Lent is a period of 40 days leading up to Easter.  It is one of most important times of the year for Catholic and Orthodox Christians.  

As Catholics, we follow the liturgical year, which guides us through spiritual seasons (such as Advent and Lent) throughout the various months and weeks of the year.  While Advent is a time of celebration and prepation, Lent is more often seen as a period of solemnity, sorrow, and sacrifice.  During this time we reflect upon the suffering, death, and sorrow of Christ.  

Lent is also a traditional time for fasting, abstinence, or giving up something for the purpose of drawing closer to Christ.  Many will choose to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent.  In addition, some will give up a "luxury" item such as chocolate, alcohol, or a TV program.  Abstinence helps us to focus our energy and thoughts upon Christ.  

Lent is the 40-day period leading up to Easter. It’s one of the most important times of year for many Christians around the world, particularly those within the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox traditions, held at a similar level of importance to Advent – the build up to Christmas.

Sundays during Lent are very important to Christians around the world. Where the Monday to Saturday of each of the weeks during Lent are marked with fasting and abstinence, Sundays are seen as a mini-feast day or celebration, symbolic of Christ's bodily resurrection.  

 

"And though every day a man lives may rightly be a day of repentance, yet is it in these days more becoming, more appropriate, to confess our sins, to fast, and to give alms to the poor; since in these days you may wash clean the sins of the whole year." - St. John Chrysostom - "The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers"