Lent ends on Holy Thursday before the Triduum begins on Holy Thursday. However, The Triduum is a time one intensifies their sacrifices and penance. So the fasting ends Easter Sunday.

Peace,
PC

Thanks for the comment. The premise is not that it doesn’t matter; instead, the premise is that over the ages the Church has done somethings differently and that there is a local cultural dimension to liturgical season.

If you reread the article, you will notice that Lent in the Roman Rite did not always begin on Ash Wednesday. Currently in the modern Roman Rite it begins on Ash Wednesday. The problem of getting the perfect 40 number in the modern rite falls into two areas: Sundays and when the season of Lent ends. The season of Lent ends on the morning of Holy Thursday. Holy Thursday actually embraces two liturgical seasons: it ends Lent in the morning and begins the other Liturgical season called the Triduum (yes the three days is a separate liturgical season distinct from Lent).

So if Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday and The Triduum is distinct liturgical season then the out come is Option 1 or Option 2 (depending on whether or not a person counts the Sundays of Lent). The Triduum is not part of the Season of Lent.

Numbers can certain have more than one meaning. So 40 can mean both the fullness of time as well as a period of testing. In some cases a number is not a literal count but is given to means something more than just a period of 40 consecutive days.

Lastly, the comment about the 2 equating 3 is more of a play on words and not meant to be literal. As in the creed it states that from “the Father and the Son” proceeds the Holy Spirit.” So loosely interpreting it calculates to 1+1=3. Much like a family where the husband plus the wife equals a father, mother and child: 1+1=3.

To fill the six options you list above… I know the founding premise of your article is that “it doesn’t matter,” and so perhaps my points will be muted, but Lent IS 40 days by the count you mention in the 2001 Guidelines: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday; it is 40 days long. The document does not, as you say, specifically state that Sundays are excluded from that count, because the reasoning is found IN the assertion that the length of 40 days is to begin on that Wednesday. “Ash Wednesday” is made Ash Wednesday because ’40 penitential days before Easter Sunday’ always falls on a Wednesday. Sundays are “mini Easters” and not held otherwise to the usual Lenten observances, so count all the non-Sundays from Ash Wednesday to Easter (including Good Friday and Holy Saturday; although the _liturgy_ of the Triduum (“3 days”) is seen as one continuous whole, they are separate days) = 40 days. If ’40 penitential days before Easter’ fell on a Monday or Thursday, we would know of “Ash Monday” or “Ash Thursday” as the beginning of Lent. Mardi Gras (literally “Fat Tuesday”) did not come about so that Ash Wednesday could follow it; it is what it is because of Ash Wednesday. Likewise, Ash Wednesday is what it is because of where it is on the calendar before Easter, not the other way around.

Also, I thought traditionally “40″ was a number symbolic of “fullness of time.” When the question is How Long are they to be tested, or cleansed, or praying, or preparing, or repenting, or suffering, or rejoicing (such as after Christ’s resurrection before He ascends – not necessarily a time of testing), the answer is “the full time” or, for 40 days/years/periods. So yes, in our current ‘culture’ and rite of worship, we repent and prepare for Easter for a full time of 40 days. Why this was changed around in previous eras, you already speculate.

I don’t have a degree in theology, but this is my understanding, and I felt it important to share. Next I’m concerned as to which “two” you’re referring to in the Persons of the Trinity – are not Father, Son, and Holy Spirit the Triune God?

May your Lent bring about Easter fruits.