If you woke up this morning with the sinking realization that Lent has begun and you have no idea what you’re doing… have no fear because CatholicVote is here!
Listed below are five last-minute ideas for how you can make this a truly fruitful Lent.
1. Give up the snooze button
Deny the impulse to sleep for five more minutes and instead get up as soon as your alarm goes off. St. Josemaría Escrivá calls this the Heroic Minute. It is “the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and… up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.”
In that spirit, consider practicing the Heroic Minute and then use the extra time in the morning profitably for prayer or spiritual reading.
2. Embrace silence in the car
As Cardinal Sarah points out in The Power of Silence, “Without noise, postmodern man falls into a dull, insistent uneasiness. He is accustomed to permanent background noise, which sickens yet reassures him.”
The Cardinal rightly observes that we tend to constantly fill the silences in our lives as we go from one thing to another. What about giving that “in between” time to God, who uses silence to teach us about Himself and about ourselves?
Find out what He has to say this Lent by fasting from the noise of podcasts (except for LOOPcast, of course!) and music while you’re driving.
3. Commit to praying for the Church Suffering every day
The often forgotten poor souls in Purgatory are undergoing intense suffering in the process of purification and will greatly benefit from the prayers and penances we, the Church Militant, offer on their behalf.
Venerable Fulton Sheen once said: “As we enter Heaven, we will see them, so many of them, coming towards us and thanking us. We will ask who they are, and they will say ‘a poor soul you prayed for in Purgatory.’”
So offer up your daily Mass, Rosary, Holy Hour, or Divine Mercy Chaplet for our brothers and sisters in Purgatory, especially those who may have no one else to pray for them.
4. (Don’t) treat yo self
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” –Matthew 6:19-21
Embrace the poverty of Christ and give up non-essential shopping for 40 days. This could take the form of renouncing new clothes and shoes, canceling subscriptions, forgoing expensive coffees and eating out, or refraining from online shopping.
This Lenten mortification will help you detach from material things and practice almsgiving by redirecting the money you would have spent on yourself to the poor or to your parish.
5. Swap unwholesome screen time for faith formation
Imagine if the time we spent watching T.V., playing video games, or scrolling on social media was actually the time we spent growing in love and knowledge of Jesus Christ and our faith?
As alternatives to those distracting activities, consider:
exploring the plethora of content on FORMED to learn more about the Sacraments, the lives of the saints, and Scripture, or
downloading the Ascension app to access free, weekly Lenten video reflections with Fr. Mark Toups and The Catechism in a Year (With Fr. Mike Schmitz) to better appreciate the power and beauty of the Church’s timeless teachings, or
reading spiritual writings from the saints or books that will help you grow closer to Christ.
>>> CLICK HERE FOR MORE IDEAS FOR LENTEN PRACTICES <<<
Now that you have some ideas, don’t wait to put your Lenten resolutions into practice! As St. Augustine (might have) said, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”
Editorial note: Due to the propensity of the author to “put off til tomorrow,” this article is running a day late.
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