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Importance of Lent
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All About Lent
Q: What is Lent?
A: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.
Q: Why are Sundays excluded from the reckoning of the forty days?
A: Because Sunday is the day on which Christ arose, making it an inappropriate day to fast and mourn our sins. On Sunday we must celebrate Christ's resurrection for our salvation. It is Friday on which we commemorate his death for our sins. The Sundays of the year are days of celebration and the Fridays of the year are days of penance.
Q: Why are the forty days called Lent?
A: They are called Lent because that is the Old English word for spring, the season of the year during which they fall. This is something unique to English. In almost all other languages its name is a derivative of the Latin term Quadragesima, or "the forty days."
Q: Why is Lent forty days long?
A: Because forty days is a traditional number of discipline, devotion, and preparation in the Bible. Thus Moses stayed on the Mountain of God forty days Jesus spent forty days in wilderness praying and fasting (Matthew 4:2).
Since Lent if a period of prayer and fasting, it is fitting for Christians to imitate their Lord with a forty day period. Christ used a forty day period of prayer and fasting to prepare for his ministry, which culminated in his death and resurrection, and thus it is fitting for Christians to imitate him with a forty day period of prayer and fasting to prepare for the celebration of his ministry's climax, Good Friday (the day of the crucifixion) and Easter Sunday (the day of the resurrection).
Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
"'For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning' [Heb 4:15]. By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert." (CCC 540).
Q: When does Lent begin?
A: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is the day on which they faithful have their foreheads signed with ashes in the form of a Cross (see piece on Ash Wednesday).
In the Synoptic gospels the event follows the death of John the Baptist and the return of the disciples from preaching and teaching. Mark6:39 writes, ‘the people sat on the green grass,’ suggesting spring-time, possibly April. John does not mention either event; John6:4, ‘the Passover was near.’ Passover, an important C1st Jewish feast, although not a family meal it involved going to the Temple and offering sacrifices. Therefore, the disciples would have returned, expecting to accompany Jesus to Jerusalem. ‘After this,’ John6:1, a Johannine term used to indicate passage of time.
shows that they also thought of the Sabbath as a day of rest so they
(From the Greek expository dictionary)- ?It is used in the NT in Luke 11:38 of washing oneself (as in 2Kings 5:14, ?dipped himself,? Sept.); see also Isa. 21:4, lit., ?lawlessness overwhelms me.? In the early chapters of the four Gospels and in Acts 1:5; 11:16; 19:4, it is used of the rite performed by John the Baptist who called upon the people to repent that they might receive remission of sins. Those who obeyed came ?confessing their sins,? thus acknowledging their unfitness to be in the Messiah?s coming kingdom. Distinct from this is the ?baptism? enjoined by Christ, Matt. 28:19, a ?baptism? to be undergone by believers, thus witnessing to their identification with Him in death, burial, and resurrection (e.g. Acts 19:5; Rom. 6:3-4; 1Cor. 1:13-17, 12:13; Gal. 3:27; Col 2:12). The phrase in Matt. 28:19, ?baptizing them into the Name? (RV; cf. Acts 8:16), would indicate that the ?baptized? person was closely bound to, or became property of, the one in whose name he was ?baptized.?
... preparation of the celebration of Jesus’ birth and his second coming. This leads all the way up to Christmas Eve, and ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Then, Lent occurs: the preparation time that the believer takes to reflect upon their religious practices and values. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends on Holy Thursday. Holy Thursday marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum. The Easter Triduum includes: Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The significance of the Easter Triduum is honoring: The Last Supper, death, burial, and resurrection. After the Triduum, Pentecost follows; during this time we honor the descent of the Holy Spirit, which is known as the Ascension of Jesus. After the Ascension of Jesus, we enter Ordinary Time. This Liturgical Season is followed closely by Catholics, this is a prime example of living out their faith.
17 Dugan, Kathleen M. “Fasting For Life: The Place of Fasting in the Christian Tradition.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Vol. 63 Issue 3 (Fall 1995): 547
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For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
After Jesus was baptized by the John the Baptist, he fasted in the Desert for 40 days and nights in order to face the temptations that...
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... day marks the day of Jesus’ resurrection where he came back to life and went to heaven.
The week that led up to Jesus’ death and the events that occurred during this week are known as the Passion Week. The passion of Jesus is his sufferings between the night of the Last Supper and his death on the cross. Five main events occurred during Passion Week:
To first understand indulgences, one should first understand Catholic moral philosophy. Unlike the protestant belief in forgiveness through prayer and pure faith, Catholics observe a tradition which requires them to confess their grave sins to a certain church authority to receive God’s forgiveness. Confession is incredibly crucial to practicing Catholics, as an unconfessed grave sin is believed to qualify one for eternal damnation. As an example of an outlook on sin, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a piece of German artwork ca. 1497-1498 that displays a scene of the biblical description of the end of the world. The purpose of this was to remind everyone that the end of the world, and therefore the judgement of all souls, is near and to invoke fear of sin and evil so that one’s soul will not perish in Hell. However, in sixteenth century Europe, the policy on receiving forgiveness changed for Catholics. In detail, Instructions for Selling Indulgences by Albrecht of Brandenburg states that one who confesses is to respect the need for Church funds by telling how much of what they own but could go without to facilitate contributions in the future. The intended audience for this writing was confessors who would sell the indulgences. Indulgences were sold to collect money for the Church, an economic gain with a religious cause. The sale of indulgences is
From: The Cow [2.184] For a certain number of days; but whoever among you is sick or on a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days; and those who are not able to do it may effect a redemption by feeding a poor man; so whoever does good spontaneously it is better for him; and that you fast is better for you if you know.
And so, if we put our current time in a biblical perspective, days such as the seventh day, the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, that day, the day of Judgement, the Sabbath, the day of Atonement, the day of Jubilee, and the Feast of Tabernacles” are coming true in reality. Because they are the days appointed by God, the spirits of his chosen Christians are, at this time, able to become holy
In Western Christian religions, Lent is observed for six weeks and four days. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its name from the practice, mostly in the Roman Catholic church, of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them that "man is but dust." Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Holy Week begins on this day. Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is in memory of the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples. Good Friday remembers the crucifixion.