"Every year, during the forty days of Great Lent, the Church unites herself to the Mystery of Jesus in the desert." Catechism of the Catholic Church, 540
The meaning of Lent comes from the Latin "quadragesima", a liturgical period of forty days reserved for the preparation of Easter. Forty days in allusion to the 40 years that the people of Israel spent in the wilderness with Moses and the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public life.
This is a preparation and conversion time to participate in the culminating moment of our liturgy, together with the entire Catholic Church.
In the Catechism, the Church proposes to follow the example of Christ in his desert retreat, in preparation for the Easter solemnities.. It is a particularly appropriate time for spiritual exercisesthe liturgies penitential, penitential pilgrimages as a sign of penitence, voluntary deprivations such as the fasting and the almsand the Christian communication of goods by means of charitable and missionary works.
This effort of conversion is the movement of the contrite heart, attracted and moved by the grace to to respond to the merciful love of God who has loved us first.
We cannot consider this Lent as just another season, a cyclical repetition of the liturgical season. This moment is unique; it is a divine help to be welcomed. Jesus passes by our side and expects from us - today, now - a great change. It is Christ who passes by, 59
The imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful, Ash Wednesday, is the beginning of this road. It constitutes a invitation to conversion and penance. It is an invitation to go through the Lenten season as a more conscious and intense immersion in the paschal mystery of Jesus, in his death and resurrection, through participation in the Eucharist and in the life of charity.
The time of Lent ends on Holy Thursdaybefore Mass in coena Domini (the Lord's Supper), which begins the Easter Triduum, Good Friday and Glory Saturday.
During these days we look inside ourselves and we assimilate the mystery of the Lord being tempted in the desert by Satan and his going up to Jerusalem for his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension to the Heavens.
We remember that we must convert and believe in the Gospel and that we are dust, sinful men, creatures and not God.
What better way to begin Lent? We renew faith, hope, charity. This is the source of the spirit of penance, of the desire for purification. Lent is not only an occasion to intensify our external practices of mortification: if we were to think that it is only that, we would miss its deep meaning in the Christian life, because these external acts are - I repeat - the fruit of faith, hope and love. It is Christ who passes by, 57
Lent can be experienced through the sacrament of Confession, prayer and positive attitudes.
Catholics we prepare for the key events of the Holy Week through the pillars of the prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These guide us in our daily reflection on our own life while we strive to deepen our relationship with God and with our neighborno matter what part of the world the neighbor lives in. Lent is a time of personal and spiritual growth, a time to look outward and inward. It is a time of mercy.
As a time of penitence, Lent is a season of it is a good time to go to confession. It is not obligatory, nor is there any Church mandate to do so, but it fits very well with the words of the Gospel that the priest repeats on Ash Wednesday.
"Remember that dust you are and to dust you shall return"
"Convert and believe in the Gospel"
In these holy words there is a common element: the conversion. And this is only possible with repentance and a change of life.. Therefore, confession during Lent is a practical way of ask God's forgiveness for our sins and start over again.. The ideal way to begin this exercise of introspection is by means of a examination of conscience.
Penance, the Latin translation of the Greek word "metanoia" which in the Bible means the conversion of the sinner. Designates an entire all the interior and exterior acts aimed at the reparation of the committed sinand the resulting state of affairs for the sinner. Literally change of life, it is said of the act of the sinner who returns to God after having been far from Him, or of the unbeliever who attains faith.
Converting is reconciliation with GodWe are to turn away from evil in order to establish friendship with the Creator. Once in grace, after confession and what it implies, we must set out to change from within everything that does not please God.
To concretize the desire for conversion, it is possible to do the following conversion workssuch as, for example: Attending the sacramentsto overcome divisions, to forgive and to grow in a fraternal spirit; practicing the Works of Mercy.
The Church invites its faithful to observance of the precept of fasting and abstinence of flesh, compendium of the Catechism 432
The fasting consists of eating only one meal a day, although it is possible to eat a little less than usual in the morning and evening. Except in case of illness. It invites to live the fast, to all the adults, until they are fifty-nine years old. Both on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
It is called abstinence to abstain from eating meat on Fridays of Lent. The abstinence can begin from the age of fourteen.
Care should be taken not to live fasting or abstinence as a minimum, but as a concrete way in which our Holy Mother Church helps us to grow in the true spirit of penance and joy.
Proposed calendar of resolutions to live Lent.
Pope Francis proposes that "in this time of conversion we renew our faith, quench our thirst with the 'living water' of hope and pray for the salvation of our brothers and sisters".e receive God's love with an open heart which makes us brothers and sisters in Christ". (Rome, St. John Lateran, November 11, 2020, memorial of St. Martin of Tours)
In this journey of preparation for the night of Easter, in which, Francis reminds us, we will renew the promises of our Baptism, "to be reborn as new men and women":
The Pope also emphasizes the great difficulties we are going through as humanity, especially in this time of pandemic, "in which everything seems fragile and uncertain" and where "to speak of hope could seem like a provocation". But Where to find that hope? Precisely "in the recollection and silence of prayer".
Prayer with an open heart is the best preparation for Easter. We can read and reflect on the Gospel, we can pray the Via Crusis. We can turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and follow the liturgical celebrations with the Roman Missal. The important thing is that we encounter the unconditional love that is Christ.
Lord Jesus, with your Cross and
Resurrection you have made us
free. During this Lent,
lead us by your Holy Spirit to
living more faithfully in freedom
Christian. Through prayer,
increase in charity and the
disciplines of this Time
sacred, bring us closer to You.
Purify my intentions
heart so that all my
Lenten practices are for
your praise and glory. Grant that
by our words and actions,
we can be faithful messengers
of the Gospel message to a
world in need of the
hope of your mercy.
Amen.
With the collaboration of:
OpusDei.com
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catholic.net
Aciprensa
