40 Days

Matt Maher

(Based on 3 votes)

Reviews | You Rate It | Lyrics | Artist Reflection

Reviews

Emma from Tucson, AZ on March 27, 2006
I love the lyrics; they are the best. Every Sunday in Lent this year we have sung this as a Closing Song.

Ken from Fort Wayne, Indiana on March 2, 2006
This is my favorite Lent song! We play it at the school Masses and the students love it.

Ryan from Mississauga Ontario on July 25, 2005
This is one of my favourite songs anywhere. It is a great tune and the lyrics are so insightful and thought provoking. Really makes me think about the core values of my faith, of fasting and of Lent.

Lyrics

40 days to wander, 40 days to die to self.
40 days to grow stronger
as faith breaks open the gates of hell.

The Jubilee is over, but grace is far from gone.
In the hearts of the faithful,
broken on the wheels of love.

In the desert of temptation
lies the storm of true conversion,
where springs of living water drown and refresh you.

And as the Jordan pours out change,
your true self is all that remains,
where springs of living water bind and break you.

40 days to remember the Paschal sacrifice.
40 days to discover
as passion calls us to new life.

The Jubilee is over but mercy is far from gone.
In the arms of the Father
as the wayward child comes home.

Artist Reflection

Lent is a word which means, literally, 40 days. It is the forty days for us to fast and prepare out hearts for the resurrection. About three years ago, I was reading Matthew’s gospel account of Jesus, and how the Lord went into the desert for 40 days. He was tempted by Satan as He fasted and prayed, and resisted those temptations. I thought that temptation itself can feel like a desert -– dry, barren, isolated -– with no relief in sight. It’s really hot in the day, and really cold at night. But in those times of temptation lie the opportunities to turn our hearts over to God. That is where real conversion happens. Because of God’s mercy and grace, we too, like Jesus, can resist temptation.

Our faith lives honeymoon (the Jubilee) is over, but grace is lived and shown in the everyday actions we do. Our baptism is such a divine contradiction of death and life: only can the waters of baptism drown us and refresh us at the same time. Our old selves die and the child of God is awakened as original sin is removed. In Baptism, we are “branded” for God –- an indelible mark is made on our soul. That’s what Lent is for... to rediscover this Mystery and gift of love that God has given to us all. Have a Holy and blessed 40 days. I dare you to wander to the cross.

-- Matt Maher