This article was included in the March 2025 edition of the The Paphos Post.

The Season of Lent: Feasting or Fasting?

Ash Wednesday, celebrated on 5 March this year, sees the start of the Season of Lent. It falls 40 Days before Good Friday and commemorates Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness when he the shaped the vision for his ministry and mission through prayer and fasting. It became the practise on the day before, known as Shrove Tuesday, to ‘use up’ some of the more flamboyant ingredients in the kitchen before beginning a period of frugal living.

The word Lent in Latin means ‘spring’ – the season of new life and of growth out of the darkness and dormancy of winter. Lent, for some, is a time for ‘navel gazing’ and truthful honesty about the state of their lives – both morally and ethically. Lent, for others, provides a welcome opportunity to nurture their spiritual lives. And still, for others, Lent provides a focus to practice some form of abstinence (you know chocolate, alcohol, TV etc.) or a less indulgent lifestyle – especially after the excesses of the Christmas season.

Jesus’ Lenten focus was the transformation of the world and, given the constant stream of depressing stories of political unrest, violence and sectarianism on our news programmes and in our newspapers, I’m sure you’d agree that the world is need of transformation.  And, whilst not one of us would ever lay claim to transforming the world, each of us can transform the world in which we live by both Fasting AND Feasting, for example:

And so, I could go on – make up your own list!  May your feasting on good things this Lent lead you to transform the world in which you live and the lives of those around you – just as Jesus did for us 2000 years ago.

Paul is the Chaplain to the Anglican Church here in Paphos https://www.paphosanglicanchurch.org/ and he is always willing to meet up for a chat over a coffee or a beer. Paul has a website revPACman.com where he posts regularly, and he can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter.