LENT SEASON

• Lent can be defined as a period of forty (40) days before Easter, intended to be a time of intensive preparation for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.
• Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts up to the Holy Thursday Evening/Last supper.
• THE 5 BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS IN WHICH (40) HAS A SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE is Noah and the Great Flood, Journey to the Promised Land, Elijah on the way to Horeb, Moses on Mt. Sinai, and The Temptation of Jesus.
• The 3 pillars of Lent are Alms giving, Prayer, and Fasting.
• Ash Wednesday is a symbol of transiency - we are reminded how short and how passing human life is.
• Ash Wednesday is a sign of purity - that they are pure elements since they undergo the burning process.
• Fasting is going without food- for a time of spiritual seeking after God.
• Fasting is a time to bring our hearts, and our lives, into such a burning focus-where we seek the heart and face of God.
• Ages 15-59 are required to fast, to skip one full meal in a day.
• Acronym of FASTING

  Forgiveness

  Acceptance

  Self-control

  Truth

  Integrity

  Nourishment

  Grace
• Abstinence is refraining from eating meat or from doing evil actions.
• Ages 14 ABOVE are required to abstain on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays of Lent.
• Holy Week starts from Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion until the vespers of the Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord.
• The Paschal Triduum starts from the Evening of the Lord's Supper until the vespers of Sunday, the highlight or the center of this Triduum is the Easter Vigil.
• Pentecost fifty days of joyous celebration begins Easter Sunday and concludes on Pentecost Sunday.
• Holy Week  is the celebration wherein the Church celebrates the mysteries of salvation accomplished by Christ in the last days of his earthly life, from his messianic entry into Jerusalem, until his blessed Passion and glorious Resurrection.
• (Historical Names of Holy Week)

  • Paschal Week
  • Greater Week
  • Week of the Lord's Passion
  • Week of the Sorrowing
• PALM SUNDAY is the grand opening of the Holy Week, commemorating the messianic entry of Jesus in Jerusalem as King and the proclamation of His passion.
• Chrism Mass is one of the principal expressions of the fullness of the Bishop's priesthood and signifies the close unity of the priests with him.
• (3 Kinds of Oil during the Chrism Mass)

  1. Oil of Chrism
  2. Oil for the Sick 
  3. Oil for the Catechumens
• FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD is the commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus which was the passageway to his glory and exaltation.
• HOLY SATURDAY has its special character, marked with a quiet day, paschal fast and has no liturgy of its own.
• Easter Vigil is the greatest of all liturgies.
• The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.
• The spiritual and corporal works of mercy seek to help alleviate human misery - material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and psychological illness and death.
• CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY

  1. To feed the hungry
  2. Give drink to the thirsty
  3. To clothe the naked
  4. To visit the imprisoned
  5. To shelter the homeless
  6. To visit the sick
  7. To bury the dead
• SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY

  1. To admonish the sinner
  2. To instruct the ignorant
  3. To counsel the doubtful
  4. To comfort the sorrowful
  5. To bear wrongs patiently
  6. To forgive all injuries
  7. To pray for living and dead
• When do we fast? - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
• When do we Abstain? - Ash Wednesday, Goods Friday, and All Fridays of Lent