Page 10 - Unity Edn 42

Lent

Lent is an old English word meaning If we try to give up sin, and what is called
'Springtime'. In England it is a time for the occasions of sin, that would be a great
cleaning the house. demonstration of the love we have for our
God.
But Lent in Catholic terms means a time
when we take stock of our spiritual state in
preparation for the coming of Easter.

Lent lasts forty days, and marks the forty I asked Jesus
days Jesus spent in the desert preparing for
His death by crucifixion, and His rising from
the dead at Easter. "How much do you love me?"

The ashes we use "This much"
on Ash Wednesday
reminds us that
we came from He answered.
dust and will one
day return to dust;
a very sobering And then He stretched
thought. They are
also a symbol of
repentance. The out His arms
significant thing
about having the
ashes on our foreheads is to show others and
that we are Christians and that we witness
for Christ, the Christ who loves us so much
He died for us. We also fast on this day and died.
of course on Good Friday.

We don't eat meat on the Fridays of Lent.
You might say that in this day and age it is no
great sacrifice to not eat meat for a day. But
I guarantee that Fridays in Lent are the one
day a Big Mac is most appealing! Dcn . Tony Cunningham

10 Catholic Community of the Northern Territory, Diocese of Darwin