By Catholic News Service

Responding to editors' requests for a regular sampling of current commentary from around the Catholic press, here is an unsigned editorial titled "Yippee! A time of renewal" from the Feb. 11 issue of the St. Louis Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

We often hear there are 40 days of Lent. That's close, but not really true.

When you count the days from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, there are 46. According to the U.S. bishops' website, it might be more accurate to say that there is a "40-day fast within Lent." The Sundays of Lent are certainly in Lent, but they aren't prescribed days of fast and abstinence owing to the fact that the church considers every Sunday as a "Little Easter."

Apart from the prescribed days of fast and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and the days of abstinence every Friday, Catholics traditionally chose additional penitential practices for the whole time of Lent. These practices are disciplinary in nature and often more effective if they're continuous -- kept on Sundays as well. Such practices aren't regulated by the church, but by individual conscience.

What's all this really about?

Lent is a time of renewal for the whole church, for each community and each believer as Pope Francis states in his Lenten message this year.

In Lent, which begins Feb. 18, we're asked to give up material needs and wants, raise up the needs of others in prayer and offer our time, talent and treasure as stewards of the gifts God has given us.

"God does not ask of us anything that He Himself has not first given us. 'We love because He first has loved us' (1 John 4:19)," Pope Francis explains. "He is not aloof from us. Each one of us has a place in his heart."

A selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, something Christians need to confront. "Indifference to our neighbor and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians," the pope says. "Each year during Lent, we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience."

According to Pope Francis, God's people need interior renewal. This, of course, explains those penitential practices of Lent.

Pope Francis asks us to "make our hearts firm" (James 5:8) and to be "merciful, attentive and generous." Embrace his call to mercy by reaching out to those in need. Be attentive to the Lenten call to prayer; be generous with your time and treasure.

His suggestions include uniting with others in prayer; reaching out to those near and far through the church's many charitable organizations; and responding to a call to conversion.

Catholics also are encouraged to make confession a significant part of their spiritual lives during Lent. In Archbishop Robert J. Carlson's new pastoral letter on the sacrament of reconciliation, "Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician," he writes that the sacrament is where God's desire to heal us meets our desire to be healed.

Make this Lent your time of renewal. You'll be glad you did.

The views or positions presented in this or any guest editorial are those of the individual publication and do not necessarily represent the views of Catholic News Service or of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.