Jesus retreated into the desert to be with God. He deprived himself of the humanly familiar, comfortable and secure so as to make space for God.
Lent is the period whose purpose is to prepare the believer – through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the events leading up to the death of Jesus Christ, culminating in Easter, the celebration of his resurrection.
So we invite you to join us as we prepare together. Lent’s “forty days and forty nights” (as the hymn puts it) represent the time that Jesus spent in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent began on Ash Wednesday and will conclude on Holy Saturday, the eve of Easter. For those who are counting the forty days, the six Sundays in Lent are not included, because each Sunday represents a “mini-Easter”, a celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death.