Augustine of Hippo

But there is a great and general fasting, which is perfect fasting, to abstain from the iniquities and illicit pleasures of the world: "that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we may live soberly and justly and godly in this world." What reward does the apostle add to this fasting? He continues and says, "Looking for that blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of the blessed God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Therefore, in this world we celebrate, so to speak, a Lent of abstinence when we live well, when we abstain from iniquities and illicit pleasures. But because this abstinence will not be without a wage, we look for "that blessed hope." In that hope, when reality shall have come to pass from hope, we shall receive a denarius as a wage.