Septuagesima Sunday AD 2024

The word “Septuagesima” comes from Latin and means “seventieth”. The name of the Septuagesima Sunday marks the fact that from this Sunday there are seventy days until Easter, the greatest and most important Christian holiday.

The number seventy reminds, among other things, Moses’ statement that “the days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

Both pre-Lent and Lent are designed to draw our attention from temporary to timeless, from worthless to precious, from our own small, limited and sinful selves to God, who has revealed His amazing grace and love for us in His only-begotten Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Septuagesima season is primarily intended to help us make decisions for Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday: what is there in our life that should be given up, that should be changed? What is the good thing that God has prepared me for with His abundant grace, but which I haven’t done so far or to which I have paid too little attention?

Both pre-Lent and Lent is a time of pilgrimage to a spring of fresh water – to refresh and wash oneself and to draw the pure and clear water of God's grace to gain strength for a new beginning.