addition to Salutations to the Virgin Mary on Friday evenings, “a remembrance of what Mary gave to us and who she is,” Moralis said.
Easter Sunday is the “culmination of our faith,” Moore said. “Christ is risen truly not just metaphorically. Our whole faith rests on this.”
Christ?s resurrection gives Christians “hope for the future and for the present ? not only personally, but for the whole world,” she said.
