As I have said before (not just in this thread), for hundreds of years the 40 days of Lent were made up of the six weeks of Monday through Saturday plus the four days of Ash Wednesday through Saturday - 6 X 6 = 36 + 4 = 40. Sundays were not counted. What has caused all this confusion is naming the 3 days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday a separate “season”, so that we end up with 37 days if we stop at Spy Wednesday, and therefore, start adding in the Sundays, then ending up with 43 days…
Certainly, the ceremonies of the Tridium are the climax of the Lenten Season and the introduction to Easter Sunday, but Lent ends at the moment of Resurrection. While Holy Thursday is glorious with the institution of the Eucharist, we must not miss the fact that it is also the start of the Passion, since Jesus was arrested that night.
