What is Lent?

Lent is a season of soul-searching and it is a season for reflection and taking stock.

Lent - 2010:   Feb. 17th - Apr. 3th

It is the forty days prior to Easter.    Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on the Great Vigil of Easter. It lasts for 40 days.  The last week of Lent is known as Holy Week.  During this holiest time of the liturgical year, the church relives the final week of our Lord's life. The high points of this week are Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil – The Resurrection.

What is the Purpose of Lent?

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism.  In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need.  If during Lent Christians choose to give up something or rededicate themselves to helping those in need as a way to proclaim the salvation Christ has won for all by His suffering and death, then such activities are sacrifices that glorify God.  However, it is essential to remember that nothing we do through self-denial or good works can ever earn the Lord's forgiveness or repay Him for what He accomplished for us.  Lent is not about our giving up something to please God.  Lent is about what Jesus Christ gave up to pay the penalty for the sins of the world -- His holy and innocent life.

When did Lent Originate?

Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.

What is the significance of 40 days in the bible?

The number forty has many Biblical references:

• The forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18);
• The forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8);
• God made it rain for forty days and forty nights in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:4);
• The Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33);
• Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days in which to repent (Jonah 3:4).
• Jesus retreated into the desert, where he fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil.  (Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2).  Jesus overcame all three of Satan's temptations by citing scripture to the devil, at which point the devil left him, angels ministered to Jesus, and he began his ministry.