Why do we call Lent, "Lent"?

Why do we call Lent, “Lent”? Do we lend out things during Lent? Do we seek to retrieve items that we have previously lent out to others? On top of this question, is Lent called “Lent” by all Catholics in every place?

In pondering on the fact that the Church truly is universal, we can see that though “Lent” truly is practiced throughout the Catholic World, it goes by other names in other cultures than our own. Let’s look at a few examples of the immense variation just across the European continent. For the Germans, it is Fastenzeit, or literally, the “fasting time”. In Italian it is Quaresima, in French it is Le Carême, and in Spanish, Cuaresma, each of these in turn meaning the “forty days”. We can see that it is the same penitential season, but known by different names.

So back to our focus of inquiry. What does the English speaking world’s name for “Lent” mean? Quite simply, our word Lent has origin in the Anglo-Saxon word for the season of spring. That is, “lengten”, or “lencten”, literally referring to the “lengthening” of the days that is so very noticeable this time of year as late winter and the early days of spring converge. I must say I have a real propensity to love the English word for these 40 days because it provides a wonderful reminder of some equally wonderful material for Lenten meditation: Nature itself. Why not take time to prayerfully enjoy as many sunrises and sunsets during Lent as possible, noting how the nights are shortening and the days are getting longer?

As we prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter, the high point of the Liturgical Year, our path must first encounter these Lenten weeks and the Cross crowned hill of Calvary. But all through these 40 days, which can at times seem “lengthy”, we are reminded as each day passes in the Northern Hemisphere, that the awakening of new life in the spring of the year is at hand. For people in the middle latitudes, meaning those of us who live in the area about halfway between the equator and the North Pole, daylight is increasing at a rate of 2-3 minutes a day, each successively earlier sunrise and later sunset making us keenly aware that the long winter nights of the many past weeks are drawing to a close.

Our longer days are promising us the reality, even in the midst of the lingering winter snows and fogs that seem more befitting of Advent, that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”(RSV-CE Jn 1:5). Winter does not reign forever. And for those who live in the Southern Hemisphere, who are now leaving behind Summer and approaching Autumn and Winter, the meditation on light and darkness can be equally as significant. As they plunge forth into the darkness of the weeks and months ahead of them, Easter will provide them an equally forceful reminder that darkness does not triumph over the light, the light of Christ rises again from the tomb to the dawn of a new day, Our God going forth to prepare for us a home in which death and darkness will hold no sway.

For all Catholics across the globe in this season of rapid transitions toward more or less daylight, we are reminded of Jesus’ words “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness“ (Jn 12:46). As darkness is the absence of light and evil in turn the absence of good, we must ask ourselves, what season is my soul in, if souls could have seasons as such? Is my soul absent the light of Christ? Hopefully during these 40 days, by the grace of God, our souls are growing in the light of the Son of God, becoming more like him, as the earth likewise awakens and flourishes in the light of the sun’s warming rays as spring takes hold. May spring be ever the season of our souls, ever growing in light, ever growing in love!

As the season of “Lengten” as it was known to the Anglo-Saxon nears, and the Earth awakens from her slumber here in the wintry regions of the world, may your journey to the empty tomb of Easter bring with it an authentic “lengthening” of the light of your soul, remembering that the eternal day shall come when the darkness is forever banished. Be assured, “…God is light and in Him is no darkness” (1 Jn 1:5). Christ Jesus, our God become man, triumphs over the darkness at Easter, bringing with Him the promise that those who follow Him will be brought to a place of everlasting peace, freed from the cold wintry grip of death and sin. “And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev 22:5).