Lent is a privileged time of interior pilgrimage towards Jesus, the fount of mercy. These 40 days are an opportunity to deepen the meaning and value of our Christian lives through the Lenten pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
A good question to ask yourself when deciding how to observe Lent this year is “Lord, what is distracting my spirit from you?”
If you don’t have a Lent game plan yet, here are some suggestions of unique things you can do during Lent to draw nearer to Jesus.
Prayer
- Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to stop and briefly pray at a certain time every day. Perhaps at 12:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. you set a reminder to pray the Angelus or at another time to remind you to pray a Hail Mary or read a line of scripture
- Add prayer to your daily routine – for example, you can say a prayer every morning while you brush your teeth, before you eat, or before you open an app on your phone
- Read through one of the four Gospels and meditate on the life of Christ
- Read 3-4 of the Psalms every day – by the end of Lent you’ll have read all 150 of them!
- Use one of our lock screens to remind you all that communication should glorify God
Fasting
- Fasting from bad habits/sinful behaviors – identify them and give them up for good!
- Fasting from good things – get creative! Think of the modern conveniences you enjoy daily and that make life a bit easier.
- You can fast from social media, looking at your phone when you’re with friends and family, looking at yourself in the mirror, taking hot showers (try lukewarm instead), using a hair product, using the seat warmer in your car, salting your food, cream in your coffee, etc.
- Make your phone/tablet less distracting by changing the display settings to grayscale
Almsgiving
- Step up your tithing during Lent and give to all the second collections
- Give the gift of your time to someone who is lonely and in need of conversation and companionship
- Call or visit your grandparents or an elderly relative or neighbor
- Pay for someone else’s coffee or meal
- Donate a clothing item you still like to wear
- Take five non-perishable items out of your pantry and donate them to a local soup kitchen