Aim: To explore the Liturgical

Season of Lent.
Objective: What marks the
beginning of Lent? What does Lent
remind us of?
 Lent is a forty-day liturgical
season that initiates the most
sacred part of the Christian year.
 Lent begins on Ash Wednesday
and concludes on the
Great Vigil of Easter.
 Sundays are not included in the
forty-day count because every
Sunday is a joyful celebration of
our Lord's resurrection.
 During Lent, Christians meditate
on the great paschal mystery --
the salvation God won for us
sinners by the suffering, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
II. Why does Lent last forty days?
The duration of the season of Lent is based on the ancient church
custom of requiring catechumens to undergo a forty-day period of
doctrinal instruction and fasting before being baptized on the evening
before Easter.

This probationary period was called the quarantine (from the Latin
word for forty). The number forty occurs frequently in both testaments
of the Bible. It signifies the time that is required for discipline, testing,
and separation prior to achieving a goal or new beginning.

For example, we read in the Old Testament that it rained forty days
and nights during the Great Flood (Genesis 7:12), Moses communed
with God on Mount Sinai for forty days before receiving the Ten
Commandments (Exodus 24:18), the people of Israel were forced to
wander in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:33-34), Elijah
journeyed for forty days before he reached Mount Horeb and had a
vision of God (1 Kings 19:8-9), and the inhabitants of Nineveh fasted
and repented for forty days in response to the preaching of Jonah (
Jonah 3:4-5).
 The outstanding instances of the number forty in the New
Testament are the account of Christ's ordeal in the desert fasting,
praying, and being tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark
1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-13) and His various appearances to the
apostles and others between His resurrection and ascension during
which He strengthened their faith and prepared them for the
coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3).
• Since Lent is a season of penitence, reflection, and prayer, worship
during this time is solemn and restrained.

• The somber colors of purple and black replace the brighter white and
green of the Epiphany season.

• Flowers are generally removed from the sanctuary.

• Songs of praise like the Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory in the highest") and
expressions of joy like Alleluia ("Praise the Lord") are removed from
the liturgy until Easter.

• Many churches hold special mid-week worship services and offer

devotional activities that help their members concentrate on the
traditional Lenten disciplines of fasting, almsgiving (gifts of mercy, or
"charity" as it is usually called), and prayer.

• The practice of these disciplines goes back to the early days of the
church and are meant to help Christians recall and be thankful for our
Lord's atoning death on the cross.
 
 On this day, we are marked on our foreheads
with the ashes taken from the previous years
left over palms on Palm or Passion Sunday.
 The palms are burnt and blessed. The priest or
celebrant reminds us of our mortality. He
states, “Remember from the dust you came
and to the dust you shall return.” He can also
call us to, “Repent and return to the Gospel.”
 Lent lasts for a period of forty (40) days until
Easter Sunday or the day of Jesus’
Resurrection.
• Fasting- Limiting the amount of food we
consume. Only people above the age of
Fourteen (14) are required to fast.
 
• Abstinence- Means to do without. Catholics
abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and
every Friday during Lent.
 
• Almsgiving- Giving financial or material
assistance to those who are less fortunate. The
money we would normally spend on trivial
things is used instead as a donation to a worthy
cause or organization for those in need.
 
• Acts of Penance- Doing acts of Penance by
putting our faith into action. (Corporal Works
of Mercy)
 
• Jesus shares His last meal with His disciples (Last Supper).
• Catholics re-live this moment in Mass when they share in
the Eucharist.
• Jesus breaks bread and drinks wine which is symbolic of His
Body and Blood.
• He informs His disciples that one will betray Him and
another will deny Him three times.
• Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane in the Mount of
Olives to pray if this cup has to spill over Him and He
accepts His Father’s will.
• Jesus washes His disciples feet to teach them that He came to
serve, not to be served. He calls them to do as He has done,
to serve others.
 
• Jesus is arrested and taken before the Jewish leadership (Pharisees,
Sanhedrin,the High Priest, Caiphas).
• Jesus is charged with blasphemy in the mock trial held where they ridiculed,
spat, and beat Him.
• Jesus is taken before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea and
procurator.
• Pilate does not find fault with Jesus and sends Him to the king of Judea, Herod
the Great.
• Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate because Jesus is out of his jurisdiction.
• Pilate sends Jesus to be scourged thinking that it will suffice the crowd.
• Pilate washes his hands and gives the crowd gathered the choice of freeing one
prisoner to show clemency on the eve of the Jewish Passover feast.
• The crowd selects Barabbas, a notorious criminal, to be released.
• Pilate asks the crowd what do they want him to do with Jesus, the Galilean,
the people respond, “Crucify Him!”
• Jesus is condemned to death, a decree that only Pilate has the
authority to impose.
• Jesus’ journey to Golgotha (Place of the Skull) is a torturous one.
He carries His cross, falls three times, meets His mother, meets
the women of Jerusalem, His face is wiped by Veronica, He is
stripped of His clothing, is nailed to the cross and dies. His body
is taken down from the cross.
• Joseph of Arimathea, a leading Pharisee of the Sanhedrin,
requests that Jesus’ body is placed in an unused tomb provided by
him. The feast of the Sabbath was about to begin therefore,
Jewish Law required that no work be done.
• Jesus’ body was placed on a slab in a tomb. The customary Jewish
burial rituals of washing and anointing did not take place
because of the Sabbath.
• The women would return to the tomb after the Sabbath to wash
and anoint the body. When the women went to the tomb, they
found the stone removed and Jesus’ body was not there.
• Focuses on the time Jesus spent in the tomb.
• The celebration of Easter begins after dark on Saturday
night with the Easter Vigil.

• The Easter Vigil consists of four main parts:

 1. The Service of Light- This ceremony reminds us that Jesus
is the Light of the world. The Church lights are turned off
and the fire is lit and blessed. Everyone is given a Paschal
or Easter candle. The Easter candle is lit from the fire and
the priest or celebrant processes
into the darkened Church until all candles that are lit, light
up the Church. Those gathered hear the Easter
Proclamation, how Christ conquered the darkness of sin
and death.
2) The Liturgy of the Word- Scripture readings are read from the Old and New
Testament, recounting God’s plan of salvation, the story of God’s saving action for
humans. Events such as: God’s promise to Abraham, the Exodus, the Mosaic
covenant, and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel under king David. In
the New Testament it involves the story of Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection.

3) Liturgy of Baptism- The water in the baptismal font is blessed by the

priest. The catechumens, those who have been
preparing for entrance into the Christian
community (R.C.I.A.) Rite of Christian Initiation
of Adults, come forward to be baptized and
confirmed. Those gathered rejoice as they await
the Resurrection and are reminded of their calling
to imitate Christ.
 
4) The Liturgy of the Eucharist- We partake in the gifts of bread and wine
offered to us in the Eucharist. We pray that
the Body of Christ we receive may strengthen
us in faith and allow us to live as Christians
in our daily lives. We are sent forth by the
priest at the end of Mass to go forth in peace
to love and serve the Lord.