LITTLE HEAVEN
LENT
Joseph C Francis
WHAT ACTUALLY LENT IS?
Actually, LENT is a time of joyful preparation:
To celebrate the Paschal Mystery, namely EASTER, Christ's victory over sin and death; our own salvation in Christ.
LENT is a time of renewal of our minds and hearts where by the image of JESUS, the SON of GOD is brought to perfection within us
LENT is a time of growing of love and reverence towards GOD OUR FATHER.
LENT is a time of growing of love and service to our brothers and sisters
When LENT is seen in this light, THERE IS NOTHING NEGATIVE, GLOOMY OR MOURNFUL ABOUT IT; on the contrary IT IS A SEASON OF JOY, HOPE, LOVE, GROWTH AND TRANSFORMATION. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, true joyous meaning of LENT was lost, a great loss indeed!
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF OUR LENTEN OBSERVANCES
It will be a help to consider-in a summary way-the historical development of our LENTEN and HOLY WEEK observances. HOLY WEEK and LENTEN practices originated in the church of Jerusalem and of Rome, but in different ways and independently of each other.
In the church of Jerusalem, the Paschal Mystery celebrations, i.e. HOLY WEEK and EASTER, started at a very early stage. Later on, the church of Jerusalem took over from, neighbouring churches the 40 days of LENTEN preparation and penitential practices which had been started in the memory of the 40 days Jesus fasted, prayed and did penance in the desert.
In the church of Rome, the development of LENT took a different form:
Catechumens of the Roman Church - namely, those preparing for Baptism were expected to go through a three-week course of instructions on Christian Doctrine, study of the scriptures, special prayer, fast, penance and exorcisms before they could receive baptism at the Easter Vigil.
Some time later, generous and fervent Christians - WILLINGLY, NOT OUT OF OBLIGATION - began joining the Catechumens yearly in their three weeks of instructions, scripture study, fasts and penance, in the preparation for the renewal of their baptismal promises.
Soon after great persecutions ended, the Roman Church made that private devotion of three weeks preparation of Paschal Mystery and OFFICIAL PRACTICE for all the faithful.
In the course of time, the Church extended that period of three weeks to six weeks.
Thus LENT as a six weeks period of preparation for Easter progressively spread far and wide among Christians all over the world
Later on, ASH WEDNESDAY was added as a preface or official beginning of LENT.
Unfortunately, with the passage of time LENT acquired more and more of an almost exclusively penitential character. The negative penitential overtones of LENT made people forget its positive nature as a joyful preparation for the Paschal Mystery. Putting it bluntly, for many people LENT commenced on ASH WEDNESDAY and ended on GOOD FRIDAY. We should now strive to re-discover the true meaning of LENT and its joyous character.
WHAT CAN WE DO DURING LENT ?
Keeping in mind the great events that gave us New Life in Christ, let us joyfully:
1. RENEW OUR MINDS AND HEARTS
2. RE-AFFIRM OUR BAPTISMAL COMMITMENT
3. BE RECONCILED
4. WILLING TO SERVE OUR NEIGHBOURS
FINALLY, THROUGH SACRIFICES, FAST, PENANCE AND ALMSGIVING TAKEN AS MEANS, NOT AS ENDS, ET US RESPOND TO THE SPIRIT'S LONGING TO TRANSFORM US INTO THE CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR.
FOR SUGGESTIONS PLEASE WRITE TO :- littleheaven2000@hotmail.com
