The early Christ Followers observed Lent with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation.  These 40 days correspond to the days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry.  But they also remind us of the 40 years  the Hebrews spent in the wilderness.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins, and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way, the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.

Invitation to Lent

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word. To make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us make our confession.