Lent: Preparing for Easter

Lent- A Season of Special Devotion & Discipline
The season of the Church year that we know as Lent begins with Ash Wednesday (this year on February 13) and ends for many Christians traditions with an evening celebration known as the  Great Vigil of Easter, which takes place on the eve of Easter Sunday (Saturday, March 30 this year).  Lent was the one of the first seasons of the Church Year to be observed by the early Christians.  It is a season of penitence, fasting, devotion and discipline in preparation for the Day of the Resurrection of Our Lord (Easter). 

These 40 days were also used by the early Church as a time of final preparation of those wishing to be baptized into the Faith.  It was traditional for baptisms in the 1^st Century Church to take place at the Great Vigil of Easter on Easter Eve.  Those who were being baptized would take their first Communion with their new church family on this first celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection. 

As us modern Christians did not invent back-sliding, Lent was also a time for the restoration of those who had “departed from the faith,” and a time of renewal and recommitment for all the Faithful.

You may notice that there are more than 40 days in Lent (February 13 to March 30).  Sundays are not counted among the “penitential” days of Lent.  Sundays are “Little Easters,” and therefore every Sunday is considered an Easter celebration and not a day of penitence and fasting. 

Why did the first Christians decide on 40 days?  Forty is a biblical number symbolizing a span of time sufficient to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.  For instance, Jesus’ own preparation for ministry was by a “fast” of 40 days in the Judean wilderness.  I am sure that you can think of other biblical references to a span of time represented by the number 40.

Ash Wednesday (February 13) sets the tone for the Lenten Season.  At many traditional Ash Wednesday liturgies, ashes are placed on the forehead of each person with the words, “Remember, O Mortal, you are but dust; and to dust you shall return.”  This is intended to lead us to consider our weakness and mortality and to ponder the meaning of life as well as the meaning of death.  It is not intended to be morbid, only realistic.  On Ash Wednesday, we reflect on our utter dependence on God’s saving grace that has come to us through Christ.  We contemplate our need for what God has done for us on Easter 40 days hence.