I’m sure this is old news to you, but you can eat whatever you want on Sunday. Sundays are considered days of rejoicing in the Catholic Church, each one a “little Easter.” On the first day of the week we celebrate the resurrection, most importantly by going to Mass but also by feasting. Because of this, Catholics are traditionally considered to be relieved of their Lenten penances on Sundays.1 Solemnities, too, are days of feasting, so enjoy your chocolate-covered bacon on the Solemnity of St. Joseph and the Annunciation, even if they do fall on Friday.
But the idea behind feasting on Sunday is not that we celebrate the resurrection with gluttony, that we indulge in some of the sinful behavior we gave up for Lent, or that we don’t pray as we’ve promised to. If you quit cursing for Lent, please don’t wake up Sunday with a resounding “@#*%@$^#$!!” Likewise, if you’re praying a rosary daily, Sunday is not the day to take off. But if you gave up sweets, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating the Lord’s resurrection with a slice of cake and a few pieces of chocolate.
Before you call me lame or a cheater or a heretic,2 take a minute to recall how long Lent is. That’s right, 40 days. But how many days are there between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday? Well, shoot, there are 46! Take out Sundays and you’re back to 40. See?
Now, you’re not obligated to feast on Sundays; maybe Lent is more meaningful to you if you’re in the desert the whole time rather than taking dessert breaks. But a little Sunday feasting can be a good idea if you can be reasonable about it. I think the occasional indulgence makes fasting that much more of a sacrifice. If you’re on a juice fast, for example, you eventually stop getting hungry. Resetting your fast every week makes it more sacrificial. And feasting on Sunday reminds you all day long that this day is set apart. I never really lived the liturgical year until I started feasting on Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts.3 Now, I always know whose feast it is and what’s coming up and I really long for these liturgical celebrations, It’s not just about a little bit of chocolate–feasting makes these days feel like the Feasts that they are.
But Sunday being a little Easter cuts both ways. Our Sundays ought to look different from the rest of the week all year long–obligatory Mass attendance being the most obvious distinction–but particularly in Lent. So as the first Sunday in Lent approaches, consider how you can celebrate Sundays.
If you’re a student–or a teacher, or anyone else who’s got a tone of work to do at home–I highly recommend taking Sunday as an actual Sabbath. That’s right, no work. I first did this in college and never quit afterwards because it was such a blessing. Think about it: you wake up Sunday morning and literally the only thing you have to do is go to Mass. So you go to Mass, have a leisurely brunch, and get coffee with a friend. As your roommate works frantically on his lab report, you kick back and read a book. As your boyfriend holes up in the library to finish a paper that was assigned 6 weeks ago, you make a chapel visit and then watch a chick flick. Now, you may have done those things anyway, but you would have felt guilty. The beauty of the Sabbath is that you have to rest–you couldn’t be doing anything productive even if you wanted to!
I know that most of you feel that you have entirely too much work to do to take Sundays off. Give me a break. With very few exceptions, if you refocus your whole week so that Sundays are free, there’s plenty of time. Maybe you can’t go out Friday or Saturday nights because you’re in finishing an assignment for Monday. Maybe that’s good for you. In the two and a half years that I did this, I think I may have had two Sundays where I had worked my butt off all week and still couldn’t finish. So I got the work done early Sunday and had the rest of my Sabbath to nap, pray, and visit with friends. There’s a reason God gave us a day of rest–it’s amazing! So why not at least give it a shot?
If you’ve got a family, try making Sunday family day. Shut the computer off all day and go out to a movie or a museum or the park. Bake cookies to celebrate the fact that you can eat sweets on Sunday. Pray a family rosary or have a family Bible study. Rejoice in the fact that you’re not fasting, yes, but rejoice in faith and family as well.
If you’re single, Sunday’s a great day to make a holy hour, get a documentary about a Saint on Netflix, or go to your mom’s house for dinner–and bring the meal. Or just turn off your phone and your computer, put away the work you brought home with you, and sit around doing nothing. If you’re anything like me, you don’t do enough of that.
Because the only obligatory fasts in our Church fall on a Wednesday and a Friday, it’s entirely up to you whether or not you break your fast on Sundays. Take some time to pray about it: could you avoid being gluttonous? Would your feasting truly be a celebration of the Resurrection? Would fasting all the way through make Easter more meaningful for you? But do take this Lent as an opportunity to begin a more intentional celebration of the Sabbath. The day of rest was given us as a gift–accept it and rejoice!
- In much the same way, every Friday is a “little Good Friday”–which is why all Catholics are obliged to make some sort of sacrifice every Friday of the year. The U.S. bishops recommend abstaining from meat. [↩]
- Which may all be true, just not in respect to chocolate on Sundays. I’m really not making this up. [↩]
- The real ones that are technically called Feasts, not any random memorial of a Saint. [↩]
You had to know that I was going to comment on this, right? I almost feel goaded into responding :-P.
I don’t begrudge you (or anyone else) the right to feast on Lenten Sundays. I understand that they are not technically part of the forty days of Lent. However, if they are really not part of Lent, why do we omit the G-word and the A-word at Holy Mass? Why does the priest wear purple vestments and preach on penitential readings prescribed by the Church? Though they may not count toward the forty days, they are still Sundays in Lent. So, I think penitential rejoicing is in order :-).
And of course, part of it is personal, as you note at the end — I do see relaxing my own Lenten disciplines on Sundays as cheating. Easter is far more meaningful for me if I have stayed the course all the way through Lent.
That’s my two cents.
You’re right–I was unclear on this. And I’ve had the same thought, too. But from what I can tell (and I can’t find anything terribly authoritative on this), Sundays are part of the season of Lent but not part of the 40 days of fasting. The Catholic Encyclopedia says that from the Middle Ages, Lent was 40 weekdays of fasting plus 6 Sundays–http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09152a.htm, scroll down to “Relaxation of the Lenten Fast.” One didn’t fast on Sundays, but abstinence was still required every single day. I think “penitential rejoicing” is exactly the thing!
And I’ll tell you this: your commitment to your Lenten penances even on Sundays has been edifying to me. In my even-more-opinionated youth, I used to think that one was obligated to feast on Sundays. In your fasting, I see the sacredness of Sunday observed in a different way. Thank you for that.
I completely agree about taking a Sabbath rest on Sundays! I am a Chemical Engineering student at Notre Dame, and if I can get my homework done during the week, most students can. And if you work in an office and work all weekend, you’re a workaholic. When I stopped feeling like I ought to be doing work on Sundays, I changed from extending my 2-minute conversation to an hour, because “I shouldn’t sit down, I need to get back to work.” And I started thinking about meaningful things to do with my new-found leisure time. Reading classic books, sewing, playing boardgames, and studying New Testament Greek are some of my Sunday hobbies.
As to taking a break from fasting on Sundays in Lent – sure, Sundays are part of the Lenten season. But the season is about grace, and conversion, and turning back to God – penance is one way to get there. Observing the liturgical week and feasting/resting on Sundays can actually be part of your Lenten observance, and if you learn it during Lent, for motives of chocolate, perhaps, you can remember to continue through the year with little treats on Sundays. And it really does make every liturgical day more meaningful.
I first heard about feasting on Lenten Sundays just last year and at first I didn’t believe it!
This is so great! I was trying to explain Little Easters the other day, but you did a much better job. I’m going to need to link up to this post 🙂
Thanks! I knew I’d read something about it recently but couldn’t remember that it was you.
I suppose I respectfully disagree 🙂 Lent doesn’t actually include the Triduum, so you’ll have to subtract some days there. At our house, we continue the fast for 40 days, like Andrew. And, he makes some great points above. I think it’s about focusing on growing closer to God during those 40 days. Every family does it different; thanks for sharing your insight.
You know, Kathryn, I had exactly the same thought! But according to Jimmy Akin, the Triduum as a separate season is a Vatican II reform–the 40 weekdays plus 6 Sundays (Ash Wed to Holy Sat) was what was observed from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/LENT.HTM
That said, there aren’t any hard and fast rules about how an individual must perform his personal penances. So you could say I’m giving up snacking except for Sundays and I could say you’re giving up TV even on Sundays and we can both admire the other’s sacrifice, as I’m sure we do. As in so many things, the Church offers us so many ways to be holy. I love that your family keeps your fast all the way through till Lent–and I love rejoicing in my Resurrected Lord with my resurrection chocolate on Sundays. Praise God for a truly catholic Church!
Meg, the Triduum isn’t a separate season, but it isn’t part of Lent, either – at least so says one of my very favorite Paulist Fathers, Fr. Dave Dwyer from the Busted Halo Show 🙂 Have a blessed Lenten season!
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The first time I heard this I was super excited…broke my fast and felt guilty. I haven’t done it since. To each his own I guess. With each passing day I look forward to Easter even more as a true celebration. Yes, Sunday’s are Little Easters. Little Easters. Easter Sunday is a big deal! As much as I do not look forward to Lent, I love Easter! Focusing on the exact amount of days is semantics and does not seem in accord with the true spirit of the season. It is like looking for a way out. Could you hold your cake out to Jesus and say “But Sundays don’t count!” I would be hiding that cake behind my back!!! I’m not a scholar on the subject and can not refer to anything to back me up. I can only say it just doesn’t feel right in my heart.