Our journey to Easter Sunday begins with Mardi Gras, a long-standing tradition of the Catholic Church, although more secularized today than was its original intent.
In earlier days, since Catholics didn’t want to be tempted during Lent by sweets, meat and other distractions in the house, they cleaned out their cabinets. They used up all the sugar and yeast in sweet breads before the Lent season started, and fixed meals with all the meat available. It was a great feast!
Today Mardi Gras – “Fat Tuesday” or “Shrove Tuesday,” as it is called by some – is celebrated as the last day to “eat, drink and make merry” before Lent begins the following day.
Ash Wednesday begins The Season of Lent, a period of prayer, penance, reflection, and fasting that prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. On this day our foreheads are marked with ashes symbolizing fragility and mortality and the need to be redeemed by God’s mercy.
The distribution of ashes is an age-old ceremony in which Christians who had committed grave faults performed public penance. On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of penance, and sprinkled ashes over them. Later, all Christians, came to receive ashes out of devotion.
The Lenten season – the 40 day period, excluding Sundays, before Easter – has its roots in scripture. 40 is the traditional number of judgment and spiritual testing in the Biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Jonah. It also bears particular relationship to the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert before entering into his public ministry.
The three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence and Fridays are obligatory days of abstinence. It is common practice to “give up” (or fast from) something for Lent. However, instead of or in addition to fasting during Lent, some add a spiritual exercise or discipline to their life such as joining a Bible study group or participate in an act of kindness such as feeding people at a homeless shelter. Other acts of charity and almsgiving are also encouraged as we prepare our hearts for the celebration of the resurrection.
As we continue our journey to Easter, we arrive at Palm Sunday (also known as Passion Sunday), the beginning of Holy Week. On this day we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem by processing into the church with our palms. This day is called Palm Sunday because of the palm branches that were laid on the road as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem. The name Passion Sunday refers to the reading of the Passion this Sunday.
The final three days of Lent are known as the Paschal Triduum. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper is held on Holy Thursday, celebrated in the evening because Passover began at sundown. The worth that God ascribes to the humility of service is remembered by the washing of feet as Jesus did for his disciples. When the Mass ends, the consecrated Host in the monstrance is carried in solemn procession to the “Altar of Repose” remaining ‘entombed’ until the communion service on Good Friday. Finally, there is the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament by the people during the night, just as the disciples stayed with the Lord during His agony on the Mount of Olives before the betrayal by Judas.
On Good Friday, the focus is on the cross, beginning mid-afternoon with the Stations. The Church is stripped of its ornaments, the altar bare, and the door of the empty tabernacle stands open – as if in mourning. During the evening service (no Mass is celebrated this day), we venerate the large cross held at the foot of the altar by touching, kissing, and/or kneeling before it. The Passion is read and we receive the pre-consecrated host.
Although celebrated Holy Saturday evening, it is the dramatic Easter vigil liturgy that marks the beginning of Easter. The service begins outside the church. A new fire is lit and blessed and a Paschal Candle symbolizing Christ, the Light of the World is prepared. The candle is processed through the church; everyone lights their candle from the Easter candle and continue in procession until the whole church is alight. Seven Old Testament readings helping us meditate on the wonderful works of God for his people since the beginning of time are read. The Easter water is blessed, new members are brought into the Church through baptism, the Litany of the Saints is sung, followed by a blessing with water and renewal of baptismal vows. The Mass continues and ends with the glorious “The Mass is ended, go in peace, alleluia, alleluia – Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia.”