Feast Days
Feb 28, 2026 | By Noah Thomason UT Austin ‘27
“And yet, if any one were to think that the Lord’s day should be appointed a day of fasting, in the same way as the seventh day is observed by some, such a man would be regarded, and not unjustly, as bringing a great cause of offense into the Church.”
Augustine of Hippo, Letter 36
Last year, I learned that Sundays are not traditionally considered a part of the Lenten fast. I have given up something for Lent for the past five years, but I had never heard of such a practice. Although modern Lenten fasts are often immaterial (mine is giving up post-midnight activities), historically Christians took Sunday as an opportunity to partake in what we fasted from, with all of its good qualities and sacramental nature on full display. The Lenten season is most complete when Sundays are treated as they were in antiquity; that is, as feast days.
In early Christendom, fasting was severe and common. By the 7th century AD, Lent was wcharacterized by consuming one meal per day after sunset. This austere and demanding rule was inherited from the Jews, drawing from Leviticus 23:32, which calls for a fast “from evening to evening.” The practice shifted to a single meal at the ninth hour, or 3:00 PM, by the time of the papacy of Gregory the Great. He formally codified Lent as we know it, and did not include the six Sundays of Lent from the one-meal fast. During the entire season of Lent, people fasted from meat, dairy, or eggs. Sundays had no such restrictions. And so, the Lenten feast day was born.
A feast day following six days of only eating one meal per day surely acted as a reminder of God’s provision and His gracious abundance. It served as a “mini-Easter,” a reminder that God is the source of life and being. We shall return to dust indeed, but God saw fit to decree that that dust shall be changed back into our bodies, resurrected and perfected. At the end of days, filled with life and abundance, we will be sustained by Christ in eternity. That is the beautiful reminder of the feast days within Lent. The unrestricted food of a feast, the joy in eating to our fill, and the thanks given for sustenance sacramentally mirror the end of days.
And so, I invite you to join me in feasting on the Sabbath during Lent, and enjoying what you fasted from as the gift of God that it is. It serves as a reminder that there is hope despite our sin, that all good things come from the Father, and that our Lord is Risen through all of Lent, not just on Easter.