Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Lent





What a time Lent is. It is a period of spiritual regeneration, a time to contemplate and meditate on the salvific mystery of Christ's life. We have 40 days to walk with the Lord just like He did in the desert. He denied Himself food for 40 days which symbolically means that what he did was for a complete purpose and for purification/preparation.

Numbers in the Bible have certain symoblic meanings. 40 was the amount of days of the flood, for 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert to prepare for His ministry and so on. We Catholics use this time to reflect on Christ and where we stand. We fast on Ash wednesday and Good Friday by eating one meal or two small meals, and we abstain from meat on those days and the Fridays that fall within the 40 days.

Lent begins on Ash wednesday. We receive the ashes and are reminded that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Sometimes in life we tend to think that we are the best thing since slice bread, but that is not so. We must remind ourselves that we are mortals, we are sinners, and we are imperfect, but it does not end there.

We can be more in Jesus Christ and only through Him can we know true love and life as it was meant to be. Lent is similar to the Jewish Yom Kippur and predates the Muslim Ramadan, but it more religiously decorated as Catholics are famous for doing in order to make things more solemn and dignified.

We should take this time to pray more, express faith more by doing more works of charity for others, not for our self elevation, but for the glory of God and love of Him and our neighbor.

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