Tag Archives: Lent

The springtime of Lent

 

The word “Lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “Lencten”, meaning springtime. If we live Lent well, we have a true springtime in our spiritual life. In this meditation, we situate our Lenten discipline in the context of three events in Our Lord’s life, each of which teaches us something about Lent:

  • His 40 days of prayer and fasting in the desert, after which he rejected the temptations of the devil. If we live our Lenten life of prayer, fasting and charity well, we will be stronger in resisting temptations.
  • His passion and death, borne out of love for us. They invite us to be generous in our Lenten penances out of love for him.
  • His ascension into heaven, where he goes to prepare a room in the Father’s house for us. Our Lenten discipline will help to make up for our sins and speed us along the way to heaven.

The Journey to Easter

A depiction of the risen Christ

Lent is an annual opportunity to accompany Jesus in his forty days of prayer and fasting in the desert and in his suffering and death on Mount Calvary to his resurrection on Easter Sunday. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture and of Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2025 to consider how:

  • Lent symbolises our own journey through life to our death and resurrection to eternal life.
  • It is a journey filled with hope
  • If we live it well, we will have a true springtime, a new blossoming of our spiritual life
  • As Jesus was generous in suffering and dying out of love for us, we should show our love for him by being generous in the way we live Lent
  • We can choose areas of struggle from the the three traditional aspects of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, or charity

The spirit of Lent

Face of Christ in the Passion

In Lent we prepare for the celebration of our redemption by Christ’s death and resurrection. In this meditation we consider how:

  • We can accompany Our Lord in his forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert by our own greater effort in prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
  • Lent is a time for conversion, of starting anew in our spiritual struggle.
  • As Christ loved us to the end by dying on the cross for us, we should be generous in our Lenten discipline.
  • When we live Lent well, we have a true springtime, new life and growth, in our spiritual life

Souls of prayer

The agony in the garden of Gethsemane

Our Lord praying

Christ spent forty days praying and fasting in the desert before beginning his public ministry and he prayed intensely in Gethsemane on beginning his Passion. In this meditation we use these examples of Our Lord and texts of St Josemaria Escriva to consider:

  • How and why we should be souls of prayer
  • The different forms our prayer can take
  • The need to have regular times set aside each day for prayer
  • How to pay attention and fight distractions in our prayer
  • The need to persevere in our habit of prayer throughout our life

The value of temptations

Christ sends Satan away after His temptation

A depiction of Christ’s temptation

We all experience temptations. They are a consequence of original sin and of our being subject to the world, the flesh and the devil. But in addition to being sources of sin, temptations can also be sources of sanctity. In this meditation we consider:

  • Christ’s temptations in the desert, which are very similar to our own
  • Christ’s example in overcoming the temptations
  • How we can use temptations to grow in sanctity and human virtues
  • What we can do to overcome temptations

Prayer in Lent

Prayer is one of the three principal focuses of our Lenten discipline, along with fasting and almsgiving. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Christ himself gives us an example of fervent and assiduous prayer
  • Prayer unites us with Christ and helps us become true friends with him
  • Prayer can take four forms
  • Prayer requires effort
  • We can improve our prayer life in Lent in a number of ways