Very early in the history of the Church, new Christians studied the faith intensely in preparation to be baptized. It soon became the custom to baptize them during the Easter Vigil and to spend the forty days prior to Easter fasting and completing their instruction in the faith. These students (also known as catechumens from the Greek word that means to instruct) were joined in the fast by their catechists (instructors). Both groups valued this discipline so much that the whole church joined them in their study.
For this reason, the readings in the season of Lent are keyed to the basic doctrines of the faith. They become a kind of spring training for the Church as it looks forward to celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter. Often Bible classes will turn to a study of Luther’s Small Catechism (from the word that means instruction book, handbook) It has been our custom at What Does This Mean? to rerun our series of posts on the catechism, sometimes as the only post for the day, other times as a supplement. Since this series has grown to more than forty posts, we’ve decided to start during the last few weeks of Epiphany so that we have a chance of finishing before Easter. May God bless your study of the faith as we look forward to the celebration of the Resurrection.
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