Lent with the Catechism |
|
Forty in Scripture and the Catechism
Prayer
Enlighten our minds with your revealed truth and inspire our hearts with your divine love — so that by our courageous witness to your Name here on earth we may come to know your ways better during this lenten period
Amen.
First Sunday of Lent
Forty Is A Symbolic Number in Scripture
Forty Days and Forty Nights
In our first Sunday of Lent with readings of Noah and the flood in the first reading and the temptation of Jesus in the Gospel. The forty days and forty nights of rainfall is symbolic of a period of preparation, akin to the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness before entering the Holy Land and the forty days and nights Christ fasted in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry.
We observe forty days of Lent in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Appropriately, the Flood is recalled in the Blessing of Baptismal Water during the Mass of Easter Vigil: "O God, who by the outpouring of the flood / foreshadowed regeneration, / so that from the mystery of one and the same element of water / would come an end to vice and a beginning of virtue . . ." (CCC 701, 1238)
What is the significance of the number forty (40) in Scripture?
The Lord said to Moses, "Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. (Ex 34:27-28) You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. (Dt 8:2)
When the number forty is used to quantify a period of time, it signifies a period of preparation, trial, or testing that precedes a new beginning or significant event in salvation history; for example, for forty days and forty nights Christ fasted in the wilderness to prepare for the beginning of his public ministry.
Scripture frequently makes use of certain symbolic numbers. Seven, for example, represents perfection, while six signifies imperfection; the number twelve relates to the Twelve Apostles, who in turn relate to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Whenever the number forty is found in Scripture, it relates to a time of trial or testing in order to inaugurate an event of great significance. Some examples:
+ In the story of Noah, God sent rain for forty days and forty nights to destroy a sinful humanity and to wash away the sins of the world, inaugurating a new covenant with man (Gn 7:4)
+ Christ's forty days and nights in the wilderness prepared him to carry out his mission of salvation that would culminate in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. (Cf. CCC 538-539, 566)
+ After his Resurrection Christ appeared to the Apostles over the course of forty days, teaching them and preparing them for their apostolic mission before he ascended to Heaven. (Cf. CCC 659)
+ God led the Israelites in the desert for forty years in order to form them as a people and to prepare them to enter the Promised Land. (Dt 8:2)
+ Moses was on Mount Sinai with God for forty days to receive the Ten Commandments and the Law. (Ex 24:18)
The Church traditionally recognises this symbolic time in the season of Lent, which comprises forty days of prayer, penance, and almsgiving in preparation for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection at Easter. (Cf. CCC 540)
Forty Days and Forty Nights
In our first Sunday of Lent with readings of Noah and the flood in the first reading and the temptation of Jesus in the Gospel. The forty days and forty nights of rainfall is symbolic of a period of preparation, akin to the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness before entering the Holy Land and the forty days and nights Christ fasted in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry.
We observe forty days of Lent in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Appropriately, the Flood is recalled in the Blessing of Baptismal Water during the Mass of Easter Vigil: "O God, who by the outpouring of the flood / foreshadowed regeneration, / so that from the mystery of one and the same element of water / would come an end to vice and a beginning of virtue . . ." (CCC 701, 1238)
What is the significance of the number forty (40) in Scripture?
The Lord said to Moses, "Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. (Ex 34:27-28) You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. (Dt 8:2)
When the number forty is used to quantify a period of time, it signifies a period of preparation, trial, or testing that precedes a new beginning or significant event in salvation history; for example, for forty days and forty nights Christ fasted in the wilderness to prepare for the beginning of his public ministry.
Scripture frequently makes use of certain symbolic numbers. Seven, for example, represents perfection, while six signifies imperfection; the number twelve relates to the Twelve Apostles, who in turn relate to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Whenever the number forty is found in Scripture, it relates to a time of trial or testing in order to inaugurate an event of great significance. Some examples:
+ In the story of Noah, God sent rain for forty days and forty nights to destroy a sinful humanity and to wash away the sins of the world, inaugurating a new covenant with man (Gn 7:4)
+ Christ's forty days and nights in the wilderness prepared him to carry out his mission of salvation that would culminate in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. (Cf. CCC 538-539, 566)
+ After his Resurrection Christ appeared to the Apostles over the course of forty days, teaching them and preparing them for their apostolic mission before he ascended to Heaven. (Cf. CCC 659)
+ God led the Israelites in the desert for forty years in order to form them as a people and to prepare them to enter the Promised Land. (Dt 8:2)
+ Moses was on Mount Sinai with God for forty days to receive the Ten Commandments and the Law. (Ex 24:18)
The Church traditionally recognises this symbolic time in the season of Lent, which comprises forty days of prayer, penance, and almsgiving in preparation for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection at Easter. (Cf. CCC 540)
Vertical Divider
