Walk with Us Through Lent

1.    WHAT LENT ACTUALLY IS
Lent is a period of 40 days and 40 nights beginning from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday
exclusive, set aside by the church for intensive spiritual preparations for Easter.

2.     BUT WHY THE NUMBER 40
In ancient Christendom, Easter Preparations lasted only for a week, commencing on Palm Sunday.
But in order to attach value to this most important feast of the Church, later Church fathers extended
it’s preparatory period to 40 days. 40 was chosen for the Scriptural significance.

a)    Moses spent 40 days on the mountain in preparation to receiving the 10 commandments,
CF.TX24:18 & 34:1-28.
b)    The Ninevites fasted  for 40 days to invite God’s forgiveness for their sins, cf.
c)    The prophet Elijah fasted for 40 days at Mt. Horeb to prepare for a new commissioning from the Lord, 1Kgs 19.
d)    Ezekiel laid on his right side for 40 days for the sins of Judah CF Ezekiel 4-6
e)    Noah was in the ark for 40 days waiting for the flood to be over at the end of which God began anew his saving interest in humanity CF Gen 8:6-13
f)    It took Israel 40 years to get to the promised land.
g)    Jesus fasted 40 days and nights before his public ministry CF.MTT 4 1-11

The number 40 therefore stands out as a period of testing, trail, probation, and preparation that often ends up with blessings or a saving divine action.

3.    PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF LENT
    Though the two-fold theme of repentance and believing in the Gospel, the season of lent disposes   both the catechumens and he faithful to celebrate the Paschal Mystery fruitfully.
        Through listening more intently to the word of god and devoting ourselves to prayers, fasting and almsgiving. We prepare ourselves in a spirit of repentance, to renew our relationship with God and with neighbors so that the joy of the risen Lord may be ours on Easter. That we may experience a new thorough beginning and spring up with new life in our relationship with God and neighbor.

4.     ASH WEDNESDAY
    The unique and distinctive character of this day is reception of  ashes on our foreheads.
      Two Formulas are used: Repent and Believe in the Gospel
                      Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return.
     Then the priest signs the forehead of the receiver with ashes while tracing the Sign of the Cross on it.
      This rite reminds us of the following:
    The urgency of the call to repentance from life of the flesh to life in the spirit of the Gospel for         we are dust and unto dust we shall return but our souls are immortal.
        We are reminded by it of our nothingness without God.
        We are reminded of God’s transforming power from dust to humanity and from humanity to dust.
        A sign of humility calling us to create space for God.
        A reminder that death is inevitable.
        A sign that we are beginning the journey often with the Blessed Trinity.
        A sign of commitment to self-denial and radical obedience to God’s will.
 
 5. FOCUS ON PRAYER, FASTING AND ALMS GIVING AS THREE PILLARS OF LENT
 
PRAYER: The act of communicating with God. It is to be understood as a lifting of one’s heart, mind and being to God.
The greatest purpose of prayer is a realization of our depending on God. We all depend on Him for everything.
How we pray matters – not a form of self-glorification rather than giving God the glory -not the external act aimed at attracting the audience but a heart-to-heart encounter with God void of shouting many words.
We are to pray with faith and with the right intentions.
Stations of the Cross stand out as expected prayer devotions.
 
FASTING:            Like prayers, fasting is effective when done with the right intentions and not self-glorification interspersed with eternal shows or winning him as admiration.
            He is manifested in abstention from which whatever separates us from God and neighbor and most always be connected with repentance – we do abstain from things (material or Moral) to the extent that which they harm us.
            Above all, the fast that pleases God most is fasting from sinful habits, attitudes and inclinations – a fast that ends in repentance, total transformation, renewal.
 
ALMS GIVNG OR CHARITY:Fasting is linked to alms giving in that someone should benefit at the end from your fasting if you fast from material things, let it be given out to charity in cash or kind.
            If you fast from a spiritual vice, transform it into virtue for someone’s benefit, e.g. fast from hatred, give love.
            Again, trumpeted fasting just like prayer or alms giving,  is for self-glorification and is not for the glory of God.
 
6. OTHER THINGS TO NOTE
Lenten weekdays are not commemorated on Solemnities and fast days.
 
Ash Wednesday and the days of Holy Week take precedence over all Solemnities and Feast Days.
 
During Lent the altar should not be decorated with flowers but on the 4^th Sunday of Lent (Laetare), it could be decorated and musical instruments used.
 
It is fitting that the Lenten season is a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation before Easter, during but not, immediately precede the evening mass of the Lord’s Supper. But for pastoral reasons Friday and Saturday are okay.
 
Ash Wednesday is a day of universal fast and abstinence in the Church.
 
Note strongly that ASHES and the STATIONS OF THE CROSS are sacramentals and they should never ever replace our daily attendance at mass which is a Sacrifice and Sacrament. Stations of the Cross are strongly recommended, especially when led by families.
 
CROSS AND STATUES ARE COVERED  ON THE 5^TH SUNDAY. This reminds us of the passion and that we may focus on the cross and not be distracted and be open on Good Friday while the rest of the stations and images are opened shorty before the Easter Vigil Mass.  

7. READING AND THEMES INVOKED DURING THIS PERIOD

In the cycle of weekday readings, Lent falls into two parts. The 1st part including “the pre-lent” of Ash Wednesday and the rest of the week, runs through to Saturday of week 3. In these 3 ½ weeks, the Gospel texts are taken from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the Old Testament readings are chosen accordingly. The message running through is a call to a life of Gospel conversion. The Gospels speak of:
Beginning anew – fasting – prayer – almsgiving -conversion
Mutual forgiveness – not hardening of hearts – love of enemies
Absolute claims of Justice – and love over ritual and cult
Call to holiness, etc.

Time and again what appears to be Salvation History Texts are interspersed in these moral themes or Text, but they are to be understood as a call for conversion.

The readings of the 2nd half of Lent are taken from the Gospel of John beginning on Monday of the 4th week of Lent, starting from John 4:43 and going through but omitting passages read on Sundays and during Easter, to chapter 13. These passages present Jesus Christ the Son of God, of whom John says that all who believe in him will have eternal life. Christ is presented as the Healer who gives and the life giver – the one who gives life in his confrontation with death and gathers into one the scattered children of God.

The purpose of the 1st part is to puncture our inflated egos -a Challenge to any form of self-deceit about the quality of our lives as disciples of Jesus.

This is done by hitting us again and again with demands, which we not only fail to obey, but which we come to recognize as being quite beyond us. 

The Gospel passages are meant to trouble us and to confront our illusions about ourselves – hence making us see our radical need of Salvation e.g. - Man you are dust and unto dust you shall return.

Confronted in our weakness and powerlessness, then to seek for Salvation in Jesus for he can only save those who know their need for Salvation.

Another dimension of Lent (Double Character). The Lenten season has another double character, namely, to prepare both the Catechumen and faithful to Celebrate the Paschal Mystery from another perspective. The Catechumens through the Rite of Election and Scrutinies and catechesis are prepared for the celebration of the sacrament of First Initiation. The faithful, ever more attentive to the word of God, prayer, preparing ourselves by penance for the renewal of their baptismal promises.