Do Sundays count as a day of Lent?
In my first year in the seminary, during Lent, one of the seminarians had decided as his Lenten sacrifice to give up the eating of meat. He was someone who really enjoyed meat, and at meal times had made it known that he was not eating any red meat for Lent. That being said, I was surprised when on a Sunday I sat down at his table to have dinner, and there he was, eating meat! I asked him, why he was eating meat, and he said something along the lines of, “it’s Sunday and Sundays don’t count as a day of Lent, so you don’t have to keep your Lenten sacrifices.” I found this really startling, because I had never heard this before! In the years since, a question that I get a couple times a Lent is if Sundays count as a day of Lent. Whenever, I hear that question, I always think back to that day, in the seminary dining room!
As I learned more about theology and the liturgical year, I began to understand the sentiment behind the question. Sunday, is the first day of the week, and every Sunday is meant to be celebrated no matter what time of the year as a “little Easter” since it’s the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Along those lines, within the context of the liturgical year, every Friday is meant to be a “little Lent.” Since Friday is the day in which Jesus died on the cross. Whether we’re in the season of Lent or not, we should try and make a sacrifice in honor of the Lord’s Passion of Friday.
With the understanding that Easter is the day of the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection I can see how the case can be made that Sunday is a day that a Lenten promise could be relaxed. That being said, the church has made a comment on this topic within the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar. Within this document it clearly states that Lent runs from, “Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive.” The seminarian who informed me that Sundays aren’t really a day of Lent was wrong. Sundays do count as a day of Lent!
This leads to the question about whether or not it’s ok to relax our Lenten promises on Sundays. Technically speaking the church requires us to abstain from eating meat on Friday’s of Lent. After this requirement it is up to the Holy Spirit to guide your works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These Lenten practices while rooted in the scriptures and the reality of repentance are up to your own discernment to put into practice in the way that the Holy Spirit is guiding you. The ideal, is to keep a Lenten practice continuously through the Lenten season. What that sacrifice is, and how it plays out within your situation needs to be guided first and foremost by the Holy Spirit.
With Mary, In Mary, Through Mary…For God’s Greater Glory!
Fr. Matthew Widder