Why Lent? A Guide to Its Core Practices
- Jared Staudt
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
It’s easy to take things that we’re used to doing for granted. Lent’s just one of those Catholic customs that come around every year as the liturgical year moves through its cycles. But if we actually think about why we practice it, it may help us to get more out of it. I’d like to explore the “why” behind it to help us be more intentional in how we enter into Lenten practices this year.
Why Do Christians Observe Lent?
Lent exists to prepare us for Easter, the greatest Christian feast, helping us to be ready to receive its grace and celebrate with a renewed heart. Lent began as a multiday fast for new converts and those preparing them, as we see in one of the Church’s oldest documents, The Didache: “Before Baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whoever else can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.” The Easter Vigil was the primary time for Baptism as it marked the true Passover of moving from the death of sin into the true life of Christ. As we see in the quote, everyone was encouraged to fast with the converts, making the days before Easter a time of conversion for all Christians, marking a renewal of baptismal promises.
Why does it last 40 Days?
Technically, Lent is forty-six days with forty days of fasting, as we do not fast on Sundays. From a couple of days in the first century, Lent expanded over the next two hundred years, until, by the fourth century, it matched the forty days Jesus fasted in the desert after his Baptism. In the early Church, serious sins required extended periods of penitence before receiving absolution, and Lent provided an important time for penitents to embrace fasting and other acts of penance before reconciliation at Easter. An extended penitential period caught on for the whole Church to imitate Jesus’ time in the desert. Taking more than just a few days helps us to break bad habits and to get into a rhythm of prayer and asceticism.
Why Prayer?
The three key practices of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Of the three, prayer is the foundation, because union with God is the goal of the Christian faith, giving life to everything we do. Jesus is our model during Lent, as he “withdrew to the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16). During the forty days in the desert, the devil assaulted him, but he withstood him, rooted in relationship with the Father. To be like him, we must withdraw to listen to the voice of the Father, to seek his will above all else.
Practically, this means taking time during Lent every day in silence, meditating on Scripture and embracing God’s presence in the stillness. The desert symbolizes this withdrawal from distractions to concentrate on the life of the spirit. But, like Jesus, there will be an assault on this time by the enemy, throwing up distraction, boredom and dryness. The battle of prayer requires perseverance in order to bear fruit, becoming a font of living water in the desert wilderness.
Why Fasting?
If Jesus is our model, we must fast: “And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry” (Matthew 4:2). It may seem obvious to point out that he was hungry, but, in the Beatitudes, Jesus says that those who are hungry are blessed, for they will be satisfied. He teaches us to pray for our daily, supersubstantial bread, which is given by the Father from Heaven. If we stop filling ourselves with material food for a time of fasting, we may develop a deeper hunger for the things of the spirit. Throughout its history, Lent consisted essentially of a forty-day fast. Originally, it entailed fasting completely during the day, though in the Middle Ages, a collation (or snack) was allowed. No meat or animal products were permitted for the whole forty-six days.
For us today, we can return to the forty-day tradition of fasting by forgoing at least some food every day of Lent (except Sundays). While it’s common to give up a favorite food, some actual fasting by skipping meals will help us recapture the original spirit of Lent and grow in spiritual hunger.
Why Almsgiving?
While we don’t see Jesus giving alms, his whole ministry consisted of lavishly bestowing his Father’s treasury of love and mercy. He teaches us to pray, fast and give alms in Matthew 6, echoing a powerful line from the Book of Tobit: “Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving and righteousness. … It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold. For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin” (Tobit 12:8-9). Almsgiving goes beyond the tithe we owe to the Church, giving charity directly to the poor and those in need.
During Lent, we seek forgiveness from God and make reparation for our sins in this time of penitence. Jesus unlocks the key: if you desire mercy, show mercy to others. Prayer seeks God, but we find him also in the poor and needy. That’s why we unite prayer and almsgiving. To have a fruitful Lent, we need to commit to taking concrete steps to provide financial assistance and other gifts to those in need. While it’s good to give charitable donations to ministries, it’s also important to find Christ person to person in the poor.
Why Spiritual Reading?
In addition to the three pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, another traditional practice is to read a spiritual book during Lent. St. Benedict advised his monks to pick a book from the library and to read it straight through. A good spiritual book can give structure to our Lenten prayer, becoming a kind of focused retreat. Two recommendations are St. Alphonsus’s The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ and Bishop Erik Varden’s Healing Wounds, which he wrote as Bloomsbury’s 2025 Lent Book.
May you have a blessed Lent, serving a moment of renewal to prepare to receive the grace of the Resurrection anew at Easter.
