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From the Pastor... Preparing for Lent |
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One God, one people, one nation of believers. Three persons in the Trinity. Three days in the tomb. Seven days of creation. Seven lamp stands surrounding the throne of heaven. Twelve tribes of Israel, stars around the head of the Blessed Mother, Apostles around the table of the Lord, foundation stones of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Numbers are crucial in the symbology of Scripture and are meant to convey meaning and offer foundation teaching the faith to future generations. Threes and sevens, twelves and many others throughout the books the Bible convey a totality and completeness. Each them speaks of nothing being left out, but rather all things taken together and made one. This Wednesday we begin the Season of Lent, forty days of our preparation toward the fulfillment of life in the Resurrection of Christ on Easter. Forty years depicted the lifetime of an entire generation. Forty years was the length of time the people of Israel wandered until they were admitted to the Promised Land, (a full generation!). Forty is the number of days Christ himself spends in the desert being tempted by the Devil and assisted by the Angels. Jesus is fully prepared at the end of this time begin His ministry in earnest and to step forward in full trust of the Lord God’s will for Him. And remember the Forty Hours devotions? Prayed in to help prepare our hearts to fully appreciate Christ and His sacrificial offering? The forty days ahead of us is a wonderful time take inventory of our faith life and begin again to live more fully all that we believe Christ does for us. His offering of life for eternity is a gift that is up to us to accept. No grace will be forced upon the closed hearted, but grace can be fully bestowed upon anyone who is the slightest bit open to the power of the Spirit in their lives. For the astute reader among us, who will sit with calendar and count the days before us, one must remember that from Ash Wednesday to the First Sunday of Lent is considered prep time for the 40 days and therefore outside of the official counting. The Sundays of Lent are also seen by many to be “Little Easters” and therefore not counted, and the days of the Sacred Triduum, from Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday, are their own “season”. These days are offered for us to take advantage every resource we can come upon. Added prayer, Mass attendance, daily sacrifices of some sort are just the beginning. Each thing we “do” should be intended only for one thing—to appreciate more fully the sacrifice and offering that Christ has already given and the gift of life already won. We earn nothing, really, but rather accept what can already be ours. |
