LENT
THE SEASON OF LENT
The Septuagesima season was a reminder of fallen man's necessity to unite himself by a spirit of penance with Christ's work of redemption. By fasting and other penitential exercises. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends on Holy Sarturday. Lent will enable us to unite ourselves effectively with that work. There can be no Lent worthy of that name without a personal effort to make our lives better, to lead them with greater fidelity, and, by some voluntary privation, to make reparation for our past sins. But the Church, at the same time that she calls on her children for such an effort, raises in the sight of God, the Cross of Christ, the Lamb of God who has taken on Himself the sins of men and is the true price of our redemption. As Holy Week draws near, the thought of the Passion predominates
increasingly until it engages our whole attention, but right at the beginning of Lent, that same thought is present and it is in union with the sufferings of Christ that the whole Christian Army starts on the forty days, it's journey towards Easter, in the certainty of sharing in the Resurrection.
"Behold, now is the truly acceptable time, behold, now is the day of Salvation!" Lent is a long retreat whereby the Church leads us to the practice of a more Christian life. She sets before us the example of Christ, and by fasting and penance, unites us to His sufferings, in order to enable us to share in His Redemption.
We should bear in mind that we are not alone, that it is not only we who are concerned with this Lent which is just beginning. It is the whole mystery of Redemption of which the Church avails herself. We belong to an immense body in which we are united with the whole of humanity redeemed by Christ. The Lenten Liturgy reminds us of this continually. Thus the Gospel of the first Sunday, the account of the temptation of Christ, shows Him to us as the second Adam, the new head of humanity at grips with Satan's wiles and overcoming him by Divine power; the parable of the strong man armed, vanquished by one stronger than he and driven out from all his possessions, is but another assertion of Christ's victory over the "prince of this world" who is "cast out".
This is therefore the meaning of Lent for us, a season of spiritual development, one lived with the whole Church, preparing for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Every year the entire Christian people, following Christ as their Head, with the renewed effort, take up our Crosses, and struggle against evil, against Satan and the sinful man that each one of us bears within himself, in order to draw from the Easter Mystery, a new life, from the very source of Divine Life, and to continue our journey Heavenwards.
The great forty days fast, "begun under the Law and the Prophets and hallowed by Christ Himself" has always been one of the essential practices of Lent. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass alludes to it continually and the Lenten Preface reminds us of it at every Mass during this season. Fasting goes hand in hand with prayer. Like all the penitential exercises of Lent, it is offered to God in union with the Sacrifice of the Cross, renewed daily at every Mass.
"O Lord, not according to our sins deal with us."
Following the example of the Ninevites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, the Church today, to humble our pride, and remind us of the sentence of death, which, as a consequence for our sins, we are bound to undergo, sprinkles ashes on our heads with the words:
"Remember Man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shall return." God is "gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy" to those who call upon Him "in fasting and in weeping and in mourning."
Justice enters into the penance of Lent, but Divine Mercy is of still greater importance; the Church calls on us to implore it during the whole of Lent with confidence and hope.