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, I have 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."
-- Andrew Murray

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."
-- Thomas a Kempis

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 Newma

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