Lent calendar 2021: on the way to Holy Week

The date of Easter Sunday in 2021 is April 4. The Lent calendar will allow you to have a better preparation for Holy Week and to live all the moments intensely. The word Lent is interpreted as the forty days prior to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. During this period, he lived in fasting and prayer.

Thanks to the Lent calendar, it is possible to identify specific dates as well as prayers and messages that will allow believers to learn about the mysteries related to the Greater Week.

The Lent calendar

Many people use the Lent calendar to have at hand these key dates with a deep meaning for all Christians. However, it is not only a decorative element but a commitment both individual and with the environment and our family. There are three elements that stand out on the Lente calendar: Prayer, Fasting, and Mercy.

Each day of Lent a prayer should be said. It doesn’t have to be a specific prayer but a simple conversation with God. Speak to Him in our own words and entrust the day that is yet to begin.

This is the time to tell Him about all our concerns, those things that we have in mind and have not been consolidated, but that we long for. The idea is that we think about what God would recommend to us, it does not matter that we fail to listen to Him, it is enough just to concentrate to get in touch with Him.

Another element that reminds us of the Lent calendar is fasting. During every Friday the Catholic Church asks for fasting and abstinence. On these days, a word should be written that reminds us of the meaning of fasting and with which we associate this moment of penance. As in the morning, every time we eat a meal we must also say a prayer.

Last – but not least – the works of mercy. Thinking of others and helping them carry the heavy cross of their day to day life. Only when we are able to understand the pain of others can we live intensely the death of Jesus Christ.

Reflections and challenges during Lent

Each of the days of Lent shares a challenge that must be met by each of the Christians as well as valuable reflections. Within the Catholic Church the so-called Lent has been published for several years, which aims to collect the good deed of the day in simple things.

• Share your smile;
• Fasting from coffee and sugary drinks;
• Pray for the migrants;
• Fast from luxuries and comforts;
• Donate money with which you would buy a pair of pants;
• Pray a rosary for our planet;
• Pray for those looking for a job;
• Refrain from speaking ill of your neighbor;
• Have a detail with your parents;
• Give a favorite garment;
• Pray for the priest of your comfort;
• Visit a sick person;
• Share your testimony.

For the catechesis of children, it is also customary to make the Lenten calendar with blank spaces so that children can draw and color and thus understand in a much easier way this time of such importance for Catholics.

Lent calendar: key dates

Ash Wednesday – February 17, 2021

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, precisely the day after Shrove Tuesday. This day it is customary to practice fasting, not eat meat and attend mass to receive the ash on the forehead that symbolizes conversion. In fact, the phrase “to dust you are and to dust you will become” represents this spiritual transformation that is what is intended during this liturgical season.

Sundays of Lent

In total there are six Sundays in which specific readings are held that speak, among other things, of forgiveness.

• February 21, 2021;
• February 28, 2021;
• March 7, 2021;
• March 14, 2021;
• March 21, 2021;
• Palm Sunday: March 28, 2021;

Friday of Lent

These days fasting and penance are promoted as a way to be much further away from temptations, just like Jesus Christ did.

• February 19, 2021;
• February 26, 2021;
• March 5, 2021;
• March 12, 2021;
• March 19, 2021;
• March 26, 2021;
• Good Friday: April 2, 2021.