Stark's Prayerbook: On Entering Lent

This present season, which Your infinite goodness has again permitted to me reach, reminds me of the bitter sufferings to which You willingly submitted according to the plan of Your heavenly Father, in order that as the Lamb of God You might take away the sin of the entire world, and render satisfaction for them. No one can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their souls is costly and it never ceases. Therefore You took pity on those whose flesh and blood You assumed in the fullness of time, and by Your bloody atonement You regained for them that peace which their sins had broken and lost.

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Among the early Christians the holy season of Lent was a season of devotion and prayer, and it was spent in special meditation upon the sufferings of Jesus. This custom is observed among Christians to this day. While Satan has induced the children of the world to enter upon the season of Lent, not with prayer and devotion, but with drunkenness, masquerades, gluttony, dissipation, and wickedness. And by this they show that they care nothing for the crucified Lord Jesus, and trample His blood under foot. On the other hand, the children of God have a different spirit: they regard these things with horror.

They begin this season with prayer and singing, thus preparing their hearts for the contemplation of the sufferings of Jesus. They place before their eyes the entire passion of Jesus: from Gethsemane to the trials before the high priest and later Pilate, to Golgotha and the cross. As they contemplate each detail, they say: "And He did all this for me." While persuing these sacred meditations at home or at church, they do not stop with the mere history of the events, nor do they let their devotion vanish with the ending of Lent. Rather, they intend to draw comfort from the wounds of Jesus throughout their earthly pilgrimage, and especially in their dying hour they wish to remember the crucified and risen Christ. This remembrance prompts them to crucify their sinful desires, so that they no longer live after the manner of the world, or sin purposefully, but so that they die to sin and rise to new life with Christ. God blesses such diligence, zeal and desire for sanctification in their lives.