FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 26th JANUARY – 2nd FEBRUARY 2025
Ordinary Time usually starts slowly in St Mungo’s, and this year was no exception. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the end of Christmastide, also marked for us the beginning of the 40 Hours Devotion, which began after the 12 Noon Mass, and continued until 8pm the following Tuesday, with the lights of Christmas being replaced by the lights of the candles adorning the altar for adoration. I was thinking back to the times when 40 Hours literally meant 40 Hours of continuous prayer made before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. No doubt there are still some places that do that, but usually, in these times, the Blessed Sacrament is reposed at night, and the church is closed, mostly for security reasons, and so 40 Hours is perhaps more of a symbolic, rather than an actual period of time. We are reminded of the rains during the time of Noah that lasted 40 days and 40 nights; the Jewish people wandering through the desert for 40 years; Our Lord fasting and praying in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights before beginning his public ministry, the 40 days between the Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension into heaven and, for us as Passionists, we also recall the 40-day retreat that our founder, St Paul of the Cross made, during which he wrote the first Rule and Constitutions of the new Congregation that he was yet to call together and gather companions for. The 40 Hours in St Mungo’s, if we take it from the beginning of the 12 Noon Mass on the Sunday, until 8pm on the Tuesday, lasted 56 hours, but the number of hours the Blessed Sacrament was actually exposed, taking away the repose during Mass times, and the repose through the night, was probably around half of that, but still the number 40 is very important as a symbol for such a sacred time.
On the second day of the 40 Hours, we also celebrated the Feast of St Mungo, patron of our parish, our church, our school, and our city, and so that had to be celebrated with some solemnity and joy, thankfully with the help of the children from St Mungo’s Primary School. So, as you can see, the first few days of Ordinary Time in St Mungo’s were actually quite special, and it was really the Wednesday after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, that we were able to relax into simpler days. We will try and make the most of these simpler days before we begin the Season of Lent on Ash Wednesday 5th March. That’s another number 40 of course, but the 40 days of Lenten fasting are not symbolic, they are quite literal. How so?
There are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. However, since all Sundays are days to celebrate Christ's Resurrection, every Sunday being a little Easter in that sense, Christians were forbidden to fast and do other forms of penance on those days. Therefore, when the Church expanded the period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Easter to 40 days, to mirror Christ's fasting in the desert, Sundays were not included in the count. And so, in order for Lent to include 40 days on which fasting could occur, it had to be expanded to six full weeks (with six days of fasting in each week) plus four extra days—Ash Wednesday and the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday that follow it. Six times six is thirty-six, plus four equals forty. And that's how we get to 40 days of Lent. That’s as I’ve come to understand it anyway, although I’m sure others may think differently.
I’m sorry to be talking about Lent when we are only just moving on from Christmas, but I am fascinated by numbers, and subjects like Maths, Arithmetic and Statistics were the things I enjoyed and excelled at in school. I am also fascinated by words, and loved English at school. Two of my pastime enjoyments perhaps reflect this – I do a lot of Sudoku and Crosswords. Hopefully these innocent mind activities will keep my brain healthy as I get older. And, by the way, from this Saturday 25th January, there are 40 days until Ash Wednesday 5th March.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
Ordinary Time usually starts slowly in St Mungo’s, and this year was no exception. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the end of Christmastide, also marked for us the beginning of the 40 Hours Devotion, which began after the 12 Noon Mass, and continued until 8pm the following Tuesday, with the lights of Christmas being replaced by the lights of the candles adorning the altar for adoration. I was thinking back to the times when 40 Hours literally meant 40 Hours of continuous prayer made before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. No doubt there are still some places that do that, but usually, in these times, the Blessed Sacrament is reposed at night, and the church is closed, mostly for security reasons, and so 40 Hours is perhaps more of a symbolic, rather than an actual period of time. We are reminded of the rains during the time of Noah that lasted 40 days and 40 nights; the Jewish people wandering through the desert for 40 years; Our Lord fasting and praying in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights before beginning his public ministry, the 40 days between the Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension into heaven and, for us as Passionists, we also recall the 40-day retreat that our founder, St Paul of the Cross made, during which he wrote the first Rule and Constitutions of the new Congregation that he was yet to call together and gather companions for. The 40 Hours in St Mungo’s, if we take it from the beginning of the 12 Noon Mass on the Sunday, until 8pm on the Tuesday, lasted 56 hours, but the number of hours the Blessed Sacrament was actually exposed, taking away the repose during Mass times, and the repose through the night, was probably around half of that, but still the number 40 is very important as a symbol for such a sacred time.
On the second day of the 40 Hours, we also celebrated the Feast of St Mungo, patron of our parish, our church, our school, and our city, and so that had to be celebrated with some solemnity and joy, thankfully with the help of the children from St Mungo’s Primary School. So, as you can see, the first few days of Ordinary Time in St Mungo’s were actually quite special, and it was really the Wednesday after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, that we were able to relax into simpler days. We will try and make the most of these simpler days before we begin the Season of Lent on Ash Wednesday 5th March. That’s another number 40 of course, but the 40 days of Lenten fasting are not symbolic, they are quite literal. How so?
There are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. However, since all Sundays are days to celebrate Christ's Resurrection, every Sunday being a little Easter in that sense, Christians were forbidden to fast and do other forms of penance on those days. Therefore, when the Church expanded the period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Easter to 40 days, to mirror Christ's fasting in the desert, Sundays were not included in the count. And so, in order for Lent to include 40 days on which fasting could occur, it had to be expanded to six full weeks (with six days of fasting in each week) plus four extra days—Ash Wednesday and the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday that follow it. Six times six is thirty-six, plus four equals forty. And that's how we get to 40 days of Lent. That’s as I’ve come to understand it anyway, although I’m sure others may think differently.
I’m sorry to be talking about Lent when we are only just moving on from Christmas, but I am fascinated by numbers, and subjects like Maths, Arithmetic and Statistics were the things I enjoyed and excelled at in school. I am also fascinated by words, and loved English at school. Two of my pastime enjoyments perhaps reflect this – I do a lot of Sudoku and Crosswords. Hopefully these innocent mind activities will keep my brain healthy as I get older. And, by the way, from this Saturday 25th January, there are 40 days until Ash Wednesday 5th March.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
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