>Lent is a practice associated with the Roman Catholics Church. According to Catholic tradition, this ritual originated during the papacy of Gregory the Great (590-604), sometime in the 6th century. During Lent, the faithful places ashes on the head as a sign of repentance and sorrow.

In his article, “Forty Days of New Life,” Marcellino D’Ambrosio, discusses the reasons Lent lasts forty days and associates the forty-day observance to the use of the number 40 in the Old and New Testaments. He also discusses how the meaning of Lent is associated with the fasting and temptation of Jesus Christ in the desert.

For those who want to know more about Lent and for those who observe Lent, D’Ambrosio’s article will shed much light on this Catholic ritual.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Lent