In Matthew 4:1 Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.
In the seminar we conducted from Feb. 25 and 26, at Teng-ab, Bontoc, Mountain Province, a first timer asked, “Padi, what is Lenten season? What is (the significance) of the 40 days?”
The word Lent denotes the 40 days fast preceding Easter and has been used from the Anglo-Saxon period to translate the more significant Latin term quadragesima (French carême, Italian quaresima, Spanish cuaresma), meaning “40 days”, or more literally the “40th day”.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains the meaning of Lent. “Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading the sacred scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control by fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ’s will more faithfully.
As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs”.
The Broken Guitar Project (BGP) and Lent
The Catholic music ministries of Mountain Province had series of activities to welcome and celebrate the Lenten season.
Music seminars and workshops were conducted to help understand the liturgy on Lenten and Easter season and to add to the current Lenten and Easter songs.
With the theme “We enliven the Lenten and Easter season with music”, the seminar had 60 participants.
For two days, members of the BGP Sagada, which is a new music ministry group, dedicated themselves to teaching the participants until they learn and sing with their hearts.
The participants came from the parishes of Sadanga, Sagada, Sabangan, Bauko, and Bontoc. They expressed their joy and gratitude to the Center of Faith Formation and Integral Evangelization (CFFIE), to the BGP, and to the donors who shared their blessings for the physical nourishment of the participants.
CFFIE is under the leadership of Rev. Fr. William Bilag.
The BGP members can always visit your parishes to meet with your music ministry. Arrange with them and they will teach you. Just let them have their meals and they will be very happy.
Now therefore said the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God.(Joel 2: 12-13)
Before Ash Wednesday, we gathered palm branches used the previous year to be burned, blessed, and to be used during Ash Wednesday.We prayed and were immersed with the biblical quote, “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”.
Lent is a reminder that we don’t strive for holiness to condemn our fellowmen and we don’t earn degrees to discredit God in our successes.
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