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A Brief Look at the Three Pillars of Lent
Lent is less than a week away…be ready
Last week, I published a story predicting that countless men would convert to Catholicism this Ash Wednesday to avoid buying Valentine’s Day gifts (both fall on Feb 14th this year). While that piece was obviously meant to be humorous, Lent is far more serious. And during the five-week period from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, you will hear one phrase repeated that may need some explanation: the three pillars of Lent.
Even non-Catholics are familiar with the start of the Lenten season, both because of the revelry of Fat Tuesday (or Mardi Gras) and the number of people with ashes on their foreheads the next day. As proof that my earlier claim of Lent’s seriousness was not hyperbole, consider what the priest says as he puts those ashes on your forehead: “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I needed this reminder at 19 when I was ten-feet-tall and bulletproof; at 58, the reminders are there every day.
Fewer people (including many Catholics) are familiar with the three pillars of Lent, but they are crucial to this penitential season. Put simply, the three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It may sound like the Church just imposing even more rules than usual, but it has a solid biblical basis. In the sixth chapter of…
