Lent

Lent started on Ash Wednesday, on 9^th March this year.

Lent is a time when the Catholic Church collectively enters into preparation for the celebration of Easter. Lent originally developed as a forty-day retreat, preparing converts to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Lent is a season of conversion. Conversion is the process of turning away from sin and turning to God. Lent starts with Ash Wednesday (this excludes Sundays, which are not part of the 40 days) and ends on Maundy Thursday. Sundays aren’t part of Lent. This is because Sundays are always a day of celebration of Christ's passion and Resurrection.

Why forty days and not some other number?

Because 40 is a special number in the Bible. It signifies preparation for something special - as in the 40 days flood of Noah.
* Moses stayed on the Mount Sinai forty days (Ex 24:18),
* Jonah gives the people of Ninevah forty days to repent

(Jon 3:4) - (there are many other Old Testament stories)

* We also see this with Jesus, before starting his ministry, he spent forty days in the desert in prayer and fasting (Matt 4:2).

So, as in the Bible, we spend forty days in preparing ourselves to rejoice at the Resurrection of our Lord at Easter.

So, what is Ash Wednesday all about?

Ash Wednesday is so named because this first day of Lent is where we are marked with ashes to show the repentance of our sins and mourning. This is also a Biblical sign. We can see this in several verses.
* One verse is - "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Book of Daniel 9:3)

Today, ashes are still the same sign of repentance and mourning for our sins. They also represent our mortality. "I am nothing but dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:27. Reminding ourselves that nobody escapes physical death, we look forward to eternal life.

During Lent we are voluntarily required to do something penitential. Lent is a great time to break a bad habit and give it to the Lord. These sins and vices we should not take back after Lent. It is also a time to give something up that is good during this season. This is why people give up something they enjoy. In doing so we can draw closer to God by our temporary sacrifice.

The Church asks us to increase our prayer, fasting and alms giving.

Let us pray and seek what we are going to do for Lent. Ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our spiritual practice of Lent.

LENTEN SUGGESTIONS

Increased Prayer: Personal prayer, daily mass, stations of the Cross, scripture reading and meditating, watch the movie Passion of Christ etc., Increased Alms giving and Increased fasting.