THE LENTEN LESSONS
Charles Fillmore
Keep a
True Lent
Lent
THE WORD LENT comes from
the Anglo-Saxon word for spring, which
is derived from a verb meaning to
lengthen. Lent comes in the spring when
the days become noticeably
longer.
This annual season of
fasting, prayer, and penitence has been
observed by the Western Church since
the first century after Christ,
although it has not always been forty
days long. In more recent times it has
been kept forty days, after the example
of Moses and Elijah, and to commemorate
the forty days of fasting and prayer
that Jesus spent in the
wilderness.
The first day of Lent is
called Ash Wednesday from the custom
that prevailed in the early Church of
sprinkling ashes on the heads of
penitents on the first day of Lent, in
token of repentance for sin.
Ash Wednesday comes
forty-six days before Easter. There are
six Sundays in Lent, and they are not
considered part of Lent, because in the
Western Church Sunday is always a feast
day. The forty weekdays beginning with
Ash Wednesday constitute
Lent.
The fifth Sunday in Lent
is known as Passion Sunday, because it
marks the beginning of Passion-tide,
the last two weeks of Lent. These two
weeks specifically commemorate the
Passion of Jesus, or His experiences
following the Last Supper.
The last week of Lent is
called Holy Week. It includes Palm
Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good
Friday.
Palm Sunday, the Sunday
before Easter, commemorates Jesus'
entrance into Jerusalem when the people
strewed palms in His way.
Maundy Thursday, the
Thursday before Easter, is a corruption
of the Latin word mandati meaning "of
the commandment," and refers to the
command "This do in remembrance of me"
spoken by Jesus in regard to His
breaking of the bread and drinking of
the wine at the Last Supper. Maundy
Thursday commemorates the event of the
Last Supper.
Good Friday, the Friday
before Easter, probably known
originally as God's Friday,
commemorates the crucifixion of
Jesus.
Easter Day, of course,
commemorates the Resurrection. The word
Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon word
Eastre, the name of the Goddess of
spring, in whose honor a festival was
celebrated each April. Easter Day
always comes on the first Sunday after
the full moon that occurs on or after
March 21. If the full moon falls on a
Sunday, Easter is the next Sunday.
Easter can never fall earlier than
March 22 nor later than April
25.
Lent is a season of
spiritual growth, a time for
progressive unfoldment. When we can
blend and merge our mind with God-Mind,
the way is open for the Lord to glorify
us and to lift us into a higher, purer,
more spiritual state.
"Where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them," said Jesus.
Unity students everywhere are invited
to participate yearly in our Lenten
program. Christ is in our midst, as the
God of our planet, as the one great
Teacher. Place all burdens on the Lord
and enter the Lenten season expecting
definite results.
Fasting means abstaining
from; it is abstinence. The place of
overcoming is in the consciousness of
man. The forty-day fast is an all-round
denial of sense demands. In fasting, we
as metaphysicians abstain from error
thinking and meditate on spiritual
Truth until we incorporate it into the
consciousness of oneness with the
Father.
The desire to excel is
in all men. It is the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, which ever urges us on
through earth toward heaven. It should
be encouraged and cultivated in the
right direction.
As day after day we
steadily adhere to our firm resolve to
follow the steps outlined for the
Lenten season, we discover that we are
building on a firm foundation, and are
mounting into a higher consciousness.
We come to know that Christ is indeed
with us and is resurrecting in us His
realizations of light, life, and
substance.
Denial
1st Day, Ash Wednesday.
Read Matthew 5:1-16.
Ash Wednesday, the first
day of Lent, is so-called from the
ceremonial of ashes. Ashes symbolize
repentance.
John the Baptist came,
saying, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand." Repentance means
denial; it is a relinquishment and
should be made without too much
vehemence. Therefore, I deny out of
consciousness old error thoughts, as if
I were gently sweeping away cobwebs,
and I affirm positively and fearlessly
that I am a child of God, and that my
inheritance is from Him.
As I follow this rule I
find that I am letting go of old mortal
beliefs and the Divine within is
flaming higher and higher. Its pure
white light is infusing all my
surroundings with a delightful spirit
of wisdom, dignity, and peace. I
realize more and more the law of
righteous thinking that is bringing me
into a consciousness of my perfect
dominion.
In Christ it is not
difficult to eliminate belief in strife
and contention. If petty quarrels,
jealousy, uncharitable thoughts come
into my life, I overcome them by a
quiet but positive denial made in the
realization that no error has any power
or reality in itself. I turn away from
the belief in negation, and my thinking
changes. I rid my consciousness of
limited thoughts that have encumbered
and darkened my understanding. I break
down mortal thought and ascend into a
spiritual realm, the kingdom of the
heavens.
In the spirit of divine
love I affirm: "Forgetting the things
that are behind, I realize I am strong,
positive, powerful, wise, loving,
fearless, free spirit. I am God's
perfect child."
Affirmation
2d Day, Thursday. Read
Luke 7:1-17.
The science of Spirit is
the orderly study of truths formulated
in Divine Mind according to the
operation of universal law. An
affirmation is a positive and orderly
statement of Truth. By affirmation we
claim and appropriate that which is
ours.
The Word is the working
power of Divine Mind. One will never go
down to defeat if in his hour of need
he positively affirms the almightiness
of God-Mind through Christ, and invokes
its help in his behalf.
I declare that as a
child of God I am now entering the
Christ consciousness of perfection.
This is in itself an affirmation, the
highest I can make. Jesus helped
Himself into this high state of being
by His use of the spoken word. He
continually made the very highest
affirmations such as, "I and the Father
are one," "All authority hath been
given unto me in heaven and on earth."
I am joint heir with Jesus to the
infinite good of the kingdom, and by
the faithful use of my spoken word I
claim my heavenly good.
Faith is the result of
many affirmations. Each affirmation
helps to build up a substantial, firm,
unwavering state of mind, because it
establishes Truth in
consciousness.
As day by day I repeat
and courageously live affirmations of
Truth, I come to know that I am opening
a channel of intelligent communication
with the silent forces at the depths of
being; thoughts and words therefrom
flow forth, and I realize an entirely
new source of power developing within
me.
I affirm: "Through Jesus
Christ I realize my divine sonship, and
I am transformed into His image and
likeness."
God
3d Day, Friday. Read
John 15:1-16.
"God is Spirit: and they
that worship him must worship in spirit
and truth." We do not see God with our
physical eyes excepting as He manifests
Himself through His works. His
attributes are therefore brought into
expression by man who is His son and
who is like Him in essence. Jesus was a
true expression of God because He was
like Him. If we would manifest the
divine attributes, we must seek to
attain the consciousness and the
understanding that characterized Jesus.
We must endeavor to raise our thoughts
and feelings to God's level if we would
make ourselves channels through which
He can come forth into expression and
manifestation.
God transcendent
suggests God as above and beyond His
creation. This idea of God as remote
from the practical affairs of man or
from man's own experience is false. God
(perfection) is not out of reach of His
offspring nor something beyond or above
them. Tennyson tells us that "closer is
He than breathing, and nearer than
hands and feet."
I am centered in God
because I focus my attention on His
ideas and ideals. The Holy Spirit,
which is the Word of God in action,
leads me into a consciousness of my
divine sonship and inheritance. My
inheritance from Him is executive
ability, abundant supply, faithfulness,
joy, all good. "I am thy portion and
thine inheritance."
In the name of Jesus
Christ I declare: "God's perfect plan
of bodily perfection is bearing fruit,
and I am made whole."
I AM
4th Day, Saturday. Read
John 10:1-18.
I am a child of the
Father, and my inheritance is from Him.
I AM is the Christ within me, the true
spiritual being, whom God made in His
image and likeness. Through the I AM
(the Christ), I link myself with the
Father, with Spirit, with life, wisdom,
love, peace, strength, power, and
Truth.
I AM is the gate through
which my thoughts come forth from the
invisible, and it is through this gate
that I go to get into the presence of
Spirit.
The I AM has its being
in heaven; its home is in the realm of
God ideals. I hitch my I AM to the star
of God, and infinite joy follows as
night the day.
The I AM always assures
me that the preponderance of power is
in spiritual things. Fear throws dust
in one's eyes and hides the mighty
spiritual forces that are always with
one. I deny ignorance and fear, and
affirm the presence and power of the I
AM. "I AM THAT I AM . . . I AM hath
sent me unto you."
I realize that spiritual
character is the rock foundation of
being. As I build my consciousness in
God-Mind, I find that I am in heaven
right here on earth. I let go of the
little self and take hold of the big
self. "Not my will, but thine, be
done." The I AM is the will in its
highest aspect. The will may be said to
be the man, because it is the directive
power that decides the character
formation which makes what is called
individuality.
I boldly affirm: "I am a
child of God, and I am joint heir with
Jesus to abiding life, wisdom, love,
peace, substance, strength, and
power."
The Altar
1st Sunday. Read Matthew
5:21-26.
The altar represents a
fixed, definite center in the
consciousness of man. It is a place
within where we meet the Lord face to
face and are willing to give up our
sins, give up the lower for the higher,
the personal for the impersonal, the
animal for the divine.
The altar, mentioned in
Revelation 11:1 symbolizes the
consciousness of full consecration that
takes place in the temple of worship,
the body. "Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual
service."
The altar to the unknown
God is a yearning to know the
unrevealed Spirit, and a reaching out
of the mind for a fuller realization of
its source.
Prayer does not change
God--it changes us. Sincere desire is a
form of prayer. Deep desire is
essential for spiritual growth. It is
desire--earnest, intense desire--that
draws the whole being up out of
mortality and its transient joys into
the power to appreciate and receive
real spiritual blessings. This is a
demonstration, the proving of a Truth
principle in one's body and affairs. It
is the manifestation of an ideal when
its accomplishment has been brought
about by one's conformity in thought,
word, and act, to the creative
principle of God.
Kneeling at the altar I
take my statement of Truth and hold it
steadily in mind until I get my
realization, the logic of my mind is
satisfied, and there is the lifting up
and expanding of soul
consciousness.
To this end I affirm:
"It is not I, 'but the Father abiding
in me doeth his works.'"
