The Irish standard., 1891-02-14
the people. as pEEparatlon for Lent ,t
make their confessions and reconcile

r
From these Fathers and Councils it
will appear how clear is the spirit OF the
Church in exhorting the people to pre-
pare for the Lenten season by going to
confession and receiving the grace OF
God, and to be in the state of grace in
order that their fasting may have merit
before God, for penance and fasting in
the state of sin has no reward before
God. "If have not charity, / am moth
ing" On the care with which we make
this confession depends the fruit of our
penance and fast during Lent, It any
one has the misfortune to be in state
of mortal sin, their works are only g
means of obtaining perfect conversion;
but when they are not in state OF
grace, or of charity, as the Apostle says
their fasting and thier works OF penance
are neither satisfactory nor merit ever.
lasting life. Confession also prepares the
penitent to spend Lent in Christian
manner, to apply the right remedies to
the wounds made in his soul by sin.
Another part of this preparation for
Lent consists in increasing our self de-
NAL making frequent acts of sorrow for
sin, doing good to others, overlooking
the faults of our neighbors. and mo1tify,
ing ourselves. When IN this time oil
penance the Church clothes her affairs
and clergy in mourning, and sings no
more her joyful songs of praises to The
Lord-when she sits amid the signs OF
penance and sorrow, ii we enter not in
her spirit Of penance, the prayers Of her
services are but mockery and hypocrisy
in our mouths. By her sermons and
her grand Liturgy she now invites us
with her to sanctify our HASTINGS and to
prepare for Lent sAs wrestlers exer-
else themselves before the combat, SO
must Christians practice self denial, so
as to prepare themselves for fasting"
From the custom Of past ages we see
that all people prepared for Lent by 60
ing to confession. From the spirit of
the Church in keeping the time of Sep
tuagesilna as season of fasting and as
a preparation for Lent, we sec that the
people should not spend their time in
pleasures, in parties and dances. as they
are accustomed to do in other days, but
in spirit Of penance and fasting as a
preparation for Lent,
We begin the fasting of Lent on We'd
nesday, for the most ancient traditions
of the Church tells us that while our
Lord was born on Sunday, he was bap
tized on Tuesday. and began His fast in
the desert on Wednesday,
The name Ash Wednesday comes from
the ceremony of putting ashes ON the
heads of the clergy and the people on
this day. Let us understand the mean
ing of this rite When man sinned by
eating in the garden the forbidden fruit,
God drove him from Paradise with the
words: "For dust thou art, and unto
dust thou shalt return" Before this sin
Adam was not to die, but IN be carried
into Heaven after certain time of trial
here upon earth. But he sinned, and by
that sin he brought upon himself and
us, his children, death. Our bodies,
then, are to return to the dust from
which God made them, to which they
are condemned by the SIN of Adam.
What wisdom the Church shows us
when she invites us by these ceremonies
to bring before our minds the dust and
corruption of the grave by putting ashes
on our heads.
REASON RELATING TO THE LENTEN SEA
The word Lent, ia the ancient Ian
guages Of northern Europe, means the
Spring fast,< to distinguish it from Ad-
vent, the Fall or Winter fast.
Three things were forbidden to the
Christians in the different ages Of the
Church during Lent: wine, meat and
food. In the first ages, wine was not al
lowed. Abstinence from meat in Lent
is not different from the abstinence COM
manded On other days at the year like
Friday, the ewes Of the great feasts, and
the Quater lenses. Meat is forbidden
because it is the food nearest like our
flesh, and we can easier do without it.
Fasting from food means that we are to
practice self denial by Notifying our
selves. To the Church our Lord left the
power of imposing and of arranging the
feasts each year. For that reason as the
peoples, customs and ways OF the world
change, to them the church accommo~
dates the law OF fasting. For if the
Lord had made it strict law, when he
was On earth, as no power can change
the law Of God, it might have become q
great burden on mankind to keep a
rigorous fast. For these reasons the bis
hoys of the different dioceses into which