Lent is a time of discipline and self-denial that begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts until Holy Saturday, for a total of forty days, not including Sundays.  

The forty days of Lent remind us of the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness and the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness tempted by Satan.  

The devotion of Lent is meant to be a time of preparation, not punishment ... We engage in disciplines and devotions that draw us closer to God, so that we are ready to walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem and the cross.