NEW SAINT THOMAS INSTITUTE’S Date Checkpoint Gospel 33 Day Consecration

2024 LENT READING PLAN Feb 14 Ash Wed Mt 1 1

(Print this and place it inside your Bible) Feb 15 Mt 2 2
Feb 16 Mt 3 3
Feb 17 Mt 4 4
Feb 18 Lent Sun 1 Mt 5 5
Feb 19 Mt 6 6
Feb 20 Mt 7 7
Feb 21 Ember W Mt 8 8
Feb 22 My 9 9
Feb 23 Ember Fr Mt 10 10
Feb 24 Ember Sat Mt 11 11
Feb 25 Lent Sun 2 Mt 12 12
Prepared and arranged by Feb 26 Mt 13 13
Dr. Taylor Marshall
Feb 27 Mt 14 14
This is a reading plan for students at the New Saint Thomas Feb 28 Mt 15 15
Institute found at NSTI.com. The 3 daily columns designate the Feb 29 Leap Year Mt 16 16
date, checkpoint, Gospel Reading and Day of the 33 Day Mar 1 Mt 17 17
Consecration. Mar 2 Mt 18 18
Mar 3 Lent Sun 3 Mt 19 19
1. Dr. Taylor Marshall recommends the Catholic Douay- Mar 4 Mt 20 20
Rheims (D-R) version of the Holy Bible in English. Mar 5 Mt 21 21
2. The St Louis d Montfort 33 Day Consecration can be found Mar 6 Mt 22 22
here: https://www.quies.org/True-Consecration-33- Mar 7 Mt 23 23
Day.pdf
Mar 8 Mt 24 24
3. Consider Rosary daily. Scratch off each reading every day. It
gives a sense of accomplishment. Mar 9 Mt 25 25
Mar 10 Lent Sun 4 Mt 26 26
There are more resources at our New Saint Thomas Institute: Mar 11 Mt 27 27
Mar 12 Mt 28 28
1. Online NSTI Video Course Certificate Curriculum on Mar 13 Jn 1 29
New Testament in which Dr. Taylor Marshall goes Mar 14 Jn 2 30
through the entire New Testament explaining Catholic Mar 15 Jn 3 31
theology of the 27 books of the New Testament, including Mar 16 Jn 4 32
Matthew and John. Mar 17 Lent Sun 5 Jn 5 33
2. NSTI Lifetime Reading List for Catholic Books Mar 18 Jn 6 34 Consecration
3. NSTI Catholic Bible Cheat Sheet, providing all Bible
Mar 19 St Joseph Jn 7
verses for each every Catholic doctrine.
Mar 20 Jn 8
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” - Saint Jerome, Mar 21 Jn 9
Commentariorum in Isaiam xviii prol. Mar 22 7 Sorrows Jn 10
Mar 23 Jn 11
If you need more help or assistance through the Old and New Mar 24 Palm Sun 6 Jn 12
Testaments (from a Catholic perspective), please consider Mar 25 Holy Mon Jn 13
taking my online courses that cover all the books of the Bible Mar 26 Holy Tues Jn 14
at: newsaintthomas.com Mar 27 Spy Wed Jn 15-16
Mar 28 Maundy Th Jn 17-18
A blessed and holy Lent to you, Mar 29 Good Fri Jn 19
Dr. Taylor Marshall
Mar 30 Holy Sat Jn 20
Mar 31 Easter Sun Jn 21 Christ is risen!

For more Catholic resources, please visit:

www.NSTI.com
History of Lent
• The English word Lent is a shortened form of the Old
English word lencten, meaning "spring season", as its
Dutch language cognate lente (Old Dutch lentin). It is
a reference to the lengthening of the days as
characterizing the season of spring'.
• In languages spoken where Christianity was earlier
established, such as Greek and Latin, the term signifies
the period dating from the 40th day before Easter. In
modern Greek the term is Σαρακοστή (Sarakostí),
derived from the earlier Τεσσαρακοστή (Tessarakostí),
meaning "fortieth". The corresponding word in Latin,
quadragesima ("fortieth"), is the origin of the terms
used in Latin-derived languages and in some others.
Church Fathers on Quadragesima/Lent
• St. Leo (d. 461) exhorts his hearers to abstain that they
may "fulfill with their fasts the Apostolic institution of
the forty days" — ut apostolica institutio quadraginta
dierum jejuniis impleatur (P.L., LIV, 633),
• Historian Socrates (d. 433) and St. Jerome (d. 420) use
similar language (P.G., LXVII, 633; P.L., XXII, 475).
• Irenaeus wrote to Pope St Victor in Rome in the 2nd
century and says that there is not only a controversy
about the time of keeping Easter but also regarding
the preliminary fast. "For some think they ought to
fast for one day, others for two days, and others even
for several, while others reckon forty hours both of
day and night to their fast".
• Xerophagy ("dry eating", from Greek ξηρός "dry" and
φαγεῖν "eat") is the practice of eating dry food,
especially food cooked without oil. In Eastern
Christianity, xerophagy is the form of fasting observed
during Great Lent and certain other fasts, in which
vegetables cooked with water and salt are eaten,
together with such things as fruit, nuts, bread and
sometimes honey. It many cases in that tradition it can
be considered an extreme form of veganism.
• In the 35 Canons of Saint John the Faster, the penance
for any monk caught in homosexual acts includes a
xerophagic diet for three years along with other
punishments.
• In any case it is certain from the "Festal Letters" of St.
Athanasius that in 331 the saint enjoined upon his
flock a period of forty days of fasting preliminary to,
but not inclusive of, the stricter fast of Holy Week,
and secondly that in 339 the same Father, after having
traveled to Rome and over the greater part of Europe,
wrote in the strongest terms to urge this observance
upon the people of Alexandria as one that was
universally practiced, "to the end that while all the
world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not
become a laughing-stock as the only people who do
not fast but take our pleasure in those days".
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• True, fasting and abstinence formed part of the duties
characterizing this season, but there was little or no
uniformity in the manner of observance. On the
contrary, different countries adapted a different
regime. At Rome it was customary to spend but three
weeks, immediately before Easter, in abstinence,
fasting, and praying (Socrates, H.E., V, 22).
Length of Lent
• In Rome, Lenten season consisted of six weeks (36
days). During these six weeks Sundays were the only
days not reached by the law of fasting, but the
obligation to abstain from animal foods was not
withdrawn from Sundays.
• In the seventh century four days were added to reach
40 days.
• 40 days before Holy Week: enjoined by the "Apostolic
Constitutions" (V.13), and presupposed by St.
Chrysostom (Hom. xxx in Gen., I).
• Thus we find Ætheria in her "Peregrinatio" speaking
of a Lent of eight weeks in all observed at Jerusalem,
which, remembering that both the Saturday and
Sunday of ordinary weeks were exempt, gives five
times eight, i.e., forty days for fasting.
• Milan, fasting only five days in the week after the
Eastern fashion (Ambrose, "De Elia et Jejunio", 10).
• In the time of Gregory the Great (590-604) there were
apparently at Rome six weeks of six days each, making
thirty-six fast days in all, which St. Gregory, who is
followed therein by many medieval writers, describes
as the spiritual tithing of the year, thirty-six days being
approximately the tenth part of three hundred and
sixty-five.
How to Fast?
• Fasting is NOT eating any food.
• Abstinence is NOT eating certain foods (eg meat or
alcohol)
• The historian Socrates (Church History V.22) tells of
the practice of the fifth century: "Some abstain from
every sort of creature that has life, while others of all
the living creatures eat of fish only. Others eat birds as
well as fish, because, according to the Mosaic account
of the Creation, they too sprang from the water; others
abstain from fruit covered by a hard shell and from
eggs. Some eat dry bread only, others not even that;
others again when they have fasted to the ninth hour
(three o'clock) partake of various kinds of food".
• No animal products (except fish). No meat, eggs,
dairy.
• Fast till 3pm daily. Thomas Aquinas STH II-II, q. 147,
a. 7
 • Council of Trullo: Canon 56 bans eating eggs or
cheese on Saturdays of Lent (which was a practice
allowed by Armenians).
• Pope Nicholas I (858-867) declares that abstinence
from flesh meat is enjoined on all Fridays.
• For this reason eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and lard are
interdicted. STH II-II, q. 147, a. 8
• St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Th, II-II, Q. 107, ad 3
and II-II, Q. cxl vii, art. 1), “the ardor of lust is
dampened by abstinence from food and drink.”
• In Spain, the bull of the Holy Crusade (renewed
periodically after 1492) allowed the consumption of
dairy products and eggs during Lent in exchange for a
contribution to the cause of the crusade.
• They who would fain minimize the character of this
obligation so as to relegate all transgressions, save such
as originate in contempt, to the category of venial sin
are anathematized by Alexander VII (1599 - 1667) [Cf.
Prop. 23, ap. Bucceroni, Enchiridion Morale, 145
(Rome, 1905)].
• In 1887, the use of lard, tallow, or fat dripping in
preparing fish and vegetables at all meals and on all
days is allowed by an indult issued 3 August, 1887.
Different Forms of Lent
Desert Fathers and early Eastern Church
1. Strict Xerophagy. No meat, no eggs, no dairy, no fish.
No olive or vegetable oils. No alcohol. Nothing
cooked. Raw and dry fruit and vegetables.
2. Fasting during the daylight (the Muslims derived
Ramadan from this)
3. The 2-3 days prior to Easter Sunday are a strict fast of
no calories.
4. The married laity until the 800s were expected not to
engage in conjugal relations during Lent. This is why
marriage ceremonies have always been banned during
Lent in Eastern and Western Christianity.
Medieval Lent as described by Saint Thomas Aquinas
1. No meat, no eggs, no dairy all 46 days including
Sundays.
2. This is the origin of the Easter Egg and the Easter
Rabbit. Eggs were anticipated on Easter Sunday. Poor
people could only afford eggs and rabbit (not beef or
pork) on Easter.
3. Fish allowed on all days.
4. Olive oil allowed on all days.
5. Alcohol tolerated in moderation.
6. No food from midnight till 3pm (because Jesus died at
3pm), except that the fasting till 3pm was removed on
Sundays.
7. More strict fasting from Maundy Thursday until 12pm
noon on Holy Saturday.
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Crusader Lent
1. Same Lent described by Thomas Aquinas but allows
eggs and dairy.
2. The Popes allowed Crusading knights (and later those
supporting them) to add the proteins of eggs and dairy
to their diet during Lent.
Modern Lent since the 1960s
1. Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday – one full
meal and two collations (snacks) not equal to one
meal. Meal prohibited. Eggs, dairy, oil, alcohol
allowed.
2. No meat on Fridays in Lent. However, eggs, dairy, oil,
alcohol are allowed.
3. You are only required to do this on pain of sin.
A note on the 40 hours devotion
• As early as the 100s AD, Christians were keeping a
strict fast in the two days before Easter:
• Irenaeus wrote to Pope St Victor in Rome in the 2nd
century and says that there is not only a controversy
about the time of keeping Easter but also regarding
the preliminary fast. "For some think they ought to
fast for one day, others for two days, and others even
for several, while others reckon forty hours both of
day and night to their fast".
• 24 hours or 48 hours or 40 hours.
• If it is too much, fast till 3pm on Good Friday.
Various Options for Lent
1. Xerophagy (raw fruits and veggies)
2. No food till 3pm (but not on 6 Lenten Sundays)
3. No meat for 46 days
4. No dairy or eggs for 46 days
5. 24 or 40 or 48 hours from Maundy Thursday till Holy
Saturday.
6. Consider giving up alcohol and other unhealthy foods.
7. Do consume salts if you are fasting. Ancient people
understood that you need to eat salt if you are fasting
to keep your body working.
Suggestions:
1. Pray Rosary Daily
2. Be prudent not prideful.
3. Work up to this over several years. Don’t jump to
xerophagy right away.
4. Offer all fasting to Christ for specific intentions.
5. Don’t talk about it.
6. Lent is a time of fasting AND almsgiving and penance.
Do all three. Perhaps set apart a certain amount of
money to be used as alms.