Why are there 40 days in Lent?
Scroll down the page to gain access to good feature articles on Lent, as well as audio and video clips. bullet Lent and Holy Week: Overview and On-Line Resources – practical ideas for Lenten devotions, prayers and spiritual exercises for Holy Week, readings by Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio explaining the significance of the number forty days, lots of great readings from the Church Fathers. Many of the resources are available as PDF files that can be downloaded for free and duplicated for family or parish use. bullet Holy Week – part of the Inter Mirifica web site – provides a number of documents for the Lenten period including the following: A Palm Sunday hymn composed by Theodulf bishop of Orleans, when prisoner at Angers, by order of Louis the Good. Sung during the procession on Palm Sunday in the Tridentine Rite; a History of Palm Sunday; the Pange Lingua – Eucharistic hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas; and explanations of The Washing of the Feet and Maundy Thursday. bullet Lent 2002:
All of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) tell us that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he fasted and prayed for 40 days. Moses led a people through the waters (think “Baptism”) of the Red Sea into a desert (a place with no water) for 40 years (Lent lasts 40 days) where their identity was formed as a people (our journey during this Lent should form us into a baptized people following Christ to the Father). –from the Catholic Updates “Celebrating Lent in Your Home,” by Kathryn A. Schneider and Robert M. Hamma and “Lent: A 40-Day Retreat–Rediscovering Your Baptismal Call,” by Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M. HOLY WEEK easter120.jpg.jpg (46400 bytes) The purpose of Holy Week is to re-enact, relive, and participate in the passion of Jesus Christ. • Palm Sunday (or Passion Sunday), the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. • Holy Thursday (or Maundy Thursday), the institution of Communion and the betrayal by Judas. • Good Friday, the arrest, trial, crucifixion, death,
It took 40 days for sinfulness to drown in the flood before a new creation could inherit the earth. It took 40 years for the generation of slaves to die before the freeborn could enter the Promised Land. For 40 days Moses, Elijah and Jesus fasted and prayed to prepare themselves for a life’s work. Lent invites us to turn from our own selves, from our sin, to come together in community. Self-denial is the way we express our repentance. Self-denial is threefold, advises Matthew’s Gospel. We pray: “Go to your room, close your door, and pray to your Father in private.” We fast: “No one must see you are fasting but your Father.” We give alms: “Keep your deeds of mercy secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Through the Lenten exercise of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we spring-clean our lives, sharpen our senses, put tomorrow in its place and treasure the day at hand. One of the three Lenten practices open to most misinterpretation today is that of fasting. Fasting has
