How to Keep Lent 2027: Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving

Lent is the forty-day season before Easter, kept with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In 2027 it begins on Ash Wednesday, 10 February, and leads through Holy Week to Easter Day on Sunday 28 March. The English word comes from an old word for spring, when the days lengthen. In most other languages the season is simply called the forty days (Latin Quadragesima).

Lent is a season of return. “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing” (Joel 2:12-13), read on Ash Wednesday in many churches. It is not a season for proving how disciplined we are. It is a season for coming home.

Lent 2027 dates

• Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day): 9 February 2027
• Ash Wednesday: 10 February 2027
• First Sunday of Lent: 14 February 2027
• Palm Sunday: 21 March 2027
• Maundy Thursday: 25 March 2027
• Good Friday: 26 March 2027
• Holy Saturday: 27 March 2027
• Easter Day: Sunday 28 March 2027

These are Western dates, kept by Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed and many other churches. The Orthodox Church keeps Great Lent from Clean Monday, by its own Paschal calendar, so its dates usually differ. The church year guide explains how Easter is dated.

Why forty days

Forty is a number of testing and preparation in scripture: the rain of the flood (Genesis 7:12), Moses on the mountain (Exodus 34:28), Elijah’s walk to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8) and Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. Above all, Lent follows Jesus, who fasted forty days in the wilderness and was tempted there before his ministry began (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).

Counted from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, Lent is 46 days long. The six Sundays are not counted, because every Sunday celebrates the resurrection, which leaves forty days of fasting. (Some churches now count Lent as ending on the evening of Maundy Thursday, when the three great days of Easter, the Triduum, begin. The shape is the same.)

On Ash Wednesday many Christians receive a cross of ash on the forehead with the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (from Genesis 3:19). It is a plain reminder of our mortality, and of our need for the mercy Easter announces.

Fasting, prayer and almsgiving: Matthew 6

The three traditional practices of Lent come from the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:1-18 Jesus speaks of giving to the poor (6:2-4), praying (6:5-15) and fasting (6:16-18), and in each case says the same thing: do it in secret, not to be seen, “and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (6:4, 6, 18). He assumes his disciples will do all three. His concern is motive.

The three belong together. Fasting makes room; prayer fills the room with God; almsgiving turns what we have saved toward our neighbour. Isaiah puts it sharply: the fast God chooses is “to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house” (Isaiah 58:7).

Fasting

Fasting in Lent can mean going without food for part of a day, eating more simply, or giving something up for the whole season. Catholic practice asks adults aged 18 to 59 to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (one full meal and two small ones) and those 14 and over to abstain from meat on those days and on the Fridays of Lent. Anglican prayer books name the forty days of Lent as days of fasting or abstinence without setting detailed rules, and many Protestant Christians fast in their own way. Anyone with a medical condition, a history of disordered eating, or who is pregnant should not fast from food; there are other ways to fast.

Prayer

Lent is a good season to begin a regular habit of prayer: Morning or Evening Prayer from the Daily Office, a Gospel read slowly through lectio divina, or the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”) as a breath prayer through the day. Many people read a Gospel straight through over Lent; Mark takes about a chapter every two or three days.

Almsgiving

Almsgiving is giving to those in need. A simple pattern is to give away what your fast saves: the cost of the coffee, the drinks, the takeaway. Others give time: visiting someone lonely, volunteering at a food bank or night shelter, writing the letter they have been putting off.

What to give up for Lent

The best Lenten fast is one you will notice. A good question is: what fills the space where I could be attending to God or to other people? Some ideas:

• Social media, or one app in particular
• News and podcasts on the commute, replaced with silence or prayer
• Alcohol, sweets, snacks or coffee
• Meat, on Fridays or for the whole season
• A streaming service, or screens after a set hour
• Buying anything that is not a necessity
• Complaining, gossip or sarcasm (harder than it sounds)

What to take on for Lent

Many people now pair giving something up with taking something on. Some ideas:

• Morning Prayer, or Compline before bed
• Reading one Gospel through, a few verses a day
• A few honest lines of reflection each evening
• Giving a set amount each week, or the money your fast saves
• Going to a midweek service or a Lent course
• Making confession, formally or with a trusted friend (James 5:16)
• Writing to one person a week to thank them

Choose one thing to give up and one to take on, and keep both small enough to last forty days. If you slip, begin again the next morning. Lent is about return, and that includes returning to your Lenten discipline.

Keeping Lent with a group

Jesus tells us to fast in secret, so keeping Lent with others has to be done carefully. The aim is support, not an audience. A small group can agree on a few shared practices (perhaps a daily reading and a weekly meal of soup and bread, with the money saved given away), and each person can keep one private discipline of their own.

Meet weekly, or check in briefly each day. Ask simple questions: how is it going, where did you struggle, what did you notice about God this week? Grace matters more than results. A Christian accountability group or a shared rule of life gives Lent a frame, and Easter gives a natural point to look back on what the season taught you and decide what to keep.

Do not let Lent end on Good Friday. Easter is a season too, fifty days long, and it deserves at least as much attention as the forty that came before it.

How Ordo helps

Ordo is an iPhone app for keeping a rule of life with a few people, and it follows the Western church year, so its photographs, prompts and readings turn to Lent on Ash Wednesday. A group writes its rule together in six parts, including absence, which is a natural place for a Lenten fast, and accountability areas, where you can name what you are taking on.

Each day asks three small things: a written reflection, a response to the day’s scripture and a short check-in, about ten minutes in all. Reflections stay hidden until everyone has written, then are revealed together, which leaves little room for performing your fast for others. At the close of the season you receive a formation letter drawn from your reflections. There are no streaks or guilt notifications. Ordo is in beta on iPhone; join the waitlist to keep Lent with a few others.