St Paul compares this process to the training of an athlete in preparation for the games held at Corinth every two years.  “Athletes exercise self-control in all things;” he wrote to the Christians in the city, “they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one” (NRSV, 1 Corinthians 9:25).  It is worthy of note that the Corinthian Games, to which Paul was referring, formed part of a pagan religious festival in honour of Poseidon, the god of the sea.  The training of the athletes, therefore, like the contests themselves in which they competed, was not concerned with their physical fitness as such nor only with the fame which victory would bring them.  Their real object was to honour the god Poseidon by their achievements in the stadium.

And so our self-denial this Lent should be undertaken not merely with the limited aim of strengthening our will power, but rather that by thus increasing our ability to resist temptation, we may offer ourselves more fully to Our Blessed Lord and so do him greater honour.

So let there be nothing grudging in the way we keep this Lent.  Let us be generous to God with our devotion and our self-denial – for God loves a cheerful giver.