Catholic Church

Harker Heights, Texas
 

What is Lent?  Click for a link to the Catholic Encyclopedia to find out the origin of Lent.
"Lent is the liturgical season of forty days which begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration of the Paschal Mystery (Easter Triduum). Lent is the primary penitential season in the Church's liturgical year, reflecting the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying." (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Lenten Observances

	Lent starts with Ash Wednesday.  Click  for a link to the Catholic Encyclopedia to find out about Ash Wednesday.
	During the season of Lent, there is a special call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We can fast from negative things in our lives, such as complaints about weather, work, food, and others’ treatment of us. For us, Lent represents a look at our lives and our relationship with God and each other.

Lenten Suggestions Give up bitterness; turn to forgiveness Give up hatred; return good for evil Give up negativism; be positive Give up complaining; be grateful Give up harsh judgments; think kindly thoughts Give up worry; trust Divine Providence Give up discouragement; be full of hope Give up anger; be more patient Give up pettiness; be more mature Give up gloom; enjoy the beauty around you Give up jealousy; pray for trust Give up gossiping; control your thoughts Give up sin; turn to virtue.

Holy week is the week before Easter.  Lent concludes on Holy Thursday.  The following are links to individual documents in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

	for Holy Week
	for Palm (Passion) Sunday
	for Holy Thursday
	for Good Friday
	for Holy Saturday
	for Easter

Easter Vigil is a special Mass.
On this night the Church keeps vigil, waiting for the resurrection of the Lord and celebrating the Sacraments of Christian Initiation.   This beautiful service is divided into four parts. The first - Service of Light - begins with the Church in darkness. There will be the blessing of the new fire to break the darkness of night. The Paschal candle is lit from this fire, and its light is gradually passed to the candles that all those present hold in their hands.
The second part of the service - Liturgy of the Word - then begins. These readings from sacred scripture give an account of the history of salvation, with psalms and prayers that help us meditate on these passages. The Gospel is the high point of this portion of the service, as the Resurrection of the Lord is proclaimed.
The third part of the celebration is the Liturgy of Christian Initiation. We are asked to pray for the elect and candidates who will be received fully into the Church.   The blessing of the baptismal water follows. We all join together in the recital of baptismal promises. The priest then travels through the Church sprinkling the congregation with Holy Water to recall to those present the baptism they have received. After having received the Sacrament of Confirmation, the elect and candidates are now fully welcomed into the Church.
The Celebration of the Eucharist forms the fourth part of the Vigil, and commemorates the Sacrifice of the Cross and the presence of the risen Christ.  The Easter Vigil Liturgy is celebrated in such a way as to offer Christian people the richness of the prayers and rites of the Catholic Church. This is not a service that can be celebrated in haste, but all the rites and words must be given their full force.  It is not a Mass to attend if you are trying to escape the crowds of Easter Sunday. It is instead, an opportunity to learn the symbols and history of our faith as we await the Resurrection of our Lord.

The following are from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

638  "We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this day He has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus (Acts 13:32-33).  The Resurrection of Jesus is the corning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross:
        Christ is risen from the dead!
        Dying, He conquered death;
        To the dead, He has given life. [Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion of Easter]

639 The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D. 56 St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. . ."[1 Cor 15:3-4] The Apostle speaks here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus.[Cf. Acts 9:3-18]

640 "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."[Lk 24:5-6] The first element we encounter in the framework of the Easter events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct proof of Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be explained otherwise.[Cf. Jn 20:13; Mt 28:11-15] Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential sign for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward recognizing the very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first with the holy women, and then with Peter.[Cf. Lk 24:3, 12, 22-23] The disciple "whom Jesus loved" affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered "the linen cloths lying there", "he saw and believed".[Jn 20:2] This suggests that he realized from the empty tomb's condition that the absence of Jesus' body could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus.[Cf Jn 11:44; 20:5-7]

651 "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."[1 Cor 15:14] The Resurrection above all constitutes the confirmation of all Christ's works and teachings. All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by His Resurrection has given the definitive proof of His divine authority, which He had promised.

652 Christ's Resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus Himself during His earthly life.[Cf. Mt 28:6; Mk 16:7; Lk 24:6-7, 26-27, 44-48] The phrase "in accordance with the Scriptures"[Cf. 1 Cor 15:3-4; cf. the Nicene Creed] indicates that Christ's Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.

653 The truth of Jesus' divinity is confirmed by His Resurrection. He had said: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am He."[Jn 8:28] The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that He was truly "I AM", the Son of God and God Himself. So St. Paul could declare to the Jews: "What God promised to the fathers, this He has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.'"[Acts 13:32-34; cf. Ps 2:7] Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is its fulfillment in accordance with God's eternal plan.

654 The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by His death, Christ liberates us from sin; by His Resurrection, He opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."[Rom 6:4; cf. 4:25] Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. [Cf. Eph 2:4-5; 1 Pet 1:3] It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus Himself called His disciples after His Resurrection: "Go and tell My brethren."[Mt 28:10; Jn 20:17] We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in His Resurrection.

655 Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ Himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. . . For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."[1 Cor 15:20-22] The risen Christ lives in the hearts of His faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians "have tasted. . . the powers of the age to come "[Heb 6:5] and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may "live no longer for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised."[2 Cor 5:15; cf. Col 3:1-3]

1170  At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon(14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox.  The reform of the Western calendar, called "gregorian" after Pope Gregory XIII (1582), caused a discrepancy of several days with the Eastern calendar.  Today, the Western and Eastern Churches are seeking an agreement in order once again to celebrate the day of the Lord's Resurrection on a common date.