But we show our love for Our Lord, not only by our worship and adoration but also by our acts of self-denial.  

During Lent we shall be going without various pleasures in order to gain greater control over our instincts and thereby over ourselves.  But self-denial by itself will not bring us nearer to God.  The Pharisees were very exact and thoroughgoing in their self-denial – much more than any of us is likely to be.  But Our Lord condemned them because they were content for it to be a routine course of training in which they never got beyond thinking about themselves.