Lent

“ Oh my friends, of all the sins of which we have to repent in this time of Lent, none ought to give us more solemn and bitter thoughts of shame than the way in which we overlook the teaching of God’s Spirit, and shut our eyes to His light, times without number, every day of our lives. ”

“ A chopped missionary or two may keep up the thin idea of Lent and the wilderness; but what standing evidence have you of the Nativity?—'tis our rosy-cheeked, homestalled divines, whose faces shine to the tune of unto us a child; faces fragrant with the mince-pies of half a century, that alone can authenticate the cheerful mystery—I feel. ”

“ A Lent of prayer and fasting, with dramatic repetition of the betrayal and crucifixion of the Blessed One, may merely bring with it suggestions of devotion and gratitude. But far more important would be a Lent of study of the deep meaning of his words and works. It makes one sick at heart to think of the formal rehearsal of great events by those who have no understanding of their true significance, and can therefore claim but a small part in their real benefit. ”

“ It is all very well to say, I confess and repent of my sins daily, why should I do it especially in Lent? Very true—Let us see, then, by your altered life and conduct that you have repented during this Lent, and then it will be time to talk of repenting every day after Lent. But, in fact, a man might just as well argue, I say my prayers every day, and God hears them, why should I say them more on Sundays than any other day? ”

“ This occupies [103] the mind during Holy Week. The aim of Lent is not to move the faithful to dwell upon the passion of Christ, but only to prepare them for keeping Easter worthily through fasting, penance, and abstinence. The liturgical prayers in Lent contain no reference to the Redeemer’s sufferings, but speak of fasting and mortification alone. It is the same with the Epistles and Gospels. On Palm Sunday for the first time, our thoughts are directed to the Passion in the collect for the day, while in the prayers for the so-called Passion Sunday it is not mentioned. ”

“ Next Wednesday is Ash-Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the season which our forefathers have appointed for us to consider and mend our ways, and return, year by year, heart and soul to that Lord and Heavenly Father from whom we are daily wandering. Now, we all know that we ought to have repented long ago; we all know that, sinning in many things daily, as we do, we ought all to repent daily. ”

“ This time of Lent is marked by three distinctive features: (1) it is a period for serious reflection on death and its issues, joined, consequently, with prayer and works of mortification in imitation of our Saviour’s fast of forty days in the desert; (2) it is a time especially adapted to repentance and amendment of life, as in ancient days it was the season when the Cathechumens and penitents prepared for Baptism and absolution; (3) it is a prolonged vigil, fitting us to celebrate worthily the great week of the passion and the Feast of feasts of the Resurrection. ”

“ The meaning and the spirit of the Great Lent find their first and most important expression in worship. Not only individuals but the whole Church acquires a penitential spirit, and the beautiful Lenten services more than anything else help us to deepen our spiritual vision, to reconsider our life in the light of the Orthodox teaching about man. ”

“ Lent is a time of several weeks which for ages has been set apart among Christians for a period of more than usual seriousness. As observed in our Church, it is a time marked out from the rest of the year as more especially devoted to the contemplation of those vital truths on which our Christian religion is founded. To be brief, Lenten time with us is Passion time. Passion, in simple English, means suffering, more particularly, the suffering of Christ. ”

“ The holy seasons appointed by the Church will generally be found to date their rise from some circumstance in the life of our Lord, some event in Scripture history, or a desire to keep in remembrance the virtues and piety of the saints who adorned the early Church. But the origin of the season of Lent is not so obvious, though it is usually supposed that Lent is observed in commemoration of our Saviour’s temptation and fasting of forty days in the wilderness. ”

“ The Forty Days of Lent are ordained in imitation of the forty days' fast of Jesus Christ, in remembrance of His bitter Passion and Death, and that we may worthily prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter. The Ember Days are ordained that the faithful may thank God for the blessings they have received in each quarter of the year ”

“ The forms of observance were almost wholly heathen. Easter eggs, dyed, and “hot cross-buns,” figured in the Chaldean Easter, as they have done in the Christian. The Hindus, and Chinese, and Egyptians had a sacred egg, the history of which can be traced to the Euphrates and the worship of Astarte.
Lent.
Lent has been given some appearance of having a Christian origin by the assumption, for which there is not a shadow of scriptural, or even apostolic authority, that it is the counterpart of Christ’s fast of forty days. But the history of Lent shows unmistakably its pagan origin. ”

“ How shall we keep the holy season of Lent with advantage? We should endeavor not only to deny ourselves food and drink, but, still more, all sinful gratifications. And as the body is weakened by fasting, the soul, on the other hand, should be strengthened by repeated prayers, by frequent reception of the holy sacraments, attending Mass, spiritual reading, and good works, particularly those of charity. ”

“ I hope you will be able to come also during Lent, although we are told that at that time God wishes us to mortify our senses. Is it not strange that there is a time during which God wants us to amuse ourselves almost to frenzy, and another during which, in order to please Him, we must live in complete abstinence? ”

“ In your churches, where they seem to observe the period of Christ's suffering, it is only a form. They go through their vain repetition of prayers, that have no soul in them, and your six weeks of so-called Lent is only a mockery of its real significance. ”

“ Let us manfully conquer all our repugnances to the works of penance enjoined by Holy Church; for every act of self-denial and mortification of sensuality will open avenues of true spiritual joy to the soul. {345} Let us pass through this holy season with sincerity and confidence, practising all its requirements, that it may be said of us also, "Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning on her beloved?" For only those who take part in the penances of Lent can share in the joys of Easter. ”

“ Therefore it is the intention of the Church that we should every year contemplate with her the life of Christ from its beginning to its end. In Advent we should, by repentance and longing expectation, prepare the way for the coming of our Redeemer into our hearts; in Lent we should, by penance and mortification, participate in His sufferings, die to sin, and spiritually rise with Him to a new life at Easter. ”

“ Love's work is done? The battle won? Not in our world it isn't, far from it. We'd better postpone Easter till better times are come. Lent has meaning now, one long unswerving Lent, with discipline and hard work. ”

“ And they did well when they came to our aid and established for us the practice of this Lenten fast. This is clear because, if we keep shouting and proclaiming a fast the whole year through, no one listens to what we say. But as soon as the season of Lent draws near, even the laziest of men rouses himself, even though no one counsels or advises him. ”

“ They contain many new thoughts, and the subjects dealt with are treated in new ways. The subjects chosen for Ash Wednesday, the Sundays in Lent, Good Friday, Easter Eve and Easter Day, are singularly appropriate, viz.: "Self-Denial," "Conflict," "Help," "Perseverance," "Relief," "Sacrifice." "Triumph," "Suffering," "The Body of Jesus," "The Conqueror of the Grave."
Many of the thoughts are illustrated by similes and anecdotes very touching and appropriate.
It will be difficult to find Lenten Sermons better suited to country congregations and to others who appreciate plain teaching. ”

“ The Lenten fast does not embrace all the days included between Ash Wednesday and Easter, for the Sundays are so many days above the number of forty. They are excluded, because the Lord’s day is always held as a festival, and never as a fast. These six Sundays are, therefore, called Sundays in Lent, not Sundays of Lent. They are in the midst of it, but do not form part of it. On them we continue, without interruption, to celebrate our Saviour’s resurrection. ”

“ The Fast of the early Christians during Lent was an entire abstinence until evening, on the Friday, until three o'clock; unused as we for the most part are to any such discipline, many of us would at the first not be well able to endure it; at all events its introduction had best be gradual: the Church has left the mode of observing her Fasts free to the conscience of each, only let them consist in real self-denial, and be accompanied by charity and prayer. ”

“ It is also good to read a few Psalms—in connection with prayer or separately. Nowhere else can we find such concentration of true repentance, of thirst for communion with God, of desire to permeate the whole of life with religion. Finally, a religious book: Lives of the Saints, History of the Church, Orthodox Spirituality, etc. is a "must" while we are in Lent. It takes us from our daily life to a higher level of interests, it feeds us with ideas and facts which are usually absent from our "practical" and "efficient" world. ”

“ The prayers of the Masses both for Sundays and week-days, for by far the greater part, are still identical with those of the Gregorian Sacramentary, while the lections from Scripture are in some instances much older. The Gospel for the First Sunday in Lent, which narrates the fast of Jesus and His temptation by the devil, was read on this day already in the time of Leo the Great. ”

“ Such a great grace is the one which, in spite of our unworthiness, ingratitude, and folly, is now once more offered to us by our Father in heaven, who does not follow the rules by which an earthly benefactor would be guided. This season of Lent on which we are entering is one of the great helps, the great opportunities which he gives us to reach that country where he awaits our coming. ”

“ A Course of very beautiful and striking Lent Addresses or Readings (Judas—Peter—Caiaphas—Pontius Pilate—Herod—Barabbas) , together with two special additional Sermons, viz.: "The Meaning of the Cross," for Good Friday, and "Christ's Resurrection," for Easter.
Bishop Clark writes: "The characters stand before us with wondrous vividness.... I wish that these discourses might be read in every Parish during Lent, for they have touched me more deeply than any sermons I have ever read. They must appeal to the young, as well as to the mature mind." ”

“ The time of Advent, according to the Church, is a time of penance, not so great as Lent, but the spirit should be the same. Every morning, if possible, attend Mass in honor of the coming of Christ, and on Fridays impose a slight penance on yourself. ”

“ And he advised us to make particular use of Lent by going right in the face of any habits that were getting a mastery over us—for yielding in one thing would be yielding in all, and every time one is beaten, one gets weaker. ”

“ We doubt not, Venerable Brethren, but that it is well known to all those who profess the Catholic Religion, that the fast of Lent has always been looked upon as one principal point of orthodox discipline throughout the Christian world. This fast was of old prefigured in the law and in the prophets, and consecrated by the example of our Lord Jesus Christ; it was delivered to us by the apostles, everywhere ordained by the sacred canons, and retained and observed by the whole Church from her very beginning. As we are daily offending God by sin, in this common penance we find a remedy ”

“ Whence it is natural to conclude, that the pretence of keeping Lent only by a change of diet from flesh to fish, is but a mock fast, and an innovation utterly unknown to the ancients, whose Lent fast was a strict and rigorous abstinence from all food till the evening. ”

“ The true spiritual fasting, which consists in turning our eyes and hearts from the engrossing cares and pleasures of earth and fixing them on things divine, is lost sight of. Our "forty days" are not like our Lord's, given to prayer and the study of God's Word. Nothing could make the period of Lent so much of a reality as to employ it in a systematic effort to fix the mind on Jesus. The history in the Gospels is so well worn that it often slips through the head without affecting the heart. ”

“ The chief festivals are usually preceded by a time of preparation, consisting in many cases of only a single day, the vigil, but the preparation for Easter extends over nine weeks, and is composed of two parts, Lent, [89] the more immediate preparation, and the three preceding Sundays, as a more distant and merely liturgical preparation.
In Lent, it is the fast which plays the chief part, and presents itself as the essential feature of the whole time of preparation. ”

“ The devotions of the Lenten Fast are intimately connected with Easter which it precedes and are intended to prepare the mind and heart for the devout celebration of the "Queen of Festivals" and for the Easter Communion. Lent being a penitential season the ecclesiastical color is purple or violet. The Benedicite takes the place of the Te Deum and the Ash Wednesday Collect is used every day throughout the Season. ”

“ As we approach then, dearly-beloved, the beginning of Lent, which is a time for the more careful serving of the Lord, because we are, as it were, entering on a kind of contest in good works, let us prepare our souls for fighting with temptations, and understand that the more zealous we are for our salvation, the more determined must be the assaults of our opponents. ”