6 days Ago By Emilio de Catalina
Meaning. The word kuwaresma comes from the Latin, Quadragesima, a 40-day period also known as the Lenten Season. In the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, it begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the evening of Holy Thursday.
The Easter Triduum is a three-day period, starting on the evening of Holy Thursday and concluding on the evening of Easter Sunday. Kuwaresma is a period of penitential fasting in preparation for Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Biblical basis.
Why 40-day period? There is a biblical basis for this significant number. In the Old Testament, in Noah’s time, the Flood came after 40 days and 40 nights of rain. “And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen.
7:12). In his time, “Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain [Mt. Sinai].
And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights” (Ex.24:18). In Jonah’s time, the prophet “began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown’” (Jon.
3:4). In the New Testament, the most significant of all, in Luke’s Gospel, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry” (Lk.
4:1-2). Significance. On the basis of Luke’s Gospel, kuwaresma is most significant, for it is not only in terms of 40 as number, but also, and above all, in terms of the example of the fasting of Jesus and his triumph over the devil’s three temptations.
First, Jesus was tempted to turn stone into bread, if he is God. Jesus debunked the devil by saying: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt.4:4).
Secondly, Jesus was brought by the devil to the highest point of the temple and tempted to throw himself down, if he is God. Jesus again debunked the devil, saying: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Mt.4:7).
Thirdly, Jesus was brought by the devil to a very high mountain and was shown all the kingdoms of the earth. “All this I will give you,” the devil said, “if you will bow down and worship me” (Mt.4:9).
Again, Jesus debunked the devil: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Mt.4:10). Jesus was tempted three times and defeated the tempter three times.
Jesus’ triumph over the devil is spiritually significant for his disciples/followers all over the world from his time up to this very day. As Jesus triumphed over the devil, those who truly believe in him and seriously keep his commandments will likewise also triumph over the tempter, the devil, in this life on earth. And Jesus still asks his followers to stay close to him, abide by him, in his prayer and fasting, in his passion and death, for in and through him alone will there be resurrection: the spiritual Easter of life.
It is, therefore, important to keep commemorating this event in the life of the Lord Jesus on earth annually. For it is by this that salvation has come. He who despises this event despises the salvific act wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ through shedding his blood.
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