1. What is Lent?
According to the Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar:
"27. Lent [is a liturgical season that] is ordered towards preparing for Easter, since the lenten liturgy prepares for the celebration of the paschal mystery both catechumens, by the various stages of Christian initiation, and the faithful, who recall their own Baptism and do penance."
2. Where does the word “Lent” come from?
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes:
"The word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’ fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season. Still, it has been used from the Anglo-Saxon period to translate the more significant Latin term quadragesima (French carême, Italian quaresima, Spanish, cuaresma), meaning the “forty days”, or more literally the “fortieth day”. This in turn imitated the Greek name for Lent, tessarakoste (fortieth), a word formed on the analogy of Pentecost (pentekoste), which last was in use for the Jewish festival before New Testament times."
3. When does Lent begin and end?
The Universal Norms state:
"28. The forty days of lent run from Ash Wednesday up to but excluding the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive. This means that Lent begins at 12:01 a.m. on Ash Wednesday and runs to just before the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday. As soon as the Mass of the Lord’s Supper starts, it’s a new liturgical season: Triduum."
4. Is Lent exactly forty days long as currently celebrated?
No, it’s actually a little longer than forty days. The number is approximative, for spiritual purposes.
5. Are the Sundays in Lent part of Lent?
Yes. See question 1 for the duration of Lent. It runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday. No exceptions are made for Sundays.
Furthermore:
"30. The Sundays of this time of year are called the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent [emphasis added]. The Sixth Sunday, on which Holy Week begins, is called, “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.”
6. Why is the number forty significant?
Pope Benedict explains:
Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering His public ministry. We read in the Gospel: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2). Like Moses, who fasted before receiving the tablets of the Law (cf. Ex 34,28) and Elijah’s fast before meeting the Lord on Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings19,8), Jesus, too, through prayer and fasting, prepared Himself for the mission that lay before Him, marked at the start by a serious battle with the tempter [Message for Lent 2009].
7. What are the rules for fasting in Lent?
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting. The law of fast binds those who are from 18 to 59 years old unless they are excused for a sufficient reason (e.g., a medical condition that requires more frequent food, etc.).
According to the Church’s official rules (as opposed to someone’s personal summary of them):
"The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing—as far as quantity and quality are concerned—approved local custom [Apostolic ConstitutionPaenitemini, Norms, III:2]."
The system of mitigated fasting that is required by law thus allows for “one full meal” and “some food” in the morning and evening. The Church’s official document governing the practice of fasting does not encourage scrupulous calculations about how much the two instances of “some food” add up to, though obviously, each individual is less than a full meal since only one of those is allowed.
8. What are the rules for abstinence in Lent?
Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence (as well as Good Friday). An exception is if a solemnity falls on a Friday, but no solemnities fall on Fridays in 2015, so all Fridays are days of abstinence. The law of abstinence binds those who are 14 years old or older.
According to the Church’s official rules:
"The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat [Paenitemini, Norms III:1]."
NB: Fasting is when a person limits the amount of food that they intake, this includes taking only one or two small meals during the day as well as refraining from eating snacks. Abstinence is when a person refrains from eating/drinking certain types of food, for example, meat, dairy products, alcohol, smoking, etc.
9. Do you have to give up something for Lent? If you do, can you have it on Sundays?
The traditional custom of giving up something for Lent is voluntary. Consequently, if you give something up, you set the parameters. If you choose to allow yourself to have it on Sundays to promote joy on this holy day, that is up to you.
Bonus
Mortifications: The importance of Fasting and Abstinence.
According to St Francis de Sales, Sermon on Fasting:
"Fasting and abstinence strengthen our spirit as it mortifies our flesh and our sensuality. It raises our soul to God. It gets rid of concupiscence by giving us the strength to overcome and to mortify our passions, and it disposes of our heart so that it may seek nothing except to please God in everything (St Francis de Sales, Sermon on Fasting)."
Detachment from material goods, mortification, and abstinence purify us from our sins and help us to find God in our everyday life. For whoever seeks God whilst wanting to hold on to his own likes and dislikes, may seek Him day and night, but will never find Him (St John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, 1,3). Our daily duties are the principal source for this mortification: order, punctuality in starting our work, concentration, and intensity we bring to it, etc. Through our contact with others, we will find occasions to mortify our selfishness and help create a more pleasant atmosphere around us. And the best mortification is that which overcomes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life in little things throughout the day. Ours should be mortifications that do not mortify others, and which give us more 'finesse' more understanding, and more openness in our dealings with everybody. You are not mortified if you are touchy; if your every thought is for yourself; if you humiliate others; if you do not know how to give up what is unnecessary and, at times, what is necessary; if you become gloomy because things don’t turn out the way you had hoped. On the other hand, you can be sure you are mortified if you know how to make yourself ‘all things to all men, in order to save all’ (1 Cor 9:22) (J. Escrivá, Christ is passing by, 9).