The number 40 is found many places in the Bible. During the flood that cleared the earth of bad people, it rained for 40 days. Moses led his flock the Israelis in the desert for 40 years and Jesus was tempted for 40 days. In all cases the 40 was concluded with a new beginning.
Joe M. Govea
After the flood Noah and his family started populating the world again, a new beginning of humanity. The Israelis’ 40 years of wandering in the desert was enough time to rid the people who had been influenced by Egyptian ways and customs. It concluded with a new beginning in the Promised Land.
Lent is 40 days long. During this time many Catholics make a sacrifice by giving up something they enjoy. That’s OK but after 40 days, flop there you are your old self again. You are eating a bunch of chocolate or pounding down beers again.
If we look at lent as a time for setting goals and then when it is over, it will be the start of something new. Lent can be more of achieving than sacrificing or better yet, how about sacrificing to achieve a new beginning.
We can use it as a time for change. We all have faults or weaknesses that need improving. Why don’t we use the 40 days of lent as the time for working on our bad habits. If there is going to be some sacrificing why not be on an attitude adjustment. Yes, a time for improving our selves. We are like doing a spring cleaning of the flesh.
Christ suffered for 40 days without food or water in the desert. The devil tempted him but unlike Adam Jesus did not give in. Jesus did what the first human, Adam, could not do. So Jesus became the new Adam our new Father. After those 40 days in the desert the angels tended to him. Can you imagine forty days without food or water? Makes that chocolate you are giving up for lent look pretty puny.
After Jesus left the desert he began to build his kingdom here on earth. It is, as it is in Heaven. Jesus’s teachings 2000 years later continue to guide us. He preached to the people and taught the Apostles for only 3 years. The most important things we need to help us believe are in the Bible. If they were to have included everything that Jesus said and did while here on earth it would have taken many, many more books.
So the 40 days of lent that conclude with Easter is a time for celebration. We celebrate Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. His resurrection proved him to be the Son of God our Savior. It is the day that God’s Kingdom began here on Earth. We worship our King Jesus Christ, God himself. He will someday live amongst us again here on earth.
Are you preparing yourself to be a worthy member of his kingdom? Lent is the time for you to reboot and make the start of a new beginning. Go to confession ask for Forgiveness partake of the Eucharist.
Ash Wednesday reminds us “you are dust and into dust you shall return”. That means someday we are going to die. So we must make our soul worthy of the next life in a new body Jesus has promised us. We must take control of our lives.
Me, I figure if I can make changes and improve myself during those 40 days of lent. Those sacrificial changes for good achievements will train my mind to take control and be more like Christ.