"Most of us can give up coffee or alcohol or chocolate for a day or two without really noticing, but to give them up for forty days is quite another matter. Your body will really notice that you have taken something away that it was used to receiving on a regular basis. It will make you feel that loss. Gradually as the days go by, though, your body will not remember its need for that particular fix any more. You will have changed something. Forty days is long enough to change all but the most deeply rooted habits.
"That's not the reason why Lent lasts for forty days, but it is a helpful piece of coincidence. The real reason is that forty days is the period of time that Jesus spent in the wilderness, as we read in Matthew’s Gospel. We keep Lent to try to share some of that experience with him.”
Excerpt from Approaching Easter: Lenten Reflections, Jane Williams, pages 9-10
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