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I hope everyone is having a  Blessed  and Happy Lent =)

Happy Lent! It is the season of giving up what we like, a time to go with out. It is a hard thing for most of us to do. Who really wants to give up that candy bars, or pop? And really why would it make a difference to God; Do we really thing that God looks at us and says “You did not give up candy during Lent of 2008, and you ate meat on a Friday, so you can not enter heaven!”

I don’t think so, but that is not what Lent is all about. If we think it is just giving up something we like, then we are missing the point. It is not about not eating candy or drinking a pop. Lent is not a punishment or a diet plan; it is an act of love, an act of total giving. But it should not be looked at as something that is sad, or a bother, but rather, as something that is hard but joyous. Lent offers us a time to reflect and grow in our faith. Lent is the preparation time for the Holy of Holy days, Easter, the day of the Risen Lord.

But to truly understand Lent, let’s look at the days proceeding to the Crucifixion of Christ.

Jesus’ Lent:

So what did Jesus give up, did he decide that he was no longer going to eat meat on Fridays, or no more Coke. I don’t think so. First off Coke was not invented, and secondly, he gave up something greater. We all know he gave His life (and that this is the greatest gift and sacrifice Jesus gave us), but let’s look at what else he gave us, that we may over look.

Jesus gave us his Humility, when he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, a lowly animal, not worth much, not something a great leader would ride on. But he, the king of kings, the son of God, entered the great city as a lowly man, one of no great importance. When have you willingly been humble, when have you allowed yourself to be nothing of great importance? Jesus entered Jerusalem with great fan fare, palms where laid out for him on the ground, and waved them at him as He road pass. He was treated as a King, a King who humbled himself, one who could have road the finest of animals, or even been escorted by many important people. But Jesus sacrificed the greatness, the ceremony and all the praise, for the humility of a donkey.

Jesus gave us his Dignity, when he washed the feet of his friends at the last supper. The act of feet washing was for the servants of the house, not the host or honored guest, and definitely not for the son of God. When have we ever washed the feet of our friends? Jesus became the servant master, the one who served us, even though he is greater then we will ever be. The humility this took was great, such an act of love, so simple yet so grand. To wash the dust from our feet, to wipe them dry, he who would save us all, on his knees to wash our feet from our weary travels. It is our dignity that we hang on to, we are always protecting it from harm, but Jesus free gives of it.

So is a candy bar or a coke really to much to ask? And really are we doing enough? Jesus sacrificed for 40 days in the desert where he had to struggle with hunger, thirst and the temptations of the devil, we have 40 days to lent, in the comfort of our homes and if we slip up and eat something we are not to, really only you and God will know. So really what are we sacrificing? How are we suffering? God asks very little of us, and as humans we respond with very little. Basically we give what we are asked to, nothing more, and nothing less. So Lent is a time to go that extra mile, Lent allows us to experience a tiny bit of Jesus in the desert, or riding the donkey. So the next time you have a friend over, wash their feet, I don’t mean latterly, but you can humble yourself and give of your dignity in many ways, you can learn t to live as a servant master, not only during Lent, but all year long.

So make this a Happy Lent (I think we should send Happy Lent Cards like we do Christmas and Easter)


 
 
 
 
 By Paul Sposite
Op/Ed

I hope you are too Jackie!

Step by step we have to live our Lent outside of the season as well as inside too. :D Learning the lessons from it!

Happy Lent Jacki and all !

Jacki you said it well, our Lenten sacrifices are so small compared to what Christ endured for us.

 :crucifix:

A great Lent to you too Charles!

I love Lent it's my favorite season of the year. Spiritually everything is better in Lent.

Around the world penance and giving up the world for God makes everything.. everything truly better. It's palpable!

Washing friend's feet.. humbling yourself for your friend's sake..

I really like that thought Jacki.

                        The length of the Lenten fast was established in the 4th century as 46 days (40 days, not counting Sundays).

                        Prayer is another common practice for those practicing Lent.   
                        This, along with fasting, helps Christians stay centered in Jesus and God.   
 
                          :littleprayer: :+: :littleprayer: :+: :littleprayer: :+: :littleprayer: :+: :littleprayer: :+: :littleprayer: :+:

Lord, Who throughout these 40 days
for us did fast and pray,
teach us with you to mourn our sins
and close by You to stay.
From hymn in Lenten daytime prayer.

Amen amen amen.  :D :D :D

Jesus was tempted by satan but did not consent and thus His soul was undefiled by sin. Jesus teaches us that temptations can be overcome by the power of the Word of God and by obedience to the Holy Spirit.

I pray that you all have been blessed on this first Sunday of Lent, especially Speramus, and also welcome back, I pray your father is comfortable and content.  On Ash Wednesday, I restarted for the third time this year my efforts with the Divine Office, sometimes it seems Screwtape's uncle is trying to guide me.  I hope you are all much more successful.

Great question, fun to search.  Sadly, there are a lot of instances of the term 'probably' in many texts, stemming at first from the dreadful destruction of Jerusalem, and terrible persecution.  Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem was encouraged by Emperor Constantine's building of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 335.  An early French pilgrim, Egeria, wrote of the local bishop leading a group of about 200 from Gethsemane into Jerusalem on Holy Thursday night.  As Jerusalem was rebuilt, it gradually became more feasible to locate the sites of specific stations along a route that soon was referred to as the Via Dolorosa.  Soon interest developed to duplicate holy sites in Europe, one of the first was a series of connected chapels in Bologna by Bishop St Petronius.  An ancient tradition says our Holy Mother herself walked the route almost every day.
Conquest of Jerusalem and most of the region by Muslims c700 increased interest in Europe about the Way of the Cross, and the first known reference to "stations" is attributed to an English pilgrim in 1462.  St Leonard of Port Maurice became known as Preacher of the Way of the Cross for implementing 572 stations from 1731-1751.  I found lots more that I think is of interest, but it just dawned on me to try a search to see what's already posted here.

I found quite a few good references to the Stations of the Cross, but no history, so here comes a bit more.
In 1342 the Franciscans were given custody of Christian sites in Jerusalem, which improved security and also development/restoration.
1686- Pope Innocent XI authorized Franciscans to install Stations in all their Churches.
1726- Pope Benedict XIII approved Stations for all Christians (private display).
1731- Pope Clement XII approved Stations for all parishes, and set the number of Stations at 14, some locations were reported to have as many as 37.
Thanks again for your great motivation.

I've had a great time looking for the answer to your stained-glass question, but it's eluding me.  [mod edit: no website links please]  I did learn that stain glass was used quite a bit in the fourth century (soon after legalization of Christianity) but then iconoclasts bitterly and violently protested.
Thanks also for your reminder of charity as well as penance.

 
   
 

         

Our parish is holding fairly short viewings and discussions on Sunday evenings of Lent of episodes selected by our priest (and discussion leader) of the series The Chosen, which I had not previously heard of but am enjoying enormously, and recommend enthusiastically, although I admit that the group discussion has added a great deal in helping me recognize a lot of value that on my own I might well have missed.  I can ask Xfinity for it, and up it comes for free.  I understand three seasons are complete and also available in vidoe in stores, and serveral versions are available on Utube.  It is much more than simply another life of Jesus, in successfully showing a good deal of the culture including considerable humor.  I'd be very interested in your reactions and suspect you may hear more about mine.

Only Luke mentions Herod seeing Jesus, I think.

Many thanks for your consistency in these posts.  It is a useful and beneficial review each year, and sometimes more often.

           

Amen to that eschator, there is much to be thankful for to read!  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I'm curious if you have found an explanation of St John's early comment (well before the Last Supper) on the Eucharist that seems comfortable to you.  Perhaps the occasion was so difficult and disturbing to so many of Jesus' followers that the other Evangelists didn't see any benefit in mentioning it early in their Gospels.