Lent is the forty-day period (or season) preceding Easter. It is actually the forty-six days before Easter, but due to the fact that Sundays in this season are not counted the period is 40 days. The traditional reason for this is that fasting was considered inappropriate on Sunday, the day commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus. Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, while Lent is a time of preparation for Holy Week. Holy Week recalls the events preceding and during the crucifixion, which occurred in Jerusalem of the Roman province Judea, circa AD 30.

The forty-day period is symbolic of the forty days spent by Jesus in the wilderness. The number forty has many other Biblical significances: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God; the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mt. Horeb; God makes it rain for forty days and forty nights in the story of Noah; the Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land; Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days grace in which to repent. Lent is a time of discerning those things which we foolishly might value more than God. Traditionally this can involve fasting, giving to the poor, giving more time for prayer, and other spiritual practices. The season begins with a liturgy of Ash Wednesday where Christians are reminded that it is God's Holy Spirit that empowers all life and that as creatures we are ashes without the animating power of God's love.