by mtmom

Created on: February 21, 2008   Last Updated: March 22, 2010

"He has been raised; he is not here." (Mark 16:6) This sublime utterance by the angel at the tomb of the crucified Jesus on that glorious morning sums up the meaning of the Lenten and Easter seasons, and expresses the central theme of our Faith and the reason for our hope as Christians. Just as the darkness and death of winter give way to the budding newness of spring, so from the tragedy of the Cross, the miracle of the Resurrection, when Jesus conquered death and gave us all hope, ushers in a season of joy and exuberant celebration.

We prepare for the Easter festivities with the solemn and penitential period of Lent. Shrove Tuesday, also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Mardi Gras was originally intended as a day of feasting, both in anticipation of the mortification of Lent which is to come, and to use up the remaining supply of fat, eggs, and dairy products to ready the home for the rigors of fasting. In contemporary times, the original meaning and purpose of Mardi Gras has often been lost in the "carnival" atmosphere common in certain parts of the country.

"Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." On the following day, Ash Wednesday, the faithful receive ashes on their foreheads as a reminder of penance and the reality of death. The ashes are also a symbol of God's Divine Mercy, which is integral to the understanding of Christ's mission on earth.

The color purple, used for liturgical vestments and decorations during Lent, is symbolic of penance, sacrifice, and celebration. Halfway through Lent, however, as in Advent, the Church changes the vestment color to pink to signify joy at the coming celebration of Easter.

The purpose of our Lenten penances, prayers, and practices is to help us to repent and reform our lives and to lead us to a deeper conversion and love of Christ. Prayer, fasting, and alms giving are the disciplines called for in Lent to facilitate change and growth. It is also a usual practice to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent in anticipation of the Easter celebration. Penance services are common for the faithful during this time.

Holy Week ushers the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, which commemorates the initiation of the Holy Eucharist; Good Friday, the memorial of Jesus' crucifixion and death; and Holy Saturday, a day of solemn meditation awaiting the glorious Easter Sunday.

Pope Benedict XVI, at his April 4, 2007 weekly audience, stated that Easter is "not just a memory, but a current reality." He expressed that the Easter Triduum enacts "the supreme confrontation between light and darkness, between life and death" and that it "invites us to contemplate the mystery of the Cross, to acknowledge our sinfulness and, in faith, to unite ourselves with Jesus in his saving Passover from death to life." In other, less eloquent words, we participate with Christ in the Easter event by our repentance and conversion, by amending our lives and turning to Christ and the gospel.

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