Significance of season of Lent t Lent is period of 46 days, excluding 6 Sundays, because Sunday is celebration of death and resurrection It is 40 days liturgical season before Easter and ends on Maundy Thursday. It started around 4 th century, middle ages and commences on ash Wednesday and ends with Easter. The period of 40 days and nights is also linked to Moses in preparations to receive the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. It is also related to openness to accompany Jesus being led into wilderness to fast and pray before the start of his mission. Christians in a way intend to replicate hardships felt by Jesus in desert . The connotation of lent being reflection of passion , death resurrection of Christ is not exactly correct focus. Ash .Wednesday depends on Easter and may be earliest on 4th Feb or as late as 10th March. Season of lent is observed by Anglicans, Roman Catholics,Lutherans, Orthodox Catholics, Methodists among others. Ash Wednesday begins with smudge of cross of ash considered medieval ,austere Christian practice. The blessed ash is from previous years palms and not from human bones , discarded religious statues ,as was popularly believed. Catholics rejoice, celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus to waving of palms.
Ash Wednesday is day of repentance ,grief, confession, mourning , reflection of our sins and profess devotion to God. Jesus sacrificed his life because of our sins Fasting is and abstinence is mandatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, though relaxed for those in the age groups of 14 to 60 years, children and elderly and those with special ailments Earlier the fasting used to be on every Friday, Meat and alcohol should be abstained from The bull privilege of rich is discontinued as it had divided the Christians The season of Lent is Christian preparation for Easter, reflection life of Jesus, through prayer , self sacrifice , fasting, moderation of denials of things one enjoys , penance and alms giving. The value of repentance is to attain God`s blessings .Grace cannot be earned, it is gift of righteousness. Christ in the desert endured temptations of Satan and rebuffed him saying that man lives not by bread alone, strengthening thereby fasting as means to attain closeness to God The value of repentance and austerity is visible in old testament where people wore sack clothes and smeared ashes . Christ wants the exercise of penance fasting discretely without vulgar display, obvious announcement of fasting, disfiguring of faces , boasting in an attempt to earn God`s favour. He wished that we appeared normal and somber. The smudge of ash cross on foreheads however temporary is in conflict with this notion Repentance of sins should be daily, continuous effort not confined to 40 days of lent, akin to weeks of celebrations of various purposes What to give up is individual choice may be one a day for 45 days Alms collected are shared with the needy and deserving, Abstain from habits, undesirable thoughts, smoking ,use of drugs social media, denial of things we love. The latest fad of entertainment by way of religious projections is stretching justification by rationalizations. The retreats , recollections are most desirable exercises at this point of time. It should lead to change in our behavior, thinking, and attitudes introspection from within at reformation. We should be the change we desire and it should begin with us Pope Francis advocates meditation on scriptures with emphasis on Micah, Isiah, return to sacrament of confession and welcoming the missionaries of Mercy Nelson Lopes Chinchi