by Pam Brink

Created on: January 28, 2011   Last Updated: May 26, 2012

Good Friday, in the Christian calendar, is a memorial day, commemorating the day Christ suffered and died on a cross. For some, this was the end of the story. For others, it was only the beginning. Easter Sunday would never have happened without Good Friday. They are inextricably bound together as one single event. This momentous happening is the basis for Christian belief: a resurrected Jesus who suffered and died for sins and opened the gates of heaven. Preparing for Good Friday is concomitantly a preparation for Easter Sunday.

The calendar of the Roman Catholic Church specifies a forty-day period of preparation called Lent. Lent is a time when adults are expected to fast (reducing the amount of food eaten in a day to one regular meal and two others, which do not add up to the third meal) and abstain from all meats every day except Sundays. Fasting and abstinence has always been a means of separating ourselves, or trying to separate ourselves, from the everyday. It is a time of self-discipline, a time of reflection, a time to try self-sacrifice or to give up mentally what Jesus asked of the rich man, to sell all that he had, give it to the poor and “follow me.” (Luke 18:22, NRSV). It is a time to try mentally and emotionally to detach from worldly things.

The forty days of Lent are a reminder of the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the desert after his baptism by his cousin John. (Mathew 4:1)

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday as a general day of penitence, fasting and prayer. It reminds Catholics “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19, NRSV) The palms used on Palm Sunday of the previous year are burned, blessed and are crossed on the forehead of the faithful at Ash Wednesday’s Mass. It is a reminder that death comes to all.

At one time, it was the custom on the day before Ash Wednesday, for everyone to go to confession in preparation for Lent. This penitential custom meant not only confessing ones sins but also receiving a penance that may or may not last for the entire Lenten period. One was said to be “shriven” or forgiven of their sins. In England, the day before Ash Wednesday was called “Shrove Tuesday.” A Catholic is expected to receive communion at least once a year. To receive communion, a person must be as free of sin as possible. In order to receive communion on Easter Sunday, many faithful made their annual confession on Shrove Tuesday.
    
Other names for Shrove

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