“Lent lives within this dynamic: Christ precedes us with His exodus and we cross the desert, thanks to Him and behind Him…penance and even mortification…a time of hope…renew our baptismal identity…This whole path is fulfilled in hope, the hope of reaching the (Promised) Land and precisely in this sense it is an ‘exodus,’ a way out from slavery to freedom…Every step, every effort, every trial, every fall and every renewal has meaning only within the saving plan of God, who wants for His people life and not death, joy and not sorrow.” –Pope Francis Lenten message.

Forty Days And Forty Nights

Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Sunbeams scorching all the day;
Chilly dew-drops nightly shed;
Prowling beasts about Thy way;
Stones Thy pillow; earth Thy bed.

Should not we Thy sorrow share
And from worldly joys abstain,
Fasting with unceasing prayer,
Strong with Thee to suffer pain?

Then if Satan on us press,
Jesus, Savior, hear our call!
Victor in the wilderness,
Grant we may not faint nor fall!

So shall we have peace divine:
Holier gladness ours shall be;
Round us, too, shall angels shine,
Such as ministered to Thee.

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
Ever constant by Thy side;
That with Thee we may appear
At the eternal Eastertide.