JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM
WELCOME
Welcome to Lent.
The “season” of Lent has ancient Apostolic roots. The writings of St. Athanasius, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and St. Cyril of Jerusalem give us a glimpse at a “retreat-like” preparation for non-Christians who were to be Baptized and
fully initiated into the Church at Easter. By the close of the 4th century, Lent was an established liturgical season— a sacred time of inner pilgrimage mirroring the 40-day journeys of Noah, Moses, and Christ himself.
While popularly understood as a time where we “give up” our favorite things, Lent is much more than abstinence from soda, snacks, or sweets. Lent is a time of inner transformation. You might say the outward expressions of penance and fasting are meant to erupt from the inner breakthroughs in our relationship with Christ.
Nowhere else is this more poetically prayed than in the Lenten Preface I as we pray, “Each year you give us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed ... As we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ, you bring the image of your Son to perfection within us.”
Yes, welcome to Lent.
Lent is a time where our “mind and heart are renewed.”
Lent is a time where we experience a “new life in Christ.”
Lent is a time where the Father brings “the image of the Son to perfection within us.”
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