To the Band of Brothers: March 27, 2025
It seems every year during this Lenten season, I get the million-dollar question. Does my Lenten sacrifice include Sundays? Well, the short answer is no. You heard me, “no!” In other words, if I gave up chocolate sundaes with whipped cream and different colored sprinkles without a cherry (who wants fruit on their sundaes?) for Lent, I have to abstain from them Monday through Saturday. But, on Sundays, I can head to any local Carvel and eat one or maybe even two just to tied me over for a week.
Trust me… this is not a Jesuit mind trick. You know the kind that can theologically prove things others can’t, like why God loves the Miami Dolphins more than any other team in the NFL, especially the Jets. Ask any person from any religious congregation (even a Franciscan) and they will verify that Sundays do not count in your Lenten sacrifice.
Watch, I will prove it. If you take out your calendar and count the days from Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins, to sundown on Holy Thursday, you will get more than 40 days. Why is that? Well, I will give you one guess. It’s because you are not supposed to count Sundays. While Sundays are important during the Lenten season, they aren’t part of the 40 days of abstinence and fasting.
Trust me… this is not a Jesuit mind trick. You know the kind that can theologically prove things others can’t, like why God loves the Miami Dolphins more than any other team in the NFL, especially the Jets. Ask any person from any religious congregation (even a Franciscan) and they will verify that Sundays do not count in your Lenten sacrifice.
Watch, I will prove it. If you take out your calendar and count the days from Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins, to sundown on Holy Thursday, you will get more than 40 days. Why is that? Well, I will give you one guess. It’s because you are not supposed to count Sundays. While Sundays are important during the Lenten season, they aren’t part of the 40 days of abstinence and fasting.
Before you think this is some kind of religious wrinkle conjured up to sneak in your favorite pizza, I should explain there’s a great theological reason.
Sundays are always referred to as the day of the Lord. In other words, it is the day of the week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what the liturgical season, no matter what the occasion, at the center of the celebration on Sundays is the resurrection of Jesus. For this reason, we celebrate such a momentous occasion with a feast… the Eucharistic. So happy is the occasion, we have to necessarily put aside all mourning, all suffering, all sacrifice so we can share in the joy of the risen Lord.
Do you want further proof?
In the synoptic gospels the disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus a question: “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast” (Matthew 9:14, Mark 2:18, Luke 5:33)? Jesus responds by asking them if it made sense for the groomsmen to mourn while the groom was with them. On the contrary, he says, there will be a day when the groom will be taken away and on that day they will fast.
So, if Jesus is particularly with us on Sundays in his real and awesome presence in the Eucharist, how can we fast? How can we walk around gloomy because we can’t eat chocolate sundaes with all the trimmings or can’t play golf or can’t listen to music or eat pizza? Theologically, you can go to Carvel, you can tee off at the Biltmore, you can listen to ABBA, and you can order Dominos without batting an eye or arousing any guilt. That being said, don’t forget that on Monday, you're back to the Lenten grind, back to sugary withdrawal. And all of it is for the greater glory of God.
Auspice Maria.
Sundays are always referred to as the day of the Lord. In other words, it is the day of the week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what the liturgical season, no matter what the occasion, at the center of the celebration on Sundays is the resurrection of Jesus. For this reason, we celebrate such a momentous occasion with a feast… the Eucharistic. So happy is the occasion, we have to necessarily put aside all mourning, all suffering, all sacrifice so we can share in the joy of the risen Lord.
Do you want further proof?
In the synoptic gospels the disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus a question: “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast” (Matthew 9:14, Mark 2:18, Luke 5:33)? Jesus responds by asking them if it made sense for the groomsmen to mourn while the groom was with them. On the contrary, he says, there will be a day when the groom will be taken away and on that day they will fast.
So, if Jesus is particularly with us on Sundays in his real and awesome presence in the Eucharist, how can we fast? How can we walk around gloomy because we can’t eat chocolate sundaes with all the trimmings or can’t play golf or can’t listen to music or eat pizza? Theologically, you can go to Carvel, you can tee off at the Biltmore, you can listen to ABBA, and you can order Dominos without batting an eye or arousing any guilt. That being said, don’t forget that on Monday, you're back to the Lenten grind, back to sugary withdrawal. And all of it is for the greater glory of God.
Auspice Maria.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.