Entering into Lent

Lent is a propitious time in which the Church invites Christians to be more intensely aware of Christ's redeeming work and to live our baptisim more profoundly... With its duration of forty days, Lent tries to recall some of the events that marked the life and history of ancient Israel, presenting to us again its paradigmatic value... The Lenten season is an invitation to relive with Jesus the forty days he spent in the desert, praying and fasting, before undertaking his public mission... This is the authentic and central program of the Lenten Season: to listen to the Word of truth, to live, to speak, and do the truth, to reject lies that poison humanity, and are the door to evils. It is urgent, therefore, during these forty days, to listen again to the Gospel, the Lord's Word, Word of truth, so that in every Christian, in each one of us, the awareness be reinforced of the truth that has been given, that he has given us, to live it and be his witnesses. Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life. Thus, the Lenten season offers us an ascetic and liturgical journey that, helping us to open our eyes in face of our weakness, makes us open our hearts to the merciful love of Christ.

~ "Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI"