40 Inspirational Quotes for the Lenten Season
Including Bible verses that speak directly about Lent.
As Easter approaches, many Christians spend the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Week reflecting on the past year and preparing to honor Jesus's resurrection. If your Sunday School days are far in the rearview, here's a quick refresher: In 2023, Lent begins on February 22, on a day known as Ash Wednesday. It officially ends on April 14, or Holy Thursday. That day, the Thursday before Easter, commemorates when Jesus gathered with his 12 disciples to celebrate Passover before he was crucified, which took place on Good Friday. Easter Sunday celebrates the day Christians celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, three days later.
The Lenten season is inspired by the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert preparing for his own sacrifice. In that same spirit of sacrifice and reflection, many people will give up something they love like chocolate, alcohol or another favorite food and many also abstain from eating meat other than fish on Fridays. But others prefer to spend the time thinking and praying about something important to them. Maybe that includes ways they can work toward being better or more prayerful people or ways to make the world a better place.
Whether you're looking for some fuel for a daily devotional, want to mark your Lenten season by sharing some thoughtful sentiments with friends and family or need some inspiration for your Lent-themed social media posts, these faith-filled Lent quotes can help.
Pope Francis
God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.
Megan Westra
What if we view this desert time of Lent as not just a time to reflect or to lament or to confess or to fast, but a time where we learn to be free.
Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Rowan Williams
The self-denial involved in the period of Lent isn’t about just giving up chocolates or beer; it’s about trying to give up a certain set of pictures of God which are burned into our own selfish wants.
Elizabeth Hyndman
There are three elements that are almost always part of Lent: prayer, giving something up and giving something back.
Russell D. Moore
The kingdom of God ought to reshape our vision of what matters.
Trevin Wax
What is more important than the practices we take on is the heart attitude behind them. If there’s anything we should give up this time of year, it’s our sense of superiority either to those outside the church or those inside the church who do things differently than we do. The cross levels us all. And that’s true whether or not you practice Lent.
John Chrysostom
No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.
Catherine Doherty
Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves…What is it that stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out, without a moment’s hesitation.
Nana Dolce
The command to love and serve—not merely tolerate—each other requires more commitment and sacrifice than we care to give, and so we do the polite minimum from afar. The seasons of Lent and Easter bring thoughts of surrender and sacrifice.
Pope Francis
Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.
St. Francis de Sales
You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.
Wendy Speake
When you put down your phone, it’s easier to lift up your eyes.
Beth Moore
Some things don’t need to be cut back. They need to be cut off.
Krish Kandiah
What we see in Christ is sacrificial love. Merciful love. Love that values the well-being of others above itself. Love that will generously and fully pour itself out, whatever the cost, in order that the beloved might benefit, flourish and thrive.
St. Augustine
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Matthew 6:6
When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
St. Francis de Sales
Have patience with all things, but first of all with yourself.
Thomas Merton
Ash Wednesday is full of joy…The source of all sorrow is the illusion that we are anything but dust.
Lailah Gifty Akita
May God empower your inner strength through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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