Here is a Lenten video song
https://youtu.be/AflpKCF3BnM - (For these 40 days) lenten song - by Michael John Poirier
What Is Lent?
When Does Lent 2016 Start?
Lent starts every year on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday 2016 falls on February 10, 2016.
When Does Lent 2016 End?
As a liturgical season, Lent ends on Holy Thursday, immediately before the Mass of the Lord's Supper that evening, when the Easter Triduum begins. Holy Thursday 2016 falls on March 24. As a penitential season—the 40 days of Lent—Lent ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Holy Saturday 2016 falls on March 26, 2016.
How Is the Length of Lent Determined?
While Lent is a 40-day period of fasting and prayer, there are 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (inclusive).Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter Sunday. (For an explanation why Lent begins 46 days before Easter but is only 40 days long, see How Are the 40 Days of Lent Calculated?) For Eastern Rite Catholics, Lent begins two days earlier, on Clean Monday.- Clean Monday (Monday, February 8, 2016)
- Ash Wednesday (Wednesday, February 10, 2016)
- First Sunday of Lent (Sunday, February 14, 2016)
- Second Sunday of Lent (Sunday, February 21, 2016)
- Third Sunday of Lent (Sunday, February 28, 2016)
- Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) (Sunday, March 6, 2016)
- Fifth Sunday of Lent (Passion Sunday) (Sunday, March 13, 2016)
- Feast of Saint Patrick (Thursday, March 17, 2016)
- Feast of Saint Joseph (Saturday, March 19, 2016)
- Palm Sunday (Sunday, March 20, 2016)
- Holy Thursday (Thursday, March 24, 2016)
- Good Friday (Friday, March 25, 2016)
- Holy Saturday (Saturday, March 26, 2016)
- Easter (Sunday, March 27, 2016)
- The Annunciation of the Lord (transferred to Monday, April 4, 2016, because March 25 falls on Good Friday in 2016)
Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter. The Lenten season is a time when many Christians observe a period of fasting, repentance, moderation, self-denial and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.
During the six weeks of of self-examination and reflection, Christians who observe Lent typically make a commitment to fast, or to give up something--a habit, such as smoking, watching TV, or swearing, or a food or drink, such as sweets, chocolate or coffee.
Some Christians also take on a Lenten discipline, such as reading the Bible and spending more time in prayer to draw nearer to God.
Strict observers do not eat meat on Fridays, having fish instead. The goal is to strengthen the faith and spiritual disciplines of the observer, and develop a closer relationship with God.
Lent in Western Christianity
In Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday marks the first day, or the start of the season of Lent, which begins 40 days prior to Easter (Technically 46, as Sundays are not included in the count). The exact date changes every year, because Easter and its surrounding holidays are movable feasts.
The significance of the 40-day period of Lent is based on two episodes of spiritual testing in the Bible: the 40 years of wilderness wandering by the Israelites and the Temptation of Jesus after he spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness.
Lent in Eastern Christianity
In Eastern Orthodoxy, the spiritual preparations begin with Great Lent, a 40-day period of self-examination and fasting (including Sundays), which starts on Clean Monday and culminates on Lazarus Saturday.
Clean Monday falls seven weeks before Easter Sunday. The term "Clean Monday" refers to a cleansing from sinful attitudes through the Lenten fast. Lazarus Saturday occurs eight days before Easter Sunday and signifies the end of Great Lent.
Do All Christian Observe Lent?
Not all Christian churches observe Lent. Lent is mostly observed by the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican denominations, and also by Roman Catholics. Eastern Orthodox churches observe Lent or Great Lent, during the 6 weeks or 40 days preceding Palm Sunday with fasting continuing during the Holy Week of Orthodox Easter.
Lent for Eastern Orthodox churches begins on Monday (called Clean Monday) and Ash Wednesday is not observed.
The Bible does not mention the custom of Lent, however, the practice of repentance and mourning in ashes is found in 2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Daniel 9:3; and Matthew 11:21.
Likewise, the word "Easter" does not appear in the Bible and no early church celebrations of Christ's resurrection are mentioned in Scripture. Easter, like Christmas, is a tradition that developed later in church history.
The account of Jesus' death on the cross, or crucifixion, his burial and his resurrection, or raising from the dead, can be found in the following passages of Scripture: Matthew 27:27-28:8; Mark 15:16-16:19; Luke 23:26-24:35; and John 19:16-20:30.
What Is Shrove Tuesday?
Many churches that observe Lent, celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Traditionally, pancakes are eaten on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) to use up rich foods like eggs and dairy in anticipation of the 40-day fasting season of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is also called Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday.
For those embarking on the annual Lenten journey, we've gathered 40 quotes about fasting, spiritual growth and the power of prayer.
1. "Are you capable of risking your life for someone? Do it for Christ." -- Pope John Paul II
2. "Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy." -- Pope Francis
3. "As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you." -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
4. 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
5. "The most important thing a born again Christian can do is to pray." -- Chuck Smith
6. "Prayer is where the action is." -- John Wesley
7. "The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist." -- Pope St. Gregory the Great
8. "Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God."
-- Andrew Murray
9. "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
10. "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 
A woman smiles after receiving ashes in observance of Ash Wednesday from clergy of the Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church at Union Square in New York on March 5. Photo: Reuters 11. "Renounce yourself in order to follow Christ; discipline your body; do not pamper yourself, but love fasting." -- Saint Benedict
12. "Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps." -- Luke 9:23
13. "One should never initiate anything that he cannot saturate with prayer." -- Unknown
14. "Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God." -- Chuck Smith
15. "Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." -- Sidlow Baxter
16. "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
17. "Lent is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism." -- Pope Benedict XVI
18. "As you mourn for your sins and weaknesses this Ash Wednesday through fasting, mourning and weeping, may you be truly transformed from your heart." -- John Tribes
19. "Everything in life has its own time. There is time to celebrate and there is time to mourn. This is the time for reflection and transformation. Let us look within and change into what we ought to be." -- Aaron Saul
20. "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. Bounds21. "Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying. -- Paul E. Billheimer
22. "Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your etition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God's ear to yourself." -- St. Peter Chrysologus
23. 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
24. "Remember that lent and ash Wednesday 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
25. "As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you." -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
26. "The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray." -- S.D. Gordon
27. "Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food." -- Dallas Willard
28. "All throughout my life I have been living recklessly. I have sinned a lot and done things that I know I should not have done. Now I will return back to God and change myself." -- Genevieve Shaw
29. "It is not just about giving up our favorite food but its about going further and giving up things like hatred and unforgiveness. You need to clean your heart and prepare yourself for purity." -- Amanda Jobs
30. "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 
A Catholic believer is smeared with ash after the Ash Wednesday mass at the Cathedral in Guatemala City on March 5. Photo: Reuters 31. "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
32. "God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." -- John Wesley
33. "Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces." -- S.D. Gordon
34. "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
35. "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
36. "We all suffer for each other, and gain by each other's suffering; for man never stands alone here, though he will stand alone hereafter; but here is he is a social being, and goes forward to his long home as one of a large company." -- Cardinal John Henry Newman
37. "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
38. "You cannot be proud and expect to be transformed away from your sins. You need to humble yourself and have a spirit of repentance within you. Then you will see real change." -- Mable Vine
39. "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
40. "Lenten practices of giving up pleasures are good reminders that the purpose of life is not pleasure. The purpose of life is to attain to perfect life, all truth and undying ecstatic love – which is the definition of God. In pursuing that goal we find happiness. Pleasure is not the purpose of anything; pleasure is a by-product resulting from doing something that is good. One of the best ways to get happiness and pleasure out of life is to ask ourselves, 'How can I please God?' and, 'Why am I not better?' It is the pleasure-seeker who is bored, for all pleasures diminish with repetition." -- Fulton J. Sheen
Posted by: Jacinto Pinto <trust2010jp@gmail.com>
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