One of Christian ways is having a Lenten season. What is Lenten season? The word “Lent” actually means “fast”. Lenten season is a time for soul-searching, repentance and a forty-day season of preparation for Easter. It is always begins on a Wednesday, called Ash Wednesday. Why is it 40 days? Jesus fasted and was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. This is our time of fasting, prayer, temptation and repentance. Lent is not required anywhere in scriptures, but it has been a custom, which Christians have practiced for most of the last two thousand years.
During Lent we follow Jesus from his adult ministry through his suffering during Holy Week and his crucifixion and death on Good Friday. And we read the Psalms that foretell what would happen during that week.
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, also called Sunday of the Passion, and continues through Holy Thursday (when Holy Communion was instituted at the Last Supper) and Good Friday, when Jesus was tried, crucified, and buried.
The Last Supper was celebrated during the Feast of the Passover, which is calculated on the phases of the moon, Easter is called a movable feast. Lent is scheduled backwards from Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. The forty days of fasting and penitence during Lent do not include Sundays. Christians always celebrate Sunday as the day Jesus rose from the dead, so it is never a day of fasting.
During Lent we follow Jesus from his adult ministry through his suffering during Holy Week and his crucifixion and death on Good Friday. And we read the Psalms that foretell what would happen during that week.
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, also called Sunday of the Passion, and continues through Holy Thursday (when Holy Communion was instituted at the Last Supper) and Good Friday, when Jesus was tried, crucified, and buried.
The Last Supper was celebrated during the Feast of the Passover, which is calculated on the phases of the moon, Easter is called a movable feast. Lent is scheduled backwards from Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. The forty days of fasting and penitence during Lent do not include Sundays. Christians always celebrate Sunday as the day Jesus rose from the dead, so it is never a day of fasting.
