Christians across the globe are entering Lent, the season of preparation before Easter. Starting on Ash Wednesday, the 40-day period sees many Christians partake in a season of moderation, meditation, fasting and repentance. The exercises in discipline are undertaken to allow Christians time to reflect on the life, words and sacrifices of Jesus Christ.
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."
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."
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. Bounds
21. "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
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
