The Season of Lent
Lent consists of forty-four days. It begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes immediately before the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. At that time, the Sacred Paschal Triduum begins.
The season of Lent aims at preparing us for the celebration of Easter and has a twofold character. First of all, it directs the Christian faithful to recall their own baptism when they rejected the devil and confessed their faith in Christ. They are also asked at this time to engage more deeply in prayer and penance. Secondly, for those who are preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, it serves as a more intense time of preparation as the moment of their baptism draws near.
During Lent, the disciplines of fasting and abstinence from meat apply on Ash Wednesday, and the discipline of abstinence from meat applies on the Fridays of Lent unless a solemnity occurs on those days.
Towards the very end of Lent, we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord when we commemorate his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and read the Passion of the Lord from one of the gospels of either Matthew, Mark, or Luke.
On Thursday of Holy Week, in the morning, the bishop concelebrates the Chrism Mass with his priests and blesses the oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick and consecrates the chrism that will be used throughout the year.
Source: Rev. Kurt Belsole, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, PA
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