2. What is Lent?
• Lent comes from the Latin word “quadragesima”, means forty days.
• Lent is one of the 5 liturgical seasons in the liturgical year.
• During this time, the people are called to commemorate and reflect on
the Lord’s passion through spiritual preparation, conversion, and
penance.
• This Holy Season is an invitation to renew our baptism call; to live as
sons and daughters of God and disciples of Christ.
3. When does Lent begin?
• It begins on Ash Wednesday.
• It is preceded by the first section of Ordinary Time and followed by
second season of Easter.
• The liturgical color for Lent is purple. It symbolizes Penance.
4. Why is it called Ash Wednesday?
• Ashes are used to mark on the foreheads as a sign of conversion and
repentance.
• The ashes came from the blessed palms (Palm Sunday) left over from
previous year.
• The palms are burnt to produce the ashes. Ashes are considered as
sacramentals and are blessed before their use.
• Day of fasting and abstinence: abstain from eating meat and
committing sin.
5. What is the meaning of the ashes?
a. The ashes are symbol of repentance and conversion.
b. The ashes act as a reminder that we are called to die to sin and return
to God wholeheartedly.
What is the formula or the phrases used to impose the ashes?
“Repent and believe in the Gospel”
“You are dust and into dust you shall return.”
6. What are the three observances during Lent?
1. Praying 2. Fasting 3. Almsgiving
7. 1. How can we improve our Prayer Life
during Lent?
1. Divide your prayer time into three parts (Morning, Afternoon,
Evening)
2. Practice silence and being alone sometimes.
3. Be familiar with the life and teachings of Jesus by reading the
Gospels and bible in general.
4. Familiarize a certain verse of the Bible everyday and visualize what
is happening in the verse.
8. 2. Fasting VS. Dieting
Fasting Dieting
A spiritual exercise
involves afflicting one’s soul
through the denial of our wants and
desires; a form of spiritual ascetism,
self-control
expression of wholeheartedness and
penance
to maintain one’s physical or
bodily figure
something we do for health or
cosmic reasons
9. 3. Almsgiving
• Almsgiving is another word for Charity.
Charity is love-in-action.
Charity is a way to reach out to those who are in need.
Almsgiving is a form of self-denial, sacrifice on behalf of others
10. What is the climax of Lent?
• The climax of Lent is the Holy Week.
• Holy Week begins in Palm Sunday and ends with the Holy (Paschal)
Triduum.
• Triduum means three days: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and
Black/Holy Saturday.
11. What is Holy (Paschal) Triduum?
• Through these three days, the Church remembers that Christ suffered
and died, and rose again.
• The Triduum is the celebration of the Church’s salvation through
Christ.
What is the connection of Lent and the Triduum?
• Lent’s renewal through prayer, fasting and almsgiving help us prepare
to understand the meaning of each of these three days.
12. The Holy (Paschal) Triduum
• Lent officially ends on Holy Thursday.
• The Holy Triduum begins on the evening of Holy Thursday.
• The mass is celebrated for the Last Supper which is celebrated in the
evening, and includes the ceremony of the Washing of the Feet.
13. 1. Holy Thursday
• The faithful gathers in Church to celebrate the
Institution of the Eucharist.
• The Mass for the Last Supper and the Washing
of the Feet, which reminds us of Jesus’ command
to serve one another.
• At the end of the mass, the Blessed Sacrament is
moved to the “Altar of Repose” during a solemn
procession followed by Adoration until midnight.
14. 2. Good Friday
• This is the holy day of fasting and
abstinence; abstain from eating meat
and committing sin.
• The Seven Last Words of Jesus is
celebrated.
• The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion is
celebrated, followed by a Homily, the
General Intercessions, Communion, and
the Veneration of the Cross.
15.
16. • The very word uttered from the lips of
Jesus…begging the Father for forgiveness
of those criminals who nailed his hands
and his legs on the cross….forgive them,
forgive them, forgive them.
• Jesus is not establishing the probe of
innocence for these people by saying “they
don’t know what they are doing”. Rather
he established his unending love and
mercy for these people.
17. • Perhaps the whole idea of paradise can be
the hope of a human life better than the
present life. A life which is free from any
“cross”: sickness, hatred, wars.
• Each one of us is responsible for one’s
own fate. Each of us is choosing daily
either paradise or hell. We just need check
our actions and habits.
• But we need the grace of God to guide us
in our daily living.
18. • The disciple Jesus loved is the ideal disciple
who remains always faithful to Jesus, even
to Jesus on the cross. This disciple is given
to Jesus’ mother as son.
• The true family of Jesus now consists of his
mother, the natural family, and the beloved
disciple, the family of discipleship.
• Here we see something about the extent of
Jesus’ love. “For whoever does the will of
my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister,
and mother.” (Mt 12:50 Mk 3:35).
• This apostle is said to be John the Beloved.
19. • Jesus suffered in order to justify us, to
save us. Everybody abandoned him, both
his enemies and his apostles whom he
called friends. He even felt forsaken by
his Father. During this Holy Week, let us
ask the Lord Jesus, who saved us through
his suffering, to forgive us.
• In fact, very often we abandon him when
we reject suffering people. Let us also
remember that suffering is part of human
life and it remains for us a mystery. Then
when we suffer, let us not lose hope in the
Lord Jesus who suffered for our sake.
20. • With his cry of thirst and the drinking of
the vinegar Jesus “completes” the
Scriptures. Completing the work of the
Father- giving his life out of love for the
world and thus returning in exaltation to
God- this was “food” Jesus ate (4:34)
and the “cup” he would drink (18:11).
This was the driving force of Jesus’
mission.
• Jesus thirsts for God and he thirsts out of
love for “his own in this world”. Thus
the radical thirst of Jesus completes all of
the sacred promises of the Scriptures and
brings the mission of Jesus to its summit.
21. • The words “it is finished” can be a
relief. They can suggest that our suffering
has finally ended and we will now enter
into the rest of the saints. Even here, our
death remains unfinished for we live on in
memory, DNA, spiritual impact, and grief.
• Our lives may perish but they live forever
more in God’s memory and the ongoing
history of the universe.
22. • Even though the powers of darkness
seem triumphant, Jesus dies
confidently, entrusting his spirit into the
hands of his Father. The power of
darkness has been defeated by Jesus’
trust in faithful God.
• Jesus was fully committed to God’s
will and had set his face toward
Jerusalem, remained faithful to the end.
Jesus’ exodus was completed and he
would return to God in order to lavish
on the world the Spirit of forgiveness
and salvation.
23. 3. Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil)
• It is the highest point of the Triduum.
• It begins in the Evening of the Holy Saturday.
• It proclaims Jesus’ triumph over the powers of evil and death.
• The Resurrection of Jesus happened.
24. Summary
• Lent comes from the Latin word “quadragesima”, means forty days.
• Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent; ashes are used to mark on
the foreheads as a sign of conversion and repentance.
• 3 observances during Lent: praying, fasting, almsgiving.
• Holy Week is the climax of Lent.
• Holy Week begins in Palm Sunday and ends with the Holy (Paschal)
Triduum.
• Triduum means three days: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and
Black/Holy Saturday.
