Lent 2019: Inspirational Quotes For The Lenten Season

Wednesday marks the first day of the Lenten season and is best known as Ash Wednesday, or the “Day of Ashes.” For 40 days and 40 nights, Christians traditionally sacrifice something in the days leading to Easter. This year Lent starts March 6 and ends April 18.

Many Christians partake in a season of moderation, meditation, fasting and repentance. Purple, specifically violet, is the symbolic color used in churches throughout Lent.

The word Lent is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words lencten, meaning spring; and lenctentid, which was the word for March. Each year, several people decide to give up something during Lent. This year, on Twitter, food (sweets, soda, sugar, chocolate, meat) is the most popular category for abstention, followed by technology and smoking/drugs/alcohol. According to the Christian Post, social networking topped the list last year.

As the Lent season begins, here are some quotes about fasting, spiritual growth and the power of prayer.

1. "Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy." — Pope Francis

2. "Some people think that having ash on your forehead is ridiculous. But I am neither ashamed nor afraid because the ashes remind me that I have to someday pass away and reunite with my creator." — Walter Buns

3. "Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life..." — Pope Benedict XVI

4. "You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed." — A.J. Gordon

5. “Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good... Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.” — Pope Francis

6. “God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …” — E.M. Bounds

7. "Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food." — Dallas Willard

8. "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer. — Martin Luther

9. "Fasting makes sense if it really chips away at our security and, as a consequence, benefits someone else, if it helps us cultivate the style of the good Samaritan, who bent down to his brother in need and took care of him." — Pope Francis

10. "We all came from dust and to dust we shall return. Even the greatest and the richest people of this generation will be soon forgotten. Let us focus completely on God almighty." — Vernon Kane

11. “I believe in God -- not in a Catholic God; there is no Catholic God. There is God, and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being.” — Pope Francis

12. “The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.” — St. John of the Cross

13. "Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces." — S.D. Gordon

14. "Even Jesus who is the Lord of Lords and the king of kings fasted and prayed in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. How much more we need to do the same with all our sinfulness and baggage's." — Tamara Lane

15. "We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.” — Pope Francis