Ash
Wednesday and the Season of Lent
My dear friends, what is it we Catholics do today? Today Catholics begin the sacred season of
Lent, a period of 40 days (not including Sundays) to the Great Easter Vigil
(Saturday before Easter, starts when it becomes dark). During these 40 days Catholics are asked to
abstain and fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. They are asked to abstain (from meat) on all
other Fridays. More importantly,
however, is the total immersion we do in the life of the Trinity, particularly with
Jesus and going with Him into the desert for forty days. This should be a period of more intense
prayer, fasting and alms-giving, three virtues the early Church asked Christians
to practice in order to become more holy but also to truly enter into the
passion of Jesus Christ, especially focusing and reflecting on Good Friday and
all that meant for Christ as He endured tremendous suffering.
The desert experience we enter into these 40 days is
that we not only experience some dying of ourselves (that sinful part) but also
that we rise with Christ on Easter Sunday, that we leave behind in the tomb all
those things that hold us back from holiness and come forth in new life, resurrected
and clothed in our Lord Savior, where true happiness is found as well as
eternal life. God bless you all this
Lenten Season. Fr. John
No comments:
Post a Comment