"The purpose of the first part of Lent is to bring us to compunction.  'Compunction' is related to the verb 'to puncture' and suggests the deflation of our inflated egos, a challenge to any self-deceit about the quality of our lives as disciples of Jesus.

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"By hitting us again and again with demands which we not only fail to obey, but which we come to recognize as being quite beyond us, the Gospel passages are meant to trouble us, to confront our illusions about ourselves.

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"'Remember, you are dust...' from this perspective, Lenten penance may be more effective if we fail our resolutions than if we succeed, for its purpose is not to confirm us in our sense of virtue, but to bring home to us our radical need
of salvation."

The Spirit of Lent, Notre Dame Center for Liturgy

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