Inspired by the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert before his public ministry, Lent is the prayerful and penitential season when Catholics pray, fast, give alms, practice self-denial, and perform good works with even greater devotion.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent anticipates and prepares Catholics for the commemoration of the events of Jesus’ Passion and Death and his Resurrection which is celebrated at Easter.
Traditionally, Lent is also the time for people who are converting to the Catholic faith to prepare for their Baptism which takes place at the Easter Vigil.
Throughout the season of Lent, the Catholic liturgy is more reserved. The music at Mass is more subdued and the Gloria and the Alleluia are not sung or said.
The somber color purple of the priest’s vestments and linens on the altar is a reminder of Jesus’ pain and suffering. In the Church, flowers and other decorations are absent and statues may be covered.
Because the promise of the Resurrection at Easter is a cause for joy even in the midst of Lent, purple may be replaced with the color rose on the fourth Sunday, known as Laetare Sunday from the Latin word for “rejoice”.
The English word “Lent” acknowledges the simultaneous lengthening of the days leading up to Spring, but the season is identified in other languages using words based on the number forty.
Every year we come back to Lent together:
So much more than meets the eye:
Not just giving something up:
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over He was hungry.
Luke 4: 1-2
Detaching from things of the world to attach to the Lord even more:
Developing a relationship with Jesus during Lent:
Journeying with Jesus in two dimensions of Lent:
As a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions to self-sufficiency, I would invite everyone to live this Lent as an opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of the heart. A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God. A heart which lets itself be pierced by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which realizes its own poverty and gives itself freely for others. During this Lent, then, brothers and sisters, let us all ask the Lord: “Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum”: Make our hearts like yours. In this way we will receive a heart which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference.
Pope Francis, Message for Lent, 2015
Going into the desert and confronting the devil:
Learning to trust and grow strong:
Jesus’ temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to Him and the way men wish to attribute to Him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.” By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 540
Lent is part of the rhythm of Christian life:
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
A deeper appreciation for Jesus’ sacrifice:
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