Try a little Lent?

I needed to know when Lent Ends, so I did some research and thought I would share it with you. 

Lent has two starting days—Ash Wednesday for Catholics/Protestants, and Clean Monday for the Eastern Churches.  But the last day of Lent was not obvious. Lent ends either the Saturday before Palm Sunday March 24, 2013 or Holy Thursday March 28, 2013, or Holy Saturday March 30, 2013. For most Catholics it is Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). Liturgically however, since 1969 when the revised Roman calendar was used to mark the celebration of the “Novus Ordo” Mass, Lent officially ends on Holy Thursday.

But that’s when I realized that what I really wanted to know was "When does the Lent fasting end, or when can I start drinking again?" For most Catholics it is Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday), which is the 46th day since Ash Wednesday, but there are only 40 days of the Lenten fasting so what the heck is going on? I did some more research and it seems that since all Sundays (not just Easter Sunday) are days we are supposed to celebrate Christ's Resurrection, we are forbidden to fast or do other forms of penance on Sundays. So, when the Church created 40 days of fasting for Easter to mirror Christ's fasting in the desert, Sundays could not be included in the count.

It’s not so much a loop hole as it is an obligation to celebrate Jesus. So go ahead and have a glass of wine on Sundays during Lent. It’s in the rules! 

Foot Notes: Thus, in order for Lent to include 40 days on which fasting could occur, it had to be expanded to six full weeks (with six days of fasting in each week) plus four extra holly days. Six times six is thirty-six, plus four.

  -St. Augustine's Bulletin  staugust.org/wp-content/.../02/St.-Augustines-Bulletin-21.pdf