By Nathaniel Casper
BYU may not have the greatest Mardi Gras celebrations, nor will there be an Easter Mass on campus, but several students on campus are joining with friends of other faiths in the celebration of Lent, which begins Wednesday.
According to Maxine Kaiser, director of the Office of Liturgy at the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake, Lent is “a period of about six weeks during which time we look at our inner selves and see what might not be quite right in our relationship with God; and then we begin to put those things aright with the help of God.”
Lent celebrations often include fasting, which Kaiser said is in preparation for the 50-day Easter feast. This period of fasting typically lasts 40 days.
“The number 40 seems to be the Lord”s cycle,” said Victor Ludlow, a professor of ancient scripture at BYU, citing the biblical examples of “40 days of rain, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, 40 days and nights of fasting for Moses, and Elijah and Jesus.”
Unlike these biblical fasts, however, participants in Lent do not go without all food and water. Instead, observers of Lent often sacrifice certain types of food, or occasionally bad habits or vices, to promote self-mastery.
Kate Maryon and her roommates started celebrating lent during her sophomore year at BYU.
“My roommates and I had celebrated other non-traditional holidays that year and so we decided to try our hands at Lent,” said Maryon, a senior from Orem majoring in English. “It was just a fun thing to do that was a little quirky at the same time.”
That first year, Maryon gave up “The Gilmore Girls,” her favorite TV show – locking herself in her bedroom whenever her roommates would turn it on.
Camille Hancock, a senior from Canton, Ohio, majoring in marriage, family and human development, is in her seventh year of participation in Lent. Each year Hancock gives up all sweets, “With the exception of ice cream. That”s fair, right?” Hancock said.
She began her celebration of Lent with her friends from high school, many of whom were Catholic. Although they did not all share religious beliefs, “We all wanted to help each other give something up,” Hancock said.
Although she is hundreds of miles away from those high school friends, Hancock continues in the tradition.
“I feel like Lent can be a neat spiritual experience for anyone, Catholic or not,” she said. “It”s a time of sacrificing something and remembering our Savior who also fasted for 40 days, and I figure that anything that reminds me of my Savior is a good thing.”
Mayron also sees the value in Lent.
“I think that it”s good to take every opportunity to improve yourself and practice self-control,” she said, “so the concept of Lent is well worth continuing.”
Last year Mayron added something new to her observance. She paid “penance” in the form of service each time she fell short of her goal.
While in high school in Spanish Fork, current BYU sophomore Erica Savage began a similar tradition. Each year, she and her friends would give up an obsession or a bad habit. They would then fill their time with more valuable things.
“We would pick something difficult to give up, and then we would go find some sort of service to do for those 40 days.”
For them, it began as a challenge to see who could last the longest on their particular “fast,” but as they began to feel the fruits of their service, Lent became a meaningful undertaking.
“You feel good when you”re trying to better yourself in any way that you can,” Savage said.
Kaiser can”t help but agree with these students.
“It [Lent] is a time to renew our commitment to self discipline because that”s what Christian life really requires of us,” she said. And if part of the sacrifice blesses the life of others, it becomes all the more sweet.
Kaiser”s motto: “We ought to be fasting so that others might feast.”
