A Lenten Reflection from Don Bosco Provincial House; 6 March 2025, Talamban, Cebu City
To begin our reflection, allow me to take you back in history as I show you the origins of Lent and how this season in the liturgical year of the Church began.
The term “Lent” comes from the old English word “lencten” which means “Spring” or “Springtime”. It simply reveals the time of the year when Lent takes place, during the spring season when all the flowers start to bloom after a long and cold winter.
The Tagalog and Cebuano terms “Kuwaresma” or “Kwaresma” come from the Latin word “Quadragesima” (the Spanish equivalent is “Cuaresma) which means a period of forty days. It simply indicates the length of time dedicated to this season of preparation for the Paschal Triduum.
Lent as Penitential Preparation for Easter
In the first century of Christianity the only feast that the Church had was the Lord’s glorious resurrection from the dead. It was celebrated every year on Easter Sunday, as well as every week on Sunday. In the second century Christians began to celebrate also the Easter Triduum consisting of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Added to that, they started to extend the Easter celebration to fifty more days up to the celebration of Pentecost. Then in the third century Christians began introducing a period of preparation for Easter. This period was eventually called Quadragesima and it lasted for forty days in proportion to the fifty-day celebration of Easter. While Easter was considered a season of feasting, Lent therefore became a period of fasting.
Now, this forty-day period of fasting is quite tricky because its actual duration varied from place to place. In the churches of the East the forty-day period of fasting actually began eight weeks before Easter but limited only from Monday to Friday. On Sunday and Saturday, fasting was forbidden because Sunday is the Lord’s Day and Saturday was considered to be “the brother of Sunday”. Hence, while the eight weeks of Lent for them had fifty-six days in it, fast days were observed only five times a week for a total of forty days.
On the other hand, in the churches of the West the period of penitential fasting actually began six weeks before Easter with only Sundays as the exception. Hence, six days of fasting for a period of six weeks would make only thirty-six days, not forty. For a time nobody bothered about this. In fact Pope Gregory the Great in one of his homilies gave meaning to this number saying that the Christians are happy to dedicate to the Lord one-tenth of the year or 36 days for penitential fasting. In the seventh century, fasting days were finally adjusted to make a total of forty. And so, four days were added before the first Sunday of Lent. And the result was that the beginning of Lent was pushed earlier to Ash Wednesday. And this has been our practice as Catholics up to this day.
Why Lent Should Have Forty Days
Some of you might ask why the Lenten season has to have forty days in it. Here is why. The number forty takes its inspiration from the Holy Bible. It had been mentioned several times in both the Old and the New Testaments in connection with salvation history. Allow me to mention just a few instances for this matter.
First is the story of Noah and the great flood. You can find this in the book of Genesis. “When the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth… For forty days and forty nights heavy rain poured down on the earth.” (Genesis 7: 10, 12).
In this story the flooding that lasted for forty days was needed to drown and destroy the sinfulness of humankind, so that a new world could emerge. Fast forward to our time… in place of the great flood, we have the waters of Baptism and the tears of Confession. Both are sacraments instituted by Christ in order to wash away our guilt, destroy sin in our lives and raise us to new life in Him, recreated in His image and likeness. This is precisely the focus and objective of this Lenten season.
The second is found in the book of Exodus and it refers to the story of Moses encountering God on Mt Sinai. “But Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up on the mountain. He was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights” (Exodus 24:18).
This verse shows us that upon reaching Mt Sinai, Moses, the leader of the Israelites, stayed for forty days at the summit of the mountain. It was there that he encountered God who liberated them from their slavery in Egypt. It was also there that he received the precious gift of the Ten Commandments. Fast forward to our time… everyday during this forty-day period we are asked to spend some moments of prayerful ME time with the Lord, not only to lift up our petitions, but also to listen to Him and reflect on our lives. Our prayer time should be considered privileged moments to examine how faithful we have been to God’s commands as well as to discern his will and specific plan in our lives.
The third is the story of Jonah who was sent by God to preach repentance in Nineveh. “Jonah began his journey through the city, and when he had gone only a single day’s walk announcing, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown,’ the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” (Jonah 3:4-6).
This passage presents how the Ninevites, after realizing their sinfulness and the impending retribution, suspended all their activities and spent forty days fasting and doing other sorts of penance so that they could be absolved from the punishment they deserved. Fast forward to our time… during Lent we are also called to conversion. We are asked to spend forty days not only of intense prayer, but also of purifying penitence and selfless almsgiving. We do this in reparation for all our sins so that we may be spared from the punishment we deserve. And after forty days we hope we can also rise to new life with Christ on Easter.
The fourth and most important of all is found in the New Testament, particularly in Luke’s gospel, and it refers to the story of Jesus who spent time in the desert before beginning his public ministry. “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days…” (Luke 4:1-2b).
This passage shows us how Jesus before beginning his new mission spent forty days in the desert praying, fasting and fighting victoriously against every temptation from the evil one. Fast forward to our time… During this period of Lent we are also asked to relive that desert experience in our own way by putting aside whatever hinders our encounter with God, such as material things and add-ons that are superfluous as well as activities and places that are spiritually unhealthy. In church we even omit flower decorations leaving the sanctuary bare in order to help recreate that desert atmosphere for our liturgical celebrations. This is to remind us of the Lenten call to live a simple lifestyle, dedicated to prayer, penitence and almsgiving.
The Bible passages above show us the supreme importance and significance of this forty-day period in the life of the Church and of every individual Catholic. May this reflection help in convincing us of the need to prepare ourselves for Easter, to renew our mission of sharing our faith as missionary disciples of Christ, fruit of the Jubilee Year of Hope and extended fruit as well of the 504th anniversary of our Catholic Faith. We pray that this Lenten season may truly be holy, transforming and fruitful for all of us. GiGsss!
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