In this season of lent i just want to share something about the colors and symbols of lent.
The color used in the sanctuary for most of Lent is purple, red violet, or dark violet. These colors symbolize both the pain and suffering leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus as well as the suffering of humanity and the world under sin. But purple is also the color of royalty, and so anticipates through the suffering and death of Jesus the coming resurrection and hope of newness that will be celebrated in the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Some churches use gray for Ash Wednesday or for the entire season of Lent, or for special days of fasting and prayer. Gray is the color of ashes, and therefore a biblical symbol of mourning and repentance. The decorations for the sanctuary during Lent should reflect this mood of penitence and reflection. Some Anglican churches use unbleached muslin, which can range from white to beige, with accents in red or black for Lent to symbolize this same spirit of penitance.
Some churches avoid the use of any flowers in the sanctuary during Lent, using various dried arrangements. This can be especially effective if a flowering cross is used for Easter. Other churches use arrangements of rocks or symbols associated with the Gospel readings for the six Sundays in Lent.
Some church traditions change the sanctuary colors to red for Maundy Thursday, a symbol of the disciples and through them the community of the church. Since Eucharist or communion is often observed on Maundy Thursday in the context of Passover, the emphasis is on the gathered community in the presence of Jesus the Christ.
Traditionally, the sanctuary colors of Good Friday and Holy Saturday are black, the only days of the Church Year that black is used. It symbolizes the darkness brought into the world by sin. It also symbolizes death, not only the death of Jesus but the death of the whole world under the burden of sin. In this sense, it also represents the hopelessness and the endings that come as human beings try to make their own way in the world without God. Black is always replaced by white before sunrise of Easter Sunday.
During lent i usually spend it with my family..we do some traditions every year like first we attend a palm sunday mass, a mass again on a maundy thursday night for the last supper and after that we'll have our visita iglesia where will gonna visit 14churches around cavite or manila, and have station of the cross (1 station per church) we usually do that at night, good friday we spend it at home watching dvd's like the ten commandments(i've seen it so many times since i was a kid), and at the church there's a confession where there are so many priest there for u to confess your sins (and we usually do that every year), come sunday morning there's a procession then a mass after for the easter sunday..:)
this lenten season we have to reflect and give time to God..it's one of the most effective visual reminders that can be expanded in many variations. Give thanks and confess our sins that we did in the past. A time to also spend with our family and loved ones..
have a blessed lent guys..:)
Cindy G. Balderrama, RN
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