Lent is the 40-day period before Easter that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. It is a time of penitential preparation and fasting to commemorate Jesus' fasting in the desert for 40 days. On Ash Wednesday, ashes made from palm branches from the previous year are used to place crosses on people's foreheads, reminding them of their mortality and need for repentance. During Lent, Christians are called to engage in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. They also participate in acts like Stations of the Cross, Bible reading, and abstaining from meat on Fridays to remember Christ's suffering. The season ultimately prepares believers for Easter through reflection and sacrifice.

1. LentLent
““They shall look on HimThey shall look on Him
whom they have pierced”whom they have pierced”
JnJn 19:3719:37

2. What is Lent?
Lent is the forty day period before Easter,
excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash
Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday
(the day before Easter Sunday).

3. In Latin, quadragesima which means forty.
A Spanish derivation of this is cuaresma.
In Filipino, is known as kuwaresma.
Why forty?

4. The number forty is found frequently in scripture to signify either a time
of penitential preparation, or a time of punishment and affliction sent
from God.
The Old Testament is replete with examples of the use of forty:
God punished mankind by sending a flood over the earth that lasted forty
days and forty nights (Gen 7:12);
the people of Ninevah repented with forty days of fasting when Jonah
preached the destruction of Ninevah (Jonah 3:4);
Moses and the Hebrew people wandered in the desert for forty years (Num
14:34);
the Prophet Ezekiel had to lie on his right side for forty days as a figure of
the siege that was to bring Jerusalem to destruction (Ez 4:6);
the Prophet Elijah fasted and prayed on Mount Horeb for forty days (1 Kings
19:8); and finally,
Moses fasted forty days and forty nights while on Mt. Sinai (Ex 34:28).
Why forty?

5. In the New Testament
we find Our Lord
fasting and praying for
forty days and forty
nights in the desert in
preparation for the
public ministry that
would end in his
redeeming death.
Why forty?
““By the solemn forty days ofBy the solemn forty days of
Lent the Church unites herselfLent the Church unites herself
each year to the mystery ofeach year to the mystery of
Jesus in the desert.”Jesus in the desert.”
Catholic CatechismCatholic Catechism, #540, #540

6. Why do we use ash?
In the Old Testament ashes were used as a sign of
humility and mortality as well as sorrow and repentance
for sin.
Biblical basis:
In the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he
heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus to kill all of the Jewish people in
the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1).
Job repented in sackcloth and ashes (Job 42:6).
Prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem, Daniel wrote, "I turned
to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and
ashes" (Daniel 9:3).
Jesus made reference to ashes, "If the miracles worked in you had taken
place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes
long ago" (Matthew 11:21).

7. Why do we use ash?
Church Tradition:
The use of ashes is thought to have begun with Pope Gregory
the Great in the 6th century.
Receiving ashes on the head as a reminder of mortality and a
sign of sorrow for sin was a practice of the church by the 10th
century.
The Church adapted the use of ashes to mark the beginning of
the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality
and mourn for our sins.
The ashes are from burnt palm. In some places the ashes are put
on the forehead, in the sign of the cross, as a reminder of the
anointing with oil in baptism. In other places, ashes are
scattered on the top of the head.

8. What are we to do in this season?
First, we are ask to perform 3 things:
Prayer
Fasting
Alms-giving

9. What are we to do in this season?
It is highlyIt is highly
recommendedrecommended
that we receivethat we receive
the Sacramentthe Sacrament
of Reconciliationof Reconciliation
during thisduring this
season.season.

10. What are we to do in this season?
Secondly, we are called to share in the suffering of
Christ through our fasting and abstinence. The
Church requires us to fast and abstain on Ash
Wednesday and Good Friday. Abstinence every
Friday of the season of Lent.
Abstinence means not eating any kind of meat and
by-products, except eggs, milk and cheese. In
modern times, we can abstain by refraining from
engaging anything that is pleasurable to oneself.
Fasting, on the other hand, means eating one whole
meal in a day, without any snacks in between.

11. What are we to do in this season?
Also, we can do the following Catholic
practices during this season:
Way of the Cross
Open Retreat/ Recollection
Acts of Mercy (Corporal and Spiritual)
Bible reading
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Holy week procession

12. What are we to remember in this
season?
As we begin this holy season of Lent in
preparation for Easter, we must remember the
significance of the ashes we have received:
– We mourn and do penance for our sins.
– We again convert our hearts to the Lord, who
suffered, died, and rose for our salvation.
– We renew the promises made at our baptism, when
we died to an old life and rose to a new life with
Christ.
– Finally, mindful that the kingdom of this world
passes away, we strive to live the kingdom of God
now and look forward to its fulfillment in heaven.

13. Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God,
you despise nothing you have mademade
and forgive the sins of all who are penitent.are penitent.
Create and make in us new andand contrite hearts,contrite hearts,
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our brokenness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.