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All About Lent

All About Lent. What is Lent?. 40 day period of preparation before Easter Begins on Ash Wednesday (13/02/13) Ends on: Lenten fast – Holy Saturday Ligturgically – Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Why are Sundays excluded from the reconing of the 40 days?. Day of resurrection

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All About Lent

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  1. All About Lent

  2. What is Lent? • 40 day period of preparation before Easter • Begins on Ash Wednesday (13/02/13) • Ends on: • Lenten fast – Holy Saturday • Ligturgically – Mass of the Lord’s Supper

  3. Why are Sundays excluded from the reconing of the 40 days? • Day of resurrection • Inappropriate day to fast and mourn our sins

  4. Why are the forty days called Lent? • Spring • Quadragesima (Latin)

  5. Why is Lent forty days long? A traditional number for: • discipline • devotion • preparation

  6. Why is Lent forty days long? • Moses stayed on the Mountain of God forty days (Exodus 24:18 and 34:28), • the spies were in the land for forty days (Numbers 13:25), • Elijah traveled forty days before he reached the cave where he had his vision (1 Kings 19:8), • Nineveh was given forty days to repent (Jonah 3:4), • Jesus spent forty days in wilderness praying and fasting (Matthew 4:2).

  7. Why is Lent forty days long? to imitate Christ 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) Easter Sunday (the day of the resurrection).

  8. Why is Lent forty days long? 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).

  9. What is a day of fast? • Catholics who are eighteen to sixty years old • required to keep a limited fast. • a single, normal meal and two snacks, so long as these snacks do not add up to a second meal.

  10. What is a day of ABSTINENCE? • Catholics fourteen years or older are required to abstain from eating meat

  11. Is there a biblical basis for abstaining from meat as a sign of repentance? "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia . . . 'I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.'" (Daniel 10:1-3)

  12. In addition to Ash Wednesday, are any other days during Lent days of fast or abstinence? • All Fridays of Lent - abstinence • Good Friday – fasting and abstinence • All days of lent are appropriate for fasting or abstaining

  13. Why are Fridays during Lent days of abstinence. • Jesus died for our sins on Friday; • Appropriate day of mourning our sin or expressing sorrow; • How? By denying ourselves something we enjoy.

  14. Why are acts of repentance appropriate at this time of year? • It is the time leading up to the commemoration of Our Lord’s death and resurrection • Appropriate time to mourn the sins for w/c he died.

  15. Is the custom of giving up something for Lent mandatory? • No • Salutary (beneficial) custom • Parents may require it of their children for their spiritual training

  16. Since Sundays are not counted in the forty days of Lent, does the custom of giving up something apply to them? • Customarily, no; • It is voluntary to begin with; • Appropriate to suspend on Sunin a spiritual and non-excessive way.

  17. Why is giving up something for Lent such a salutary custom? • To discipline our wills • How? By refusing pleasures when they are not sinful • A habit is developed w/c allows the will to refuse pleasures when they are sinful

  18. Is the denying of pleasure an end in itself? • Only a means to an end. • By training ourselves to resist temptations when they are not sinful, we train ourselves to reject temptations when they are sinful.

  19. Why is giving up something for Lent such a salutary custom? There are few better ways to keep one's priorities straight than by periodically denying ourselves things of lesser priority to show us that they are not necessary and focus our attention on what is necessary.

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