Lent is the 40-day season of preparation for the Paschal Triduum (and the Great Fifty Days of Easter). The 40 days are counted from Ash Wednesday until Easter Day excepting the Sundays. The readings on these days were chosen to teach us about the three Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Why 40 days?
The number 40 calls to mind the 40 days of rain during Noah's
flood, when evil drowned and the earth was washed clean. It also
calls to mind the 40 years the Hebrew people traveled through
the desert to the promised land. We fast for 40 days because Moses
and Elijah and Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness to prepare
them for their work.
The days of Lent are often compared to a journey. That means that
at the end of Lent we expect to find ourselves somewhere different
than where we started. That's why the stories of the journey of
father Abraham and mother Sarah and other scriptures about journeys
are an important part of Lent. On the final Sunday of Lent we
will come to our destination. We will enter Jerusalem, the holy
city.
The word "Lent"
comes from the same root as the word "lengthen." It's
an old word for spring time, when daytime lengthens rapidly. Together
with the Paschal Triduum and Easter time, Lent is the church's
spring.
Every Lent we come back to our baptism. We struggle with the hard
questions we were asked: Do you reject Satan? Do you believe in
God? Do you believe in the church? We stand alongside the people
who are soon to be baptized. With them we look into that frightening
water. In the sixth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul
tells us that we die in the water of baptism! We die in the hope
that we will be raised with Christ.
At baptism,
Christians take on three lifelong disciplines. These are prayer,
fasting and alms giving. They help us remain faithful to our baptismal
promises. Each of these disciplines can take many forms. Prayer
is communication with God. Fasting is self-denial, self-control,
simple living. Almsgiving is giving to those in need. We share
our goods, our money, our talents and time.
These three disciplines function best when they are done together.
They balance each other. The word itself, "discipline,"
reminds us that we are "disciples" of Christ. Another
word for prayer, fasting and almsgiving is "exercise."
Exercise does little good unless it's done according to a schedule
that we stick to. If we make excuses not to exercise, if we cheat
on the program, then we won't get results.
The same can be said for prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent
is the season to renew good ways to practice these three kinds
of activity. Most Christians find that, in time, these three exercises
transform their way of life. (Adapted from Companion to
the Calendar by Mary Ellen Hynes for Liturgy Training Publications).
Two groups of Christians are particularly important during Lent. First, there are the catechumens who have been chosen to be baptized this coming Easter. During Lent they make their final preparations. Second, there are baptized people who are in some way returning to the church. During Lent we try to join in praying for these people and for all of us.