LENT 2009:

  The Pope's audience on December 11, 2008 addressed the topic of the 2009 Lenten Season.  Simply stated, as Pope Benedict said, the one way to conquer ourselves and our inordinate appetites, is through prayer and fasting.  As he said here:

Benedict XVI on Lent 2009, December 11, 2008:  

[I]t seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person. Quite opportunely, an ancient hymn of the Lenten liturgy exhorts: “Utamur ergo parcius, / verbis cibis et potibus, / somno, iocis et arctius / perstemus in custodia – Let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and amusements. May we be more alert in the custody of our senses.” 

To see the entire article, Click Here.