40-Day Lent Calendar

A free printable 40-day Lent calendar with daily Bible passages, devotional themes, and a coloring page suggestion for each day. Perfect for families, Sunday school, and homeschool.

Why we observe Lent

Lent is the 40-day Christian observance of penance, prayer, and almsgiving that prepares believers for Easter. It commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Many Christians give up something for Lent and add daily Bible reading.

Weekly structure

The 40 days of Lent are organized into 6 weeks + Holy Week:

Ash Wednesday week: Repentance, fasting (Joel 2, Matthew 6).
Week 1: Temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4).
Week 2: Transfiguration (Matthew 17).
Week 3: Woman at the well (John 4).
Week 4: Healing the blind man (John 9).
Week 5: Raising of Lazarus (John 11).
Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Last Supper, crucifixion, resurrection (Matthew 21–28).

Suggested coloring page rotation

For each week, color one of our printable pages tied to that week's theme:

Stations of the Cross — color one station per day during Holy Week.
Easter Bible coloring pages — culminate Easter Sunday.
Parables of Jesus — many Lent readings come from the parables.

All Lent resources free for personal, classroom, Sunday school, and church use under our free license.

Lent calendar — 40-day printable journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter

The 40 days of Lent are the most spiritually intensive period in the Christian liturgical year — a time of preparation, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving leading up to the Easter celebration of the Resurrection. Across Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist traditions, Lent is observed with specific disciplines designed to deepen the believer's relationship with Christ through the imitation of his 40 days of wilderness fasting (Matthew 4:1-11).

This Lent calendar page provides a 40-day printable journey — one coloring page per day from Ash Wednesday through Easter Saturday — designed for family devotion, individual contemplative practice, and parish small-group use.

Understanding the 40 days

The 40 days of Lent are counted from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, excluding Sundays (since Sundays are always "little Easters" celebrating the Resurrection, never penitential). The arithmetic:

Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday: 46 calendar days
Minus 6 Sundays
= 40 days of fasting

The number 40 echoes:

Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)
Israel's 40 years in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33-34)
Moses' 40 days on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:18)
Elijah's 40 days journey to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8)
Noah's flood lasting 40 days (Genesis 7:12)

The biblical pattern: 40 is the duration of testing, preparation, and transformation.

The 40-day calendar structure

Our Lent calendar provides one printable page per day across the 40 days. The progression follows these movements:

Days 1-7 (Ash Wednesday + first week)

Theme: Beginning the journey — receiving ashes, embracing the wilderness, beginning fasts and disciplines.

Day 1 (Ash Wednesday): The ashes — "Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return"
Day 2: Jesus in the wilderness — Matthew 4:1
Day 3: The first temptation — turning stones to bread
Day 4: The second temptation — testing God
Day 5: The third temptation — worshiping the tempter
Day 6: Angels ministering to Jesus
Day 7: First Saturday of Lent

Days 8-14 (Second week of Lent)

Theme: Beginning prayer disciplines, exploring the Stations.

Days 8-14: First Stations meditations (Stations 1-7 from our Stations of the Cross bundle)

Days 15-21 (Third week of Lent)

Theme: Almsgiving — works of mercy, generosity, caring for the poor.

Days 15-21: The corporal works of mercy illustrated (feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, etc.) — see our Catholic content

Days 22-28 (Fourth week of Lent — Laetare Sunday)

Theme: Joy in the journey — Laetare Sunday (mid-Lent) introduces a brief note of joy. Rose-pink vestments.

Days 22-28: Joy passages and reflections

Days 29-35 (Fifth week of Lent)

Theme: The Passion approaches — the "Passiontide" focus on Jesus' suffering.

Days 29-35: Final Stations (Stations 8-14)

Days 36-40 (Holy Week)

Theme: The intensive final week — Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday.

Day 36 (Palm Sunday): The Triumphal Entry
Day 37 (Holy Monday): Cleansing the temple
Day 38 (Holy Tuesday): Teaching in the temple
Day 39 (Holy Wednesday): Judas's betrayal
Day 40 (Maundy Thursday): The Last Supper

Then Good Friday and Holy Saturday culminate in Easter Sunday.

The three Lenten disciplines

The traditional Lenten disciplines, prescribed by the Church Fathers and recommended by every traditional Christian community:

1. Prayer

Increased prayer during Lent — daily Mass attendance for Catholics, daily devotional reading for Protestants, the Stations of the Cross on Fridays, the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours, contemplative practices.

Our Lent calendar provides one prayer prompt per day to support this discipline.

2. Fasting

Traditionally, Catholic and Orthodox Christians fast (one full meal per day, with two smaller "collations") on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstain from meat on Fridays. Protestant traditions vary widely in their Lenten fasting practices.

Beyond food fasting, many Christians "give up" something specific for Lent — social media, sweets, screen time, alcohol. The point isn't the deprivation itself but the redirection of desire toward God.

3. Almsgiving

The practice of giving — to the poor, to the church, to charitable causes. Traditional Catholic practice includes the rice bowl (collecting daily small donations for hunger relief), the "Lenten alms" given to the parish, and increased works of mercy.

Our Lent calendar suggests one specific generosity practice per week.

Family Lent calendar practice

For families using our Lent calendar at home:

Setup (the week before Ash Wednesday)

Print the 40-page Lent calendar bundle
Punch holes and assemble in a binder
Buy or make a Lenten cross for the family table

Daily rhythm

Color the day's page (10-15 minutes)
Read the day's brief scripture passage
Pray the day's prayer prompt
Take the day's small action

Weekly Sunday gathering

Look at the past week's colored pages
Discuss the week's theme
Light an extra candle each week (some families add candles like an Advent wreath)
Read the Sunday gospel

Holy Week intensive (days 36-40)

The final week of Lent intensifies. Daily prayer becomes more substantive. Many families attend daily Mass during Holy Week.

Easter Sunday celebration

After 40 days, the Lenten fast is broken with celebration. The colored pages from the 40 days become a permanent record of the season. The full binder is reviewed as the family thanks God for the journey.

Lent for the unbaptized — RCIA preparation

For adults preparing for baptism through the Catholic Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), Lent is the final preparation period before Easter Vigil baptism. Our Lent calendar can serve as the daily devotional companion through these final 40 days.

The catechumens (those preparing for baptism) and candidates (already baptized in other traditions, preparing for full communion) join the parish on the journey through Lent.

Editorial standards

Standard editorial policy applies. Lent-specific notes:

Theological breadth

Lent is observed substantially in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist traditions, less centrally in evangelical and Pentecostal traditions. Our content is calibrated for the liturgical traditions that observe Lent intensively, while remaining accessible to others who choose to participate.

Age sensitivity

The Stations of the Cross content during Lent involves the Passion narrative. Our age-tier policy on Passion violence imagery applies — preschool material is calibrated for age-appropriateness, adult material allows full devotional engagement.