Lent 2021 - 17 February

Copied from the Roman Catholic Daily Missal, 1962, Angelus Press, pages 162-3:

1. Season of Lent

  Introduced by thee Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima), the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with the death of Jesus in Passion Week.  The struggle between our Lord and Satan ends with the victory of the Savior at Eastertide.  During the period from Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday, the liturgy speaks no more of our greatness but contemplates the misery of fallen humanity, the fatal consequences of original sin and actual sin, and the sacrifice that God asked from the faithful Melchisedech, symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus brings fro the whole of humanity.

  In the period we also prepare for the fasting and penance of the season of Lent.  The season can be recapitulated with the words of the Preface of Lent:

   "Who by this bodily fast dost curb our vices, life our minds, and bestow strength and rewards."  Our souls are slaves of the devil, the flesh, and the world.  Jesus came into the world, not to be crowned king of the Jews, but to deliver us from this threefold bondage and to restore to us the divine life which we had lost.

 The season of Lent ends with Passiontide (from Passion Sunday to Easter.)  The Judica me  and the Gloria Patri  are suppressed because they evoke sentiments of joy.  The Liturgy commemorates the sorrowful events of the last week of Jesus' mortal life.  On Thursday evening, He had the Last Supper with His Apostles, and on the following day He was crucified on Calvary.

  "Who didst establish the salvation of mankind on the tree of the cross, that whence death came thence also life might arise again, and that we, who were overcome by a tree, by a tree might also overcome."

 The struggle between our Lord and Satan ends with the apparent success of Satan on Good Friday.  The priests are robed in vestments of mourning, and the whole Church wears an aspect of sadness.  But by the sacrifice of Himself, the Son of God triumphs and gloriously comes forth from the sepulcher on Easter morning.