The Meaning of Lent
'The English word ‘Lent’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Lencten, meaning ‘Spring’. In other languages the word comes from the Latin, Quadragesima – a period of 40 days. In the Christian tradition the forty days is understood to refer to a time of intense prayer and preparation; we remember the biblical stories of Noah and the flood of 40 days, the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness and Christ’s forty day fast in the desert in preparation for his earthly ministry'.
Irish Bishops
On Temptation by the Evil One
‘The safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts’.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.
‘The horror of the same old thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart, an endless source of heresies in religion, infidelity in marriage and inconstancy in friendship’.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.
‘Hell wants a man hag-ridden by the future…a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, not happy now; but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap upon the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the present’.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.
'This is how the devil behaves: he wants to take possession of us in order to “enchain our souls”. To enchain our souls: this is what the devil wants. We must be wary of the “chains” that stifle our freedom, because the devil always takes away our freedom...So, what should we do when we feel tempted and oppressed? Negotiate with the devil? No: there must be no negotiating with him. We must invoke Jesus, invoke him there where we most strongly feel the tightening of the chains of evil and fear. By the power of his Spirit, the Lord wants to say to the evil one again today: “Be gone, leave that heart in peace, do not divide the world, families and communities; let them live serenely so that the fruits of my Spirit, not yours, may blossom there” — this is what Jesus says — “so that love, joy and meekness may reign among them and so that there may be freedom and peace, instead of violence and cries of hatred”.
Pope Francis, 28th January 2024
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