Lent is the forty days before Easter Sunday, during which we do penance, fast and pray to prepare ourselves for the resurrection of Our Lord (Baltimore Catechism, Book 3, #807).
It also reminds us of His own fast of forty days before His Passion. By the solemn forty days of Lent, the Church unites herself each year to Jesus in the desert. During His temptation, He reveals His Messianic way which is very contrary to the way Satan proposes to Him and the way men wish to attribute to Him (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #540).
The Church, in Advent, in Lent, and in Easter seasons, re-reads, re-lives, and re-presents Christ prefigured in various ways in the Old Testament through the Liturgy that reveals Him and enables us to live in Him. The New Testament unveils Jesus Christ hidden under the Old Testament. It is called "typology" because it reveals the person of Jesus on the basis of the "figures" or "types" which announces Him in deeds, words, and symbols of the Old Testament. (CCC #1094-1095).
So, in the seasons and days of Penance in the course of Liturgical Year like in Lenten and in each Friday commemorate the Passion of the Lord. These are also the intense moments of the Church's penitential practice. These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of Penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and charitable works (CCC #1438).
What do we mean by fast-days?—By fast-days we mean days on which we are allowed but one full meal (Baltimore Catechism, Book 3, #1337).
What do we mean by “almsgiving”?—By almsgiving we mean money, goods, or assistance given to the poor or to charitable purposes. The law of God requires all persons to give alms in proportion to their means (Baltimore Catechism, Book 3, #808)
What is prayer?—it is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God, to adore Him, to thank Him for His benefits, to ask His forgiveness, and to beg of Him all the graces we need whether for soul or body (Baltimore Catechism, Book 3, # 1099).
What's the purpose of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving?—they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins, remissions of penalty, acquiring God's graces, mortifying the body from sins, growth in virtues, and satisfying God's justice (see Baltimore Catechism, Book 3, #1098, CCC #1434, #2462, #1438).
Article by: Bro Joseph A. Flores, Jr. (CFD Bohol)