Jesus…was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. (Luke 4)

We are now in the Holy Season of Lent. We spend these forty days as a time of prayer and growing stronger in discipline, faith, and charity, in honor of Jesus who spent forty days himself in the desert. As the preface of the Mass said on the Old Sacramentary: “This great season of grace is your gift to your family to renew us in spirit. You give us strength to purify our hearts, to control our desires, and so to serve you in freedom.” Our Lenten discipline is meant to make us spiritually stronger: to be more able to say “No” to temptation and “Yes” to God.

May we use this sacred time well so as to be ready to celebrate the joy of Easter.