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Stations of The Cross
click here Originally the forty days of penance were counted from the eve of the first Sunday of Lent to the hour of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. Then began the Paschal mystery, to which the forty days were a preparation. Lent, now consists of two parts, the first, the four days from Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent, and the thirty six days between then and Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday). The second part of Lent is the time of Passiontide. The historical significance of the forty days may be traced to the time of Moses representing the Law and Elias the Prophets, only approached God on Sinai and Horeb after purifying themselves by a fast of forty days. (Exodus 24:18, Kings 19:18). Our Lord, after His Baptism, began to prepare Himself for public life by a fast of forty days in the desert. Here He was tempted by Satan, who wished to discover whether the son of Mary was indeed the Son of God. Satan addressed his first attack to the sense of hunger. In the same way he tries during Lent to make us give up our fasting and mortification through temptations of the flesh. Next, Satan tries to induce Our Lord to let Himself be carried by angels through the air. Satan tempts us by pride, which is opposed to the spirit of prayer and meditation on God's word. This is the temptation of pride. Finally, Satan assures Jesus that he will make Him ruler over all creation. In this way, he tempts us to seek worldly goods, when we should be giving by works of charity and helping our neighbors. This is the temptation of avarice.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption. Why we receive the ashes Following the example of the Nine vites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes, our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel" Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. The distribution of ashes comes from a ceremony of ages past. Christians who had committed grave faults performed public penance. On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of penance, and sprinkled over them ashes made from the palms from the previous year. Then, while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, the penitents were turned out of the church because of their sins-- just as Adam, the first man, was turned out of Paradise because of his disobedience. The penitents did not enter the church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days' penance and sacramental absolution. Later, all Christians, whether public or secret penitents, came to receive ashes out of devotion. In earlier times, the distribution of ashes was followed by a penitential procession. The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. His Divine mercy is of utmost importance during the season of Lent, and the Church calls on us to seek that mercy during the entire Lenten season with reflection, prayer and penance.
Do you wish
your prayer to fly toward God? Give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.
The law of fast obliges all those from ages 18 through 59 to refrain from eating between meals and to limit their eating to one full meal and two lighter meals for the day. Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday are days of both fast and abstinence. In the United States,
With regard to the obligatory days listed above, however there is frequent question about the degree of seriousness of the matter. The teaching of the Holy Father may be simply paraphrased: The obligation to do penance is a serious one; the obligation to observe as a whole or substantially the penitential days specified by the Church is also serious. No one should be scrupulous in this regard: failure to observe an individual day of penance is not considered serious. People should seek to do more rather than less. Fast and abstinence on the days prescribed should be considered a minimum response to the Lord’s call to penance and conversion.
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