Season of Lent - - as described in The New Marian Missal

Introduced by three Sundays (SEPTUAGESIMA, SEXAGESIMA, AND QUINQUAGESIMA), the season of Lent begins on Ash
Wednesday and ends with the death of Jesus in Passion Week. The struggle between our Lord and Satan ends with the victory
of the Savior in the Estertide. During the period from Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday, the liturgy speaks no
more of our greatness but contemplates the misery of fallen humanity--the fatal consequences of original sin and actual
sin--and the sacrifice that God asked from the faithful Melchisedech, symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus brings for the
whole of humanity.

In this period we also prepare for the fasting and penance of the season of Lent. The season can be recapitulated with
the words of the Preface of Lent:

"Who by this bodily fast dost curb our vices, dost lift up our minds, and bestow on us strength and rewards." Our
souls are slaves of the devil, flesh and the world. Jesus came into the world, not to be crowned king of the Jews, but to deliver
us from this threefold bondage and to restore to us the divine life which we had lost. The judica me.. and the
Gloria Patri are suppressed in the liturgy because they evoke sentiments of joy

The season of Lent ends with Passiontide (from Passion Sunday to Easter). The liturgy commemorates the sorrowful
events of the first week of Jesus' mortal life. On Thursday evening, He had the Last Supper with His Apostles, and on
the following day He was crucified on Calvary.

"Who didst establish the salvation of mankind on the tree of the Cross, that whence death came thence also life might
arise again, and that we, who were overcome by the tree,by the tree might also overcome."

the struggle between our Lord and Satan ends with the apparent success of Satan on Good Friday. The priests are
robed in vestments of mourning, and all the Church imparts an aspect of sadness. But by the sacrifice of Himself, the Son of God triumphs and gloriously comes forth from the sepulchre on Easter morning.