To prepare for his public life, Our Lord spent forty days in prayer and fasting. This is the origin of the forty days of Lent in preparation for Easter, to be spent in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In this meditation we consider how:

• After forty days in the desert Christ rejected the temptations of Satan, showing us how we too can reject temptations to sin.
• The word “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “Lencten”, meaning “springtime”, and if we live Lent well we will have a springtime of new life in our soul.
• To live Lent well we should strive to do something specific in the traditional areas of prayer, fasting  and almsgiving.