OCR Text |
Show -4- -r . 4 . : ILSQOTIMS F L38T. : 9- H What is Demanded of Catholics During This Holy Season. h (Written. Specially for The Intermountain Catholic.) fj i Lent! The word is Teutonic, and in German moans the spring Lenz! Webster gives the word as probable from A-S. lenegan, to lengthen, as the daya at this time lengthen. In the Church the season. of Lent is called "Jejunium, guadragesimale," which means the fast of forty days. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. From that day to Easter the forty days, known as the Lenten fast, Sunday excluded, are completed. The name Ash Wednesday had its origin from the custom observed in the Ancient An-cient Church, of penetents expressing thi-ir humiliation, by appearing in sack j coth and ashes; also, from the public services equally ancient of blessing ashes on that day, and sprinkling the same on the heads of its members, and repeating the words, "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return." By many Fathers of the Church Ash Wodnnsday was termed "Capuet Je-junn," Je-junn," which signifies the beginning of the fast; also, "dies cinerum," meaning ash day. The discipline usvd toward penitents during Lent, accord- i nig eo uranan, amerca irom mat user at other times, for on Ash Wednesday Wednes-day they wen; presented to the Bishop, clothed in sack cloth, who sprinkled them with holy water, and afterward with ashes. Then the seven penitential peniten-tial psalms were sung. The fast prescribed for this season begins with the first day, and lasts till Easter Sunday. It was instituted by St. Peter, the first Pope and Bishop of Rome. Mention of the religious observances ob-servances to be carried out during the I Lenten Season is made in all the early councils and by ecclesiastical writers of every century, up to the first. To question its antiquity would be to cast doubt on the oldest monuments of religious re-ligious discipline, enacted by the Apostles Apos-tles and their immediate successors. -V Forty days' fast antedates the Chris- tian ordinance. Moses fasted for forty days on the mount, Exod. xxiv., xxxiv., 2S. So did Elias fast for a period of forty days, III Kings, xix., S; and our Blessed Lord fasted Tor .forty days in the desert. Math, iv., Luke ix. Inspired by such illustrious examples, the Church has, down through the centuries, centu-ries, legislated on the discipline, ordinances ordi-nances and fasts that were to be carried car-ried out and observed. $ ? - To the observant mind the Catholic Church, by her discipline and liturgy, not only impresses, but teaches more I forcibly than by words. In Lent the ! altars stripped of flowers and ornaments, orna-ments, her ministers vested in purple robes, tell of the penetential jisason. The "Gloria in Exeelsis." the Joyous Song of the Angels, is not said by the pritst at Mass. It is replaced by the words, "Humble your heads before the Lord"; also, "Let us bend our knees," which proclaim Lent as a seaaan of penance, when all should humble . themselves before God, and bend the knees in prayer. In all these prescribed ceremonies is a fund of knowledge to 1 I inv inu-nigciu woiMiiper. in uviiuei . knees, and prostrate on the earth, he , proclaims his physical and mental weakness; his shame for sin, not even ! daring to lift his eyes heavenward; and following the example of the Good Master, who descended from heaven and prostrated Himself on the ground, when praying in the Garden of Olives. $ i In this diocese the Lenten exercises consist of the usual Sunday devotions, also Wednesdays and Fridays are days of special devotions. On Wednesday, devout Catholics assemble in their I churches in the evenings when the : Rosary is recited, and Benediction of J the Blessed Sacrament given. On Fridays Fri-days the Way of the Cross and Benediction. Bene-diction. Instructions are given each day. For further information we direct I attention to the Lenten regulations published in this issue. ! |