Lent | Church

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ASH WEDNESDAY

John Berney Crome’s Great Gale at Yarmouth on Ash Wednesday invites us into the Lenten season with a story told in the visual language of romanticism. This style of painting often showcased strong emotion through the power and majesty of nature. Ash Wednesday’s second reading calls out with urgency: “now is the acceptable time…now is the day of salvation.” Lent calls us to conversion, and conversion without delay. Ash Wednesday is the day to face our temptations anew with the belief that the wind is not a threat, but perhaps the breath of the Spirit that seeks to drive away all that keeps us from the fullness of life.

FIRST WEEK OF LENT

This scene of the temptation of Christ comes from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a 15th-century book of hours, or personal devotional book created especially for Duke Jean de Berry. The scene is a conflation of the three temptations Jesus experienced in the desert. Our own suffering and pain can lead us to grasp tightly at our own reality, sometimes to the point of tearing our wounds even deeper. Conversion of heart means letting go and trusting in God’s healing love to mend the brokenness of our lives.

SECOND WEEK OF LENT

Lorenzo Lotto’s Transfiguration of Christ is the central panel of a three-part altarpiece created for the church of Santa Maria di Castelnuovo in Recanati. While still in our jumbled and imperfect reality, focus on Christ is our clear way forward. Rather than condemning our mess, Christ meets us in it fully, leading us and the disciples from this mountaintop experience all the way to the cross. Entering our broken reality, Christ shows us that the cross and all that leads to it is real, but death does not have the final word. Listening to Christ as God commands, we find hope and joy in that mystery.

THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Through a contemporary style that pays homage to orthodox icons, Alexey Pismenny depicts the Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree in a composition of three related scenes. The depiction of the fig tree offers us an image of hope. It is no longer the barren fig tree that stands accused. Rather it has already been tended to by Christ - the spade and bucket rest by the trunk of the tree already having been used to bring the tree back to life. This tree is going to live and bear fruit, because Christ has given it life. The composition of these three scenes calls us to conversion, just like the parable told to those hearing the words of Jesus.

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT

Rembrandt van Rijn’s The Return of the Prodigal Son is a famous and celebrated artwork. The older brother’s expression shows us the brokenness and repentance that we see depicted in the physical appearance of the younger brother. Both are aware of their brokenness, and this awareness has cast them down to rock bottom. Both will need the healing, forgiving mercy extended to them by the father. Contemplating Rembrandt’s painting, one has deep compassion for the older brother. He is under the weight of his brokenness yet still stands apart from the loving embrace that would free and heal him. We pray for courage for him and for us too, to step forward into those arms.

FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

Palma il Vecchio’s Christ and the Adulteress invites us into the crowd standing with the Pharisees to hear how Jesus will judge the woman caught in adultery. The woman’s raised eyebrow communicates the sin and hypocrisy present in this story, Christ’s direct gaze at us is the visual depiction of the words: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” His gaze is gentle but honest, firm but encouraging. It is a gaze of truth and life. In this image, the gaze rests not on the woman caught in adultery, but rather on us. Meeting Christ’s gaze is an opportunity for conversion. It is a chance to come into Christ’s truth and life, and to discover once again the dignity and vocation of being God’s beloved.

PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD'S PASSION

Wilhelm Morgner’s Entry of Christ into Jerusalem is an expressionist interpretation of the Gospel scene that leads us into Holy Week. The painting depicts that what Christ is about to accomplish in his Passion is a cosmic reality that transcends time and space. He is Christ yesterday, today, and forever, and the story of his entry into Jerusalem is also the entry into this mystery which continues to govern our reality to this day. The darkness of his form evokes apprehension: we know what is coming on Calvary. As we meditate on Christ’s Passion at the beginning of Holy Week, we face again the Cross and all the violence leading up to it. We enter the Passion with Christ in the hope of accompanying him through the empty tomb as well.

HOLY THURSDAY

This Byzantine mosaic from Venice’s Basilica di San Marco shows Christ washing the feet of the disciples. Jesus stands in the pose of the teacher, as illustrated by his extended hand while he offers his exhortation to Peter. Christ’s other hand demonstrates teaching too, as he is engaged in service, tending to Peter’s foot. The two hands of Christ work together to show how the Gospel is communicated not just in words but also in deeds. Christ’s call to his disciples to do as he has done is a call for every Christian to live as a person ready to bend down to wash feet. On the evening of the Lord’s Supper when we receive the gift of Christ in the Eucharist, we too are all called to be a gift to others, in the ways we can love, serve, and care for them.

GOOD FRIDAY

Andrea Mantegna’s The Dead Christ invites us to contemplate Christ’s broken body and to stand at his feet as his body is laid out in preparation for his entombment. Contemplating this image, we feel the utter exhaustion and emptying of oneself that we read on Christ’s face, and we are faced with the fact that he has given us all he had. The tears remind us of the reason for Christ’s sacrifice: to undo the bondage of sin and ultimately set us free from human suffering. Showing the feet of the dead Christ calls us to recognize the gift of service seen to its ultimate end of laying down one’s life for another. Standing at the feet of Christ, we are exactly where we are called to be.

HOLY SATURDAY

This 14th-century folio from an unknown Armenian manuscript depicts the women at the tomb and Jesus' descent into Limbo. In the broadest sense, the symbolism tells us a deep truth, that the space where Jesus Christ is entombed is sacred space, because this is the place where God has made the impossible possible, conquering Death itself to make way for eternal life. Christ conquers Death not just for himself, but for all of humankind. Christ takes on the role here of the New Adam, the Risen One who is the firstborn of the new creation and who paves the way for all of us to have eternal life.

EASTER SUNDAY

Canterbury Cathedral’s Corona Chapel includes an early 13th-century stained-glass depiction of the Resurrection. As with all stained glass, the role of light is an integral part of the artwork. Light illuminates the coloured glass in the same way God’s divine light illuminates the stories of salvation history to allow these to speak to each generation. Just like stained glass, our lives can only yield their true meaning if seen by God’s divine light. At the centre of the scene, Christ’s disposition is calm, composed, and confident. There is a sense of stability about his figure, a sense of having the final word, a sense of indisputability. This Easter, we are called back to this centre to know and rejoice in Christ’s triumph.

PRAYER FOR A FRUITFUL LENT

My precious and crucified Lord, I offer You this Lent.

I offer it to You with total abandonment and trust.

I offer You my prayers, sacrifices and my very life this day.

Do with me, Lord, as You will.

I pray that this Lent will be fruitful.

I know You have much to say to me and much to do in my life.

May this Lent be a time through which Your mercy is poured in abundance into my soul,

and into the souls of all Your faithful.

Dearest Lord, help me to especially see my sin, this Lent.

Humble me so that I may see clearly.

Give me courage and strength to confess my sins,

and to turn from them with all my heart.

Enlighten me with Your Holy Word, dear Lord.

Help me to come to know You and to deepen the gift of faith in my life.

Show me the plan You have for me,

and place my feet upon the path You have chosen.

Lord, I thank You for the fullness of Your perfect Sacrifice.

I thank You for holding nothing back,

giving Your life to the last drop of blood.

May I offer You my very life as a sacrifice,

trusting in Your mercy with every offering.

Keep me faithful to my Lenten promises,

and bring forth new life through these sacrifices of love.

Strengthen my prayer and make me holy.

Help me to turn to You, each day,

seeking Your sacred and pierced Heart.

Blessed Mother, you stood by your Son in His suffering and death,

stand by me, I pray, as I journey through this life.

Pray for me and offer me to Your Son,

that He may take me into His loving embrace.

Lord, Jesus, Son of the Living God,

have mercy on me a sinner.

Mother Mary, Mother of our Crucified Lord,

pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Amen

ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT - WHAT IS IT?

The blessing of the ashes and the significance of the day: The priest dipping his thumb into ashes (collected from burnt palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday), marks the forehead of each with the sign of the cross, saying the words, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return" or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” By marking the sign of the cross with ashes on the foreheads of her children, the Church gives us:

a firm conviction that a) we are mortal beings, b) our bodies will become dust when buried and ashes if cremated, and c) our life-span is very brief and unpredictable;
a strong warning that we will be eternally punished if we do not repent of our sins and do penance; and
a loving invitation to realize and acknowledge our sinful condition and return to our loving and forgiving God with true repentance as the prodigal son did.

On Ash Wednesday, we are invited to effect a real conversion and renewal of life during the period of Lent by fasting, penance, and reconciliation.

Fasting

“There is joy in the salutary fasting and abstinence of Christians who eat and drink less in order that their minds may be clearer and more receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God's word, which the whole Church announces and meditates upon in each day's liturgy throughout Lent” (Thomas Merton).

Penance and Reconciliation

Lent is a time for forgiveness and reconciliation. It is the model given by Jesus. It was his teaching: “If any one wishes to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” and “Try to enter through the narrow gate.” Penance removes the weakness left by sin in our souls and it makes our prayers more fruitful. By receiving the ashes, we confess that we are sinners in need of the mercy of God, and we ask forgiveness for the various ways in which we have hurt our brothers and sisters. Let us allow the spirit of forgiveness to work its healing influence in our parishes and families.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

We may not be able to pray together in our church, but here is a video, from which you can follow and pray the Stations of the Cross just as we would do in Church. Let us try and do this on Fridays in Lent, but especially on Good Friday.