This is a calendar for the 40 days of Lent with a special picture and message for each day. Each number is a day of Lent rather than a calendar date, so Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent is 1. Simply click on the current day of Lent (shown in red) or a past day to read the message.
Ash Wednesday
Lent is not just about giving up our favourite food but its about going further and giving up things like hatred and un-forgiveness. You need to clean your heart and prepare yourself for purity. – Amanda Jobs
Lent 2
“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but He does what is still more wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners.” – Soren Kierkegaard
Lent 3
Just like the Prodigal Son,
When we recognise our sin and our need of God
we are swept off our feet by an impulsive and jubilant Father.
Lent 4
Dear Lord, it isn’t normal to love your enemies.
It isn’t normal to give all your money to the poor.
It isn’t normal to seek servitude instead of power
It isn’t normal to travel life lightly.
In fact your lifestyle is downright strange.
Today and every day give me the courage to challenge the norm.
1st Sunday of Lent
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? – Isaiah 58:6
Lent 6
Are the most spiritual people we know in our lives,
the ones through whom we catch a glimpse of the divine,
the ones who never change?
Or are they the ones who continuously evolve,
interested,
growing,
responsive
into their oldest age?
Lent 7
So far you have survived 100% of your bad days.
Lent 8
Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God. – Thomas a Kempis
Lent 9
Today may my choices be informed by your forgiving love;
may my prejudices be clear and be overcome;
may my compassion be real and not merely appear that way.
Lent 10
“You don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!’ you can be sure you’ve already begun.” – Saint Josemaría Escrivá
Lent 11
Thank you Lord that as I open my eyes this morning
that I can know the presence of Christ Jesus by my side.
I may be alone, or even lonely; my friends and family may be far away, but he is close.
When I forget or shut him out forgive me Lord
and help me today to be recognised as one of Jesus companions.
2nd Sunday of Lent
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. – Psalm 25:4-5
Lent 13
God do I really expect you to show up when I invoke your name in worship?
and if I am completely honest do I really want you to barge in
and mess with the order I live in?
But thank you that you refuse to be bound to those bonds within which we place you.
We thank you that you broke free and surprised us with wonder and joy
and challenged us to hope.
God, do you think you might do more of the same tomorrow? and I’ll be ready.
Lent 14
During these 40 days, let me put away all my pride. Let me change my heart and give up all that is not good within me. Let me love God with all that I am and all that I have. – Genesis Grain
Lent 15
Blessed are those who are persecuted you said.
May that include those who are persecuted for their race or religion,
for their gender of sexuality, for their differing appearance,
or for their learning difficulties or for their illness;
Those who are persecuted for trying to flee danger,
or wanting a better life for their family,
or for living in the wrong place or for being a pacifist;
and those who are persecuted because they are vulnerable or frail or weak.
Bless them all Lord, for you know who they are.
Lent 16
May all that you do and say
reflect the love and tenderness that the Lord our God
shows you in every moment.
May all I do and say
reflect the love and tenderness that the Lord my God
shows me in every moment.
Lent 17
“If the lungs of prayer and the Word of God do not nourish the breath of spiritual life, we risk suffocating in the midst of a thousand daily cares. Prayer is the breath of the soul and of life.” – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Lent 18
How hard change is for adults!
It’s like trying to push a recalcitrant pop-up clown back into its box – our engrained habits of character keep popping up and resurfacing. Lord help us!
3rd Sunday of Lent
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19 – 21
Lent 20
My song is love unknown,
My Saviour’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I,
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?
Lent 21
The Creator has invited all of us to the party of a lifetime.
Live this life as one who knows the host personally.
Invite others to come to the party.
This is a celebration no one should miss.
Lent 22
“God’s face is the face of a merciful father who is always patient. Have you thought about God’s patience, the patience he has with each one of us? That is his mercy. He always has patience, patience with us; he understands us, he waits for us, he does not tire of forgiving us if we are able to return to him with a contrite heart.” – Pope Francis
Lent 23
Remember when you forgive you heal. And when you let go you grow.
Lent 24
I thank you for everyone
who even briefly has given me a thought, gift, smile, touch or embrace.
I pray for my family, whether blood relatives, church members or others
who have reminded me that we are children, fathered and mothered by you.
And so, I pray for those from whom I am estranged,
and for those I find strange,
that I might yet love them with all my heart and soul and strength.
Lent 25
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Exodus 20: 4 – 5a
Mothering Sunday
Remember that Lent is not just about putting away the bad things. It is about creating good things and helping the poor and the needy, being kind to people and much more. – Jacob Winters
Lent 27
No room for the baby at Bethlehem’s inn,
only a cattle shed.
No room on earth for the dear Son of God,
nowhere to lay his head.
Only a cross did they give to my Lord,
only a borrowed tomb.
Just now he is waiting a place in my heart,
Shall I still say to him, “No room!”?
Lent 28
When your journey of life leads you into the wilderness,
remember Jesus Christ has been there before you.
Lent 29
“Seek a relationship when you pray, not answers. You won’t always find answers, but you will always find Jesus.” – Father Mike Schmitz
Lent 30
We are People of the Way, not People of the Arrival
We are People on a Journey, not People of Perfection
We are People of the Cross, not People of “Success”
May we deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.
Lent 31
God sees, even when we have lost sight.
God leads, even if we think we can’t find the path.
God loves, even when we turn away.
Lent 32
Pray for those who are running out of what they need.
Those who are running out of patience.
those who are running out of money
those who are running out of excuses
those who are running out of love
Jesus – you alone keep us from running out. Fill us with everything we need.
Passion Sunday
”As gifts increase in you, let your humility grow, for you must consider that everything is given to you on loan. ” – St Pio
Lent 34
We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. – Psalm 33:20-22
Lent 35
Merciful God we are so thirsty!
Yet when offered refreshment from the water of life,
we rely on our own means
and end up drinking sand.
Lent 36
May God guide us this week into the places and to the people where He needs us to be.
In that moment may we speak His words not ours.
Lent 37
“Our present ecological crisis, the biggest single practical threat to our human existence has a great deal to do with our failure to think of the world as existing in relation to the mystery of God, not just as a huge warehouse of stuff to be used for our convenience.” — Rowan Williams
Lent 38
May we fast from judging others and feast on patience
May we fast from words that pollute and feast on words that affirm
May we fast from complaining and feast on appreciation
May we fast from bitterness and anger and feast on forgiveness and mercy.
Lent 39
“Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces.” – S.D. Gordon
Palm Sunday
Ugly news from the TV shouts,
“Neglect! Hate! Spite!”
But, Lord, your face is beautiful.
Deep sorrow is in your eyes
Endless love
Against all the odds
you hope in us.
