After this year’s extended period of Ordinary Time, Christian believers will soon begin the penitential season of Lent.
St. Luke tells us that after his baptism, the Lord Jesus was “filled with the Holy Spirit … and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil” (4:1-2). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the Lord’s time in the desert:
“The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him” (538).
By ancient tradition, Lent is observed for 40 days in spiritual observance of these 40 days the Lord Jesus spent in the desert. The Catechism explains: “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (540).
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