by Deacon Keith Fournie -Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
"Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy" (Catechism of the Catholic Church) .
The Great Fast, Lent, is a time of spiritual reflection. The forty days not only reflect Jesus’s journey into the desert, upon which he fasted for forty days and faced severe temptations before the start of his public ministry, but also the years which Moses and the children of Israel were said to wander between Egypt and the Promised Land. It is a time of struggle, a time of purification, and hopefully a time of spiritual enlightenment.