I made lentil soup for the first time during Lent this year. I posted a recipe earlier, but since it’s one of my favourites, I couldn’t resist doing the comic book version this year:
Lent is coming and since I’m “officially” Catholic now, it means there will be two Fasting Days (this year on Ash Wednesday on Feb. 25 and on Good Friday on Apr. 10) and the period in between is a time of moderation. Catholics eat less than they normally would and live a more simple life in order to prepare for Easter.
Although I’m a new Catholic, it’s not a new thing for me to do some kind of fasting during Lent. The Protestant churches I’m familiar with also do some kind of fasting, but that’s more something people individually choose for, it’s not a Protestant tradition, but a tradition a lot of Protestant people came up with in the past few years. A lot of Protestants make a ‘mistake’ though: they will also fast on Sundays, but that’s not what Catholics do. A Sunday is by its very nature a Feast Day, a day of rejoicing, although we are dialing back the rejoicing a bit during Lent: altar triptych is folded up, covering the painings at the inside, there are no flowers.
The Presbyterian Church I’m coming from has no liturgical year and people have very vague concepts on liturgy. More and more people in the Presbyterian churches think it’s a nice gesture to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on Good Friday, where in the Catholic Church this is the only day there is no Eucharist, hence no communion. The altar gets dismantled and Christ is completely absent during that day: the sanctuary lights won’t be burning. Catholics can receive Communion every day of the year, whenever they want, but NOT on Good Friday 
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