Some things have been around so long that we assume they were always there. Lent, for example, has been part of the church's liturgical year for many centuries, but there was a time when no such season existed. This season developed in the church's early centuries from the convergence of three factors.
One was the impulse to fast before a major feast. This is a common practice in many religions. People heighten their anticipation of the feast by fasting just before it.
In the early church, it became customary to fast for a day or two before Easter. This paschal fast was then extended to a full week, and by the time of the Council of Nicaea (325), it lasted 40 days.
A second source of Lent was the catechumenate. This process of formation for the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist) has been restored in our own time, so many people are familiar with it today.
After months or even years of formation in the Christian way of life, those who are ready for the sacraments enter into a period of prayer and fasting for several weeks as a kind of spiritual retreat leading up to the Easter Vigil and the celebration of those sacraments.
The third factor in Lent's development was the Order of Penitents. This was a form of the sacrament of penance that was modeled on the catechumenate. It provided a second opportunity for true conversion for those who had seriously sinned after baptism.
Since the initial conversion was apparently not deep enough, the Order of Penitents sought to provoke a deeper conversion of heart and life. The penitents carried out their assigned penances over a period of time, often culminating in reconciliation with the community on Holy Thursday.
Over time, the rest of the community began to join the catechumens and the penitents in this period of spiritual discipline, giving rise to what we now call Lent.
The length of Lent has varied over the centuries, but eventually the symbolic number of 40 days won out as the ideal length.
Lent today, in fact, is a bit longer than that.
Since fasting was long forbidden on Sundays, at one time Good Friday and Holy Saturday were considered part of Lent, and then the four days before the First Sunday of Lent were added to get 40 fast days.
Lent today, however, in the Latin rite begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday, when the Triduum ("The Three Days": Holy Thursday evening to Easter evening) begins. That is actually 44 days.
But now the 40-day fast is counted from the First Sunday of Lent, with the first four days as a kind of preview. (Catholics are still obliged to fast and abstain on Ash Wednesday and the following Friday. The Eastern rite churches have slightly different rules.)
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) called for a renewed focus on the baptismal aspects of Lent along with its penitential aspects. This was significantly accomplished through the restoration of the catechumenate.
As the catechumens (called "the elect" after the Rite of Election, usually celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent) prepare for the Easter sacraments, those already baptized prepare to renew their baptismal commitment.
The very presence of the elect in the midst of the parish community reminds us all that Lent is about baptism and the renewal of baptism.
The celebration of the sacrament of penance -- called "second baptism" by early church writers, the required fast and abstinence and other Lenten observances, are all aimed at fostering a deeper conversion of heart and a fuller living out of the faith commitment that baptism entails.
Father Mick is a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a freelance writer.
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