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brian
Member
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Chicago South Burbs, Illinois USA |
| Posts: | 746 |
| First Name: | brian | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | methodist, evangelical, anglican, catholic |
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Posted: Tue Feb 27th, 2007 02:20 am |
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The 40 days in the Wilderness was in the first year of Jesus' ministry right after his baptism. The Last Supper was obviously his last year of ministry. Why did the church liturgically bring these two events together?
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue Feb 27th, 2007 02:30 am |
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brian wrote: The 40 days in the Wilderness was in the first year of Jesus' ministry right after his baptism. The Last Supper was obviously his last year of ministry. Why did the church liturgically bring these two events together?
Lent is a time of preparation. Catechumens prepare for baptism, candidates for full communion prepare for acceptance into the Church, farmers prepare for spring planting, and we all prepare to mourn and praise the death and resurrection of our Savior.
The number 40 is significant throughout scripture. Moses and the Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years. Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days. Both events were preparation: The Jews for entry into the Promised Land, and Jesus for his public ministry.
Jesus lived for about 33 years, and the last 3 years were public ministry. If we did everything chronologically, we could only have Christmas and Easter once every 33 years! In fact, we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation on March 25th, exactly nine months before Christmas, and right in the middle of Lent. We are preparing for Jesus' birth at the same time we are preparing for his death and resurrection. And we celebrate Mary's Assumption into Heaven several months later, on August 15th. We celebrate her Immaculate Conception on December 8th, less than three weeks before we celebrate her giving birth to our Savior. Obviously, those events (her conception and her delivery) didn't take place only a couple of weeks apart.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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