Forty Days in the Desert of Lent - Day 1

"Hast thou run so many circles of the years busied in vain about the world, and hast thou not forty days to be free for prayer, for thine own soul's sake?

Be still, and know that I am God, saith the Scripture. Excuse thyself from talking many idle words: neither backbite, nor lend a willing ear to backbiters; but rather be prompt to prayer. Shew in ascetic exercise that thy heart is nerved. Cleanse thy vessel, that thou mayest receive grace more abundantly."

- St. Kyril, presbyter and later bishop of Jersusalem, c. 348 A.D., from his lectures to catechumens.