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In Western Christianity, Lent is the period (or season) from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. In Eastern Christianity, the period before Easter is known as Great Lent to distinguish it from the Winter Lent, or Advent (known in Greek as the "Great Fast" and the "Nativity Fast", respectively). The general theme of Lent is that of Christ leading us along the Jerusalem road from servitude to sonship, from the rule of Satan to the Kingdom of God. As we enter the season of Lent in the spirit of the Church and of her liturgy, we seek to wash away the stains of sin and to rid ourselves of all that prevents us from living a truly Christian life. We offer these instuctions, prayers and activities to help in our attempt to be united to our suffering Savior. The more perfectly we are united with Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Eucharist the more we shall share His new life and glorification at Easter.
Lent is a season of looking within oneself. It is a time for soul searching and dedicating ourselves to the service of the Lord. As Lent begins, reach out to all the people you know with a special message and spread the glory of the Lord... |
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Historically, Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, it began on Ash Wednesday and ended on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). In recent years, this has been modified so that it now ends with evening Mass on Holy Thursday, to prepare the way for Triduum.
Lent is the penitential season of approximately 40 days set aside by the Church in order for the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the Lord�s Passion, Death and Resurrection. During this holy season, inextricably connected to the Paschal Mystery, the Catechumens prepare for Christian initiation, and current Church members prepare for Easter by a recalling of Baptism and by works of penance, that is, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Even in the early Church, Lent was the season for prayerful and penitential preparation for the feast of Easter. Though the obligation of penance was originally only imposed on those who had committed public sins and crimes, by medieval times all the faithful voluntarily performed acts of penance to repair for their sins.
Ash Wednesday is the clarion call to �Repent and believe the gospel� (Mk 1:15). For the next forty days, the faithful willingly submit to fasting and self-denial in imitation of Our Lord�s forty-day fast in the desert. It is in these dark and still nights, these desert-times, that the soul experiences its greatest growth. There, in the inner arena, the soul battles the world, the flesh and the devil just as Our Lord battled Satan's triple temptation in the desert. His battle was external, for Jesus could not sin; our battle is interior, but with a hope sustained by the knowledge of Christ�s Easter victory over sin and death. His victory is our renewal, our �spring� � which is the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon word, �lengten� or Lent.
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