It is again the time of year when we reflect upon these sobering and humbling words: “Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” We don the purple of penitence; we strip down our liturgical celebrations; we wear ashes on our heads; we fast; we give alms; we pray. Lent has been observed across Christian traditions for centuries as a time of penance and preparation for the joy of Easter, but the division of Christendom wrought by the Reformation has brought a certain wariness about Lent. Many Christians in good faith believe that the observance of Lent is tied to belief in a kind of Pelagian, works-based salvation; others think it is mere superstition. My intention here is to give a brief history of Lent and to offer a defense in its favor.
John Calvin, one of the most prominent fathers of the Reformation, expressed clearly his concerns regarding the practice of Lenten fasting:
“At that time the superstitious observance of Lent had prevailed everywhere, because the common people thought that in it they were doing some exceptional service to God, and the pastors commended it as a holy imitation of Christ. On the contrary, it is plain that Christ did not fast to set an example for others, but to prove, in so beginning to proclaim the gospel, that it was no human doctrine but actually one sent from heaven” (4.12.20)
He argues that, while we are called to imitate Christ, we are not bound to imitate his fasting. Thus he says that those who undertake the 40-day fast for the sake of imitating Christ do so superfluously, and that this is spiritually dangerous, as it can become a source of pride. However, while the imitation of Christ has always been central to the observance of Lent insofar as it is central to the Christian life, this is not the only historical reason for the practice. The Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer articulates the meaning of Lent in the following manner:
“The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith” (264).
This section of the Ash Wednesday service explains the origins of Lenten observation as a mark of repentance and conversion. It does not list the imitation of Jesus in the desert as the main purpose of the Lenten fast; rather, it emphasizes making an outward sign of repentance as a means of being reconciled with and brought into the church community, either for the first time or after a period of separation. As our tradition has developed from those first centuries, we have come to acknowledge the universal need for ongoing repentance and conversion, and so the church has expanded her invitation to Lenten fasting to all her faithful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church elaborates on this a bit further, identifying the core tenets of Christian penance: “Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others” (1434).
It is necessary for us to express our conversion in each of these ways. First, we must be converted by the grace of God and turn our hearts to him in prayer. Then, once we have understood the gravity of our sin and our need for repentance, since we will still have need of full comprehension (as Kierkegaard says, “to understand and to understand are two different things”), we must make our conversion known to ourselves through the denial of our flesh. Finally, when the love of God has penetrated us fully, we must turn outwards so that others may see the work He has done in us.
Lent is indeed about the imitation of Christ, but it is also and perhaps principally about the movement which precedes and provides the foundation for the imitation of Christ and which finds its culmination in the turning of the soul away from sin to look upon the face of God. The Catechism continues: “Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness” (1435).
Many Christians who align themselves with the less liturgical traditions would argue, as does a blog post from the Evangelical Free Church of America, that this kind of penance should not be relegated to a particular time of year, and in this they are absolutely correct. We should strive constantly to be converted and to express this through prayer, self-denial, and service of others. The Catechism indeed concludes its discussion in paragraph 1435 with a strikingly simple and beautiful reminder: “Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.”
But giving particular attention to penance during Lent has proven helpful for many Christians, and it allows us to internalize the reality of conversion in a specific way. After a beautiful explication of the role of the Holy Spirit in illuminating the Old Testament to Christians and uniting the two Testaments to reveal the fullness of salvation history and unveil Christ hidden in the figures of the Old Testament, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the Easter Vigil, re-reads and re-lives the great events of salvation history in the ‘today’ of her liturgy” (1093-1095). When we observe Lent, God makes present to us the story of our salvation, and this is perhaps the most compelling reason for the practice.
Herbert McCabe, an English Dominican priest, expands upon this. He writes that “observance of Lent is a work of art: it is as when a painter or a poet puts his subject into symbols, not as a substitute for reality but to bring us into the real” (SOURCE p.6). He adds, though, that “you could no more observe Lent without actual fasting or some kind of bodily inconvenience than you could make a painting without canvas and paint…These things have to be really physically there. At the same time, however, their value is not in their own physical reality but in what they symbolize or dramatize”(6). We need to dramatize— to reenact, to re-read and re-live—the realities of our salvation in order to understand them. When we feel hunger and pain in our bodies and when we allow our desires to remain unfulfilled, we illustrate to ourselves in some small way the thirsting of Christ on the cross, but we also illustrate to ourselves our own weakness and our need to rely fully on God. For this reason has our Christian tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit, handed on to us the great gift of Lent. When understood properly, observance of Lent can only draw us deeper in our understanding of the gospel and closer to the heart of God.
I referenced at the beginning of my comments the phrase which is most often associated with the wearing of ashes which marks the beginning of Lent. To remember that we are dust does not negate the dignity we hold as bearers of the divine image; rather, it affirms our dependence on our Creator. But, at least in the Catholic Church, there is another phrase which may be used in its place: “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Together, these encapsulate the meaning of the season. When understood properly, observance of Lent can only draw us deeper in our understanding of the gospel and closer to the heart of God. As we embark upon this journey towards the empty tomb, let us all pray that we might be brought to true repentance and transformed by the hope of the gospel.
References
Calvin, John. “The Institutes of the Christian Religion.” Translated by Henry Beveridge, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1845, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/c/calvin/institutes/cache/institutes.pdf.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. https://usccb.cld.bz/Catechism-of-the-Catholic-Church2/916/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
Evangelicals and Lent — EFCA Blog. https://blog.efca.org/strands-of-thought/posts/evangelicals-and-lent. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
Kierkegaard, Soren. The Essential Kierkegaard. Edited by Hong Howard and Hong Edna, Princeton University Press.
McCabe, Herbert. “In This Is Love.”
The Online Book of Common Prayer. https://www.bcponline.org/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026