Lent

When: The 40 days before Easter (begins on Ash Wednesday)

Lent is the season of about forty days before Easter. Christians use it to pray more, to give something up, and to give to others. It is a time to slow down, say sorry, and get ready to celebrate Easter.

Where it came from

The number forty appears often in the Bible: Moses on the mountain for forty days, Israel in the desert for forty years, and Jesus fasting in the desert for forty days before his work began (Matthew 4). Early Christians prepared for Easter with a time of fasting. The Council of Nicaea in 325 mentions the forty days, and bishops in the 300s wrote about Lent.

Over time, Lent came to be built on three practices that Jesus talks about in Matthew 6: prayer, fasting and giving to the poor, sometimes called almsgiving. In the West, the Sundays in Lent are not fast days, so the forty days of fasting stretch over about six and a half weeks.

How it is kept around the world

• Giving something up. Many families give up sweets, screens or meat on Fridays, and choose something to give or do instead.
• Almsgiving. Many churches collect money or food for people in need. Some children keep a “mission box” for coins.
• The Philippines. People take part in the Pabasa, where the story of Jesus's suffering, the Pasyon, is chanted. Many also go on Visita Iglesia, visiting several churches to pray, in Holy Week.
• Greece and Orthodox countries. Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, with the home cleaned, plain food and kites in the sky. Many Orthodox Christians avoid meat, dairy and often oil.
• Germany and Switzerland. In Lent, Germans eat pretzels, which stories say were first made by monks as a Lenten bread. Some churches hang a Lenten cloth, called a Hungertuch, to cover the altar picture.

Christians differ

Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and many other Christians keep Lent. In some churches, the rules are strict. In others, it is a choice. Many Baptist, Pentecostal and non-denominational churches do not follow the church calendar, though more of them each year choose to keep Lent. Orthodox Lent is longer, and begins on a different date, because Easter is counted on a different calendar.

Do it together

Ages 0 to 2

• Sit quietly for a minute with your child and hold a small stone. Say “quiet”.
• Plant a seed and water it a little each day.

Ages 3 to 5

• Fill a jar with small stones, one for each kind thing you do.
• Count forty days on a paper chain, and remove a link each day.

Ages 6 to 8

• Choose something to give up and something to give. Write both on a card.
• Collect coins in a box for someone in need and decide together where they should go.

Ages 9 to 12

• Read about Jesus in the desert in Matthew 4:1–11. What do you notice about how he answers?
• Keep a short Lenten journal: one thing to be thankful for, one thing to change, each day.

Ages 13 to 17

• Choose a fast that matters to you (for example, from a screen or a complaint) and keep it for a week.
• Read Isaiah 58:6–10. What kind of fasting does it describe?

A short prayer

Lord, in these quiet weeks, help us to pray, to share and to love. Lead us toward Easter with open hearts. Amen.

Mark as done

Where this comes from

• Gospel of Matthew 4:1 to 11 and 6:1 to 18; Isaiah 58:6 to 10
• Council of Nicaea (325), canon 5, in Norman P. Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 1 (Sheed & Ward, 1990)
• Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson, The Origins of Feasts, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity (Liturgical Press, 2011)
• F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005), entry “Lent”

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.