Lent is forty days of preparing for Easter, remembering the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness. It begins on Ash Wednesday with a reminder that we are dust, and it ends at the empty tomb.
The forty days are counted without the Sundays, which the Church has always kept as small Easters. On a Sunday, rest, or read back over a day that stayed with you.
Lent is not a test to pass. The penitential psalms here are for coming home, not for proving anything, and every day is open whenever you are ready for it.
The last six days walk through Holy Week. If you would rather walk that week more closely, the Holy Week journey takes it one day at a time from Palm Sunday to Easter.
Ash Wednesday: Dust and mercy
The first four days begin where Lent begins: honest about sin, honest about our frailty, and held by mercy.
Week 1: Into the wilderness
Jesus was led into the wilderness for forty days. This week's psalms know about hunger, thirst and testing.
- Day 5A shelter, not a charmWeek 1 · Monday · Psalm 91
- Day 6A dry and weary landWeek 1 · Tuesday · Psalm 63
- Day 7Listening todayWeek 1 · Wednesday · Psalm 95
- Day 8Help for the roadWeek 1 · Thursday · Psalm 121
- Day 9Bread in the wildernessWeek 1 · Friday · Psalm 78
- Day 10Thirst for GodWeek 1 · Saturday · Psalm 42
Week 2: Trusting in the dark
Abraham went out not knowing where he was going. These psalms trust God when the way is not yet clear.
Week 3: Coming home
The penitential psalms are the heart of Lent. This week walks through them as a way home, not a way of punishment.
- Day 17Forgiveness with GodWeek 3 · Monday · Psalm 130
- Day 18Mercy rememberedWeek 3 · Tuesday · Psalm 25
- Day 19Pain and guilt togetherWeek 3 · Wednesday · Psalm 38
- Day 20Tears on the pillowWeek 3 · Thursday · Psalm 6
- Day 21Mercy, not a recordWeek 3 · Friday · Psalm 143
- Day 22The one who remainsWeek 3 · Saturday · Psalm 102
Week 4: Light for the way
The middle of Lent turns toward light and guidance: a shepherd, a lamp, and a God who finds the lost.
- Day 23The shepherdWeek 4 · Monday · Psalm 23
- Day 24A lamp and a lost sheepWeek 4 · Tuesday · Psalm 119
- Day 25Nowhere God is notWeek 4 · Wednesday · Psalm 139
- Day 26Radiant, not ashamedWeek 4 · Thursday · Psalm 34
- Day 27He stills the stormWeek 4 · Friday · Psalm 107
- Day 28Longing for his houseWeek 4 · Saturday · Psalm 84
Week 5: In the depths
As the cross comes nearer, these psalms stay close to suffering and do not rush past it.
Holy Week
The last six days of Lent follow Jesus through the week of his passion, from the Monday after Palm Sunday to the silence of Holy Saturday.