It is principally a time for contemplation, considering the Way set out for us in the Gospels, what I have achieved and how far along the Way I have travelled, but also where Jesus was and what he was doing in the time leading up to Easter.

Having enjoyed the celebration of Christmas and the joy of knowing that God came among us in human form, it is a time for acknowledging mankind’s human frailty and to consider how I can better understand Christ’s struggle as God living as a man.

It helps me to focus on how I should deal with the temptations of life, not necessarily to give up something I particularly find pleasurable, but more to consider what more I can do to share the suffering on the cross on Good Friday, the better to rejoice in the Resurrection.

By Jeremy Duerden, chairman of the Friends of Blackburn Cathedral