What Is Lent?

The traditions of the church describe Lent with three pillars: prayer, fasting, and giving of alms (in the teaching of Jesus, He says that He even sees when we share a cup of water with the needy, Matthew 10:42). 

The Catholic Church starts the 40 days leading up to Easter Weekend with Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on February 18th, 2026. 

You do not need to be Catholic to receive the blessings of the ashes, which symbolise your old life and the building of a new one with Jesus. You only have to be Catholic to receive holy communion. 

Fasting

The basic requirement is not eating meat on a Friday, including Good Friday. One or two days a week, we eat smaller meals, for example, 2-3 small meals that don’t total a big meal for the day. Lighter eating, really. 

For a quick look at what The Lord teaches us in scripture regarding His views on fasting, you can read this outline in your Bible Isaiah 58:6-11.

Fasting is a spiritual and physical discipline. Although pregnancy and breastfeeding bring different requirements to this. 

Prayer and Giving

There is a focus on your personal prayers and Bible study, plus on giving to charities or to those in need as you feel led.

What Does All This Mean?

The above is a basic outline, but I would like to explore how to get more out of your time of drawing near to God. 

Some people just do what we call a Daniel fast for 40 days, basically a vegetarian diet for 40 days and think that Lent is done.

But God is like a constant gardener, he wants to attend to your weeds, things you struggle with, provide for you and others, whilst growing in your Christian walk. 

He does want His people healthy, too. There are over 1200 verses on our diet alone, then in Proverbs 31, the woman of wisdom goes to bed early (gets a good night’s sleep) and arises to organise her day. 

Our Faith isn’t just super-spiritual, the Bible is full of hidden gems on living. How to treat others, how to get wisdom and how to look after ourselves. 

Romans 12:1 talks about presenting our bodies to God. If we bear in mind that this includes self-care, diet and exercise, as well as the fact that, according to scripture, back in the day they walked or rode a donkey, which required physical exertion, we get an idea of how to look after our bodies. 

Putting All This In Action

Get organised for fasting and looking after yourself. Find an app or a notebook to track your;

• Diet
• Water intake
• Sleep 
• Vitamins
• Exercise

Experiment with recipes and make sure you’re eating your fruits and vegetables.

Spend time with God, maybe read that book about faith you have been meaning to read, have that extra time with The Lord, and maybe read a bible study. We will be doing the book of John here on the blog. 

Giving. This is a personal choice, and it is what is on your heart. 

Mostly, I feel The Lord saying to take our physical health seriously, as in scripture. May these 40 days be a blessing to you, do a bit of weeding in your faith, and maybe get out of a rut.