What is Lent?
Poems, Activities, and
Special Days of the Lenten Season

Do you know what is Lent?

I was really debating whether to put these Lenten pages up on a website about gratitude.

But you know what? As I explain below, I think Lent is one of the most important seasons in the entire year.

It's a good time to show our appreciation to God for what he has done for us - at great cost to himself.

When is Ash Wednesday - When does Lent start?

These dates change each year, because Easter is a moveable feast with differences in both the western and eastern (orthodox) church traditions.

Meaning of Lent - Origin and History of Lent

Why is Lent 40 days long? Learning the origin and history of Lent from the bible will help you keep a true Lent.

Lent Activities

There are 3 principal activities we focus on during the Lenten season.

Some other Lenten practices helpful to spiritual growth are:

• Sacrifice • Bible Studies • Meditation • Retreats & Missions

Lent is also a good time to check up on our tithing, to make sure we receive the full measure of God's blessings.

What is Lent? It's not only a special time to develop our personal walk with God, but also a special time to fulfill our social and community duty of worshiping God by attending a God-honoring church, especially on Sundays and during Holy Week.

What is Mardi Gras?

The way Mardi Gras is observed in many places today, it is not a good way to begin Lent.

What is Holy Week - What Happened During Holy Week

This is a day-by-day outline of the events of Holy Week. During Holy Week, we honor the life and death of Jesus Christ in the last week of his life on earth.

Holy Week begins the week before Easter on Palm Sunday, includes Good Friday, and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.

What Is Palm Sunday?

On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered the city and temple of Jerusalem in triumph.

What is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the worst - and the best - day in history. It is the saddest day of the year.

A Good Way to Begin Lent

In some denominations, for centuries there has been and is a two and a half week period, including the 3 Sundays before Ash Wednesday, to transition from the devout, joyful celebration of the Christmas Season to the most serious and solemn season of the entire year.

This is a good way to prepare for this most important time of the year.

Is Lent Sad ?

Yes, Lent is the most serious and solemn season of the year.

Lent is a time of spiritual purification in preparation for the greatest liturgical feast day in the church year, which is Easter Sunday.

Lent is a time of spiritual cleansing. You might call it "spring cleaning" of the soul. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it usually coincides with the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Lent is a time of:

repenting - being truly sorry - for our sins, which offends God,
special prayers, asking God to forgive our sins,
and making special sacrifices, to show God we mean what we pray.
More importantly, it's a time of great sorrow thinking of the great sufferings of Christ for us,
and it's a special time to think of how Christ paid the ultimate price, and gave his life on the cross - so that we may have life and live it abundantly.

Can Lent Make us Glad ?

Lent can be a joyful time! Yes, even a happy time! It's like spring cleaning our soul, getting ready for Easter. Even though Christ's suffering and death make us very sad, and doing a bit of penance and making sacrifices is not all that easy for us, nevertheless the benefits outweigh the pain.

If you've been working or playing hard, and you get all sweaty and dirty, a good bath or shower makes you feel much better.

Lent is a time to get rid of our sins, the stuff that makes us feel guilty and miserable all the time, so that we can say, "Good riddance" once and for all.

We can't do it on our own, we are creatures with bad habits. We need God's help, but we have to do our part by replacing the bad habits with good habits, otherwise we'll end up in worse shape.

Our Easter can be much happier, if we truly make a good Lent.

We can also make our eternity much better and much happier by making good efforts during Lent.

So while we're doing "spring cleaning of the soul", lets:

Rejoice that God saved us from our sins.
Rejoice that Jesus died to free us from our sins and save us from hell.
Rejoice that God gave us new life in Christ.
Rejoice that Jesus eventually - 3 days later - rose from the dead.

Lent is a Season of the Greatest Gifts.

Lent is the season God has given us his greatest gifts.

It's a time of repentance for sin, which offends God. Without repentance, God can't forgive sin, and without forgiveness of sin, we cannot get to heaven.

None of us could make up for our sins by ourselves. To make up for them, Jesus lived on earth, and suffered and died on the cross, and shed every drop of his blood to take away the guilt and burden of sin.

Then he gave the gift of eternal life, to those who accept it.

Lent is a Season of Gratitude

Do you want to make a true Lent? Then make it a season of gratitude for these greatest of gifts.

You can't be grateful and miserable at the same time.
We have so much to thank God for.
God takes away the burden of our sin.
Jesus takes the guilt, and suffers and dies instead of us
If we are truly grateful, penance and sacrifice becomes much easier.

Lent is a Tithe of Gratitude

God could ask all our time, all our money, everything, because everything we has comes from him.

He only asks one day each week to be devoted to his service. He only requests a tithe of our work income, 10 percent.

But really, it is not enough. We should be zealous and fervent in his service every day, if we truly appreciate his infinite love for us, and truly want to love him in return.

In a way, Lent is a bare minimum tithe of our time, our service, to repent and do penance. There are 365 days of the year, and Lent is 40 days, or a bit over 10 percent, to devote to a spiritual renewal.

We owe everything to God. He made us. He gives us life.

How much we owe Jesus, who died for us, forgives us our sins, and gives us eternal life.

Can you think of anyone more important? Thank your stars. They're the greatest.

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