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Christian Year

LENT

At the start of his ministry, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan [Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-22]. He then went away into the wilderness for 40 days [Matthew 4:1-2; Luke 4:1-2]. Arguably during this time he was preparing himself for what was to come: his ministry and the trouble which this caused and led eventually to his humiliating death by crucifixion. But as we now know, this was not the end. Although he died on Good Friday, he rose again on Easter Day.

Christians have kept the days before Easter as a special time called Lent. It is a period of reflection and preparation. Some people stop eating sweets or chocolate; others attempt to spend more time in prayer or in studying the Bible. Often churches organise special meetings for small groups of people to read and discuss a selected book.

Lent begins on a Wednesday called Ash Wednesday and ends six and a half weeks later on the Saturday before Easter Day. There are thus six Sundays in Lent during this period, and there are 46 days in total. But the six Sundays are not regarded as being part of Lent. Every Sunday is a weekly celebration of Jesus’s resurrection, so how can it be a time of sadness and giving things up? Thus there really are only 40 days in Lent.

The word Lent comes from an Old English word meaning the season of “spring”.

When Lent occurs is governed by the Date of Easter and so varies from year to year.