21/02/2007

The Season of Lent


Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the day before Easter Day.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Lent officially ends at sundown on Holy Thursday, with the beginning of the mass of the Lord's Supper.


Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for forty forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. (See the Apostolic Constitutions, Book V, Section III).

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that does not involve starvation or dehydration. Quite often, our bodily appetites control our action. The purpose of fasting is to make your bodily appetites your servant rather than your master.


taken from SDB, Madonna, India.

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