Cuaresma

Ash Wednesday today begins the 40 days of Lent, our cuaresma or an already forgotten word, cuarentena which also refers to Lent the period or space of 40 days before Easter Sunday. The word quarantine which we now use to mean segregate or separate comes from this root. The popular word cuaresma is drawn from the Latin word quadragesima.

This day is apparent with the change of the vestment of the priest during Mass – he wears violet. The church is also stripped of flowers and other ostentatious decorations. Some just use ordinary non-flowering plants as decorations although most simply remove them altogether. Images are also covered or wrapped with violet. The altar cloth is also violet.

This tradition is intended to remind the faithful of the meaning of the commemoration of Lent which is the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. This commemoration is marked by fasting, abstinence or self-denial, penance, repentance and reflections and acts of charity or alms-giving.

Cuaresma begins with the imposition today of the ashes made from burned palm leaves that were blessed the previous year during Palm Sunday or the popularly called Domingo de Ramos, the Sunday that opens the Holy Week.

In the past people just go to church for the ashes but now they must attend the Mass since the imposition is done after the Eucharist.

The imposition of the ashes is an ancient tradition and had been observed to appease God as an act or expression of contrition and penance even before the coming of Christ. We find instances in the Old Testament of this act of penance when people sat on ashes and wore sackcloth. In fact kings and princes were asked by prophets to do this when they believe that God had been offended by their sins to avert God’s wrath.

The message and meaning of the ashes remains to this day. When the priest or a deacon or a lay minister who are now given the faculty to impose the ashes, place the ashes on the forehead, he says, “Remember man that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We now use this English or Hiligaynon instead of the olden tradition using Latin.

To receive the ashes is an act of humility and indeed a reminder of our being dust. The word “humility” and “human” have the same root “humus” which mans earth or soil. If we are cremated we become ashes in one hour or if buried we slowly turn in organic soil. So from earth we came and to earth we return though some people think they will live forever and so forget about God. Lent is an opportunity for us to remember our humanity, our being humus.

Self-denial is perhaps the most difficult for man to comply because this restricts his lifestyle. Fasting, for instance, has been relaxed to accommodate modern man. In the past, people follow the tradition of dry fasting – total avoidance of food for 24 hours and eating only with bread and water, like your sandwich without palaman or burger without meat or dressing – no drinks.

It used to be that Christians refrain from meat every Friday but maybe the cattle producers had a strong lobby so meat is eaten any Friday of the year except the Fridays of Lent.

During the earliest days of Christianity there were controversies among the leaders of the Church not because of the fast itself but how it should be observed. They agreed that fasting is an apostolic tradition in preparation for the commemoration of Easter but not on the manner of observation.

Through the centuries and depending on the situation of the Churches in the West and in the East, the observance had varied. Even here in the Philippines we also went through a period of changes.

One weakness in our observance is that some “forget” to fast or to abstain so they just make up for forgetfulness by some acts of penance. Abstinence means avoidance of meat; fasting is avoidance of food for a period of time. With the relaxation of the old strict rules, people now fast only for one full meal and two light meals for the day.

There are rules for senior citizens and the sick. The best thing to do is to ask you pastor.

Cuaresma is the moment of reflection on our humanity and our dependence on God not holiday at the beach or shopping abroad. A posture of humility appeals to a merciful God. Throughout our Biblical history, God expresses His anger at the sinful world and yet He also opens wide avenues for repentance. In ancient times people were conscious of God’s anger in natural and physical phenomena. Today we do not think of this because we have scientific explanations. I wonder though if we are misreading the signs of the times.*

back to top