Welcome to Lent, everyone! Once again, we have arrived at that sorrowful and mysterious time of the year when we feel the need to better ourselves by sacrificial means.
“What are you giving up for Lent?” we’ll be asked and answer with either our prepared answer (e.g. “coffee,” “coffee creamer,” “coffee from Starbucks,” “a second cup of coffee,” “caffeinated coffee,” “coffee after 12 noon” — by the way, I don’t drink coffee at all, but it seems like a wonderful vehicle through which to be penitential), we’ll think of something on the fly (maybe this is why people need their morning coffee), or we’ll be honest and say “I don’t know yet”.
If anyone needs ideas on what to “give up” or fast from during Lent, there are ideas aplenty.
The same blogs, articles, and other writings are rehashed every year (and some are quite good, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel).
Many people, including several I know personally, have already started this journey through programs such as Exodus 90, a “90-day spiritual exercise for men based on three pillars: Prayer, asceticism, and fraternity.”
Among its features, it includes quite a list of tasks such as: Take short, cold showers; abstain from desserts and sweets; abstain from soda or sweet drinks; abstain from television, movies, and televised sports; abstain from non-essential material purchases; and only listen to music that lifts the soul to God, among others.
There have been a lot of anecdotal experiences that prop up the successes of programs like these so if they work, great.
I also know I see a lot of people year after year be absolutely tortured and struggling through Lent via brute force to make it to Easter and then binge on everything to make up for lost time.
Was the pain worth it just to get back to where you were before?
Just a thought
One part of programs, like Exodus 90, did catch my attention and gave me an idea of how some people might want to approach their Lent.
The “abstain from non-essential material purchases” is a fascinating idea and one I’ve done during Lent in the past and will do again this year.
I’d like to take it a step further and suggest instead of denying yourself good things in life (as long as you are not consuming them in harmful levels of excess), be happy with what you have.
Instead of looking for new books to read or movies to watch, make use of your existing stash and stay off of Amazon.
If you want a new TV series to “binge,” check out formed.org or some other Catholic media source. There are so many underappreciated resources out there when it comes to growing in your Catholic faith.
Don’t have any great ideas for dinner? Tempted to go out? Check out what’s in the freezer, fridge, or pantry first and make something.
Instead of ignoring what you already have and running forward to get something “new,” see if something you already have been blessed with will satisfy your desires.
In a sense, I’m asking you to consider giving up “new” things for Lent.
Don’t hurt yourself by denying what is good. Embrace what you’ve been gifted and blessed with.
This will help you to examine how good God really has been with you. You’ll also get a chance to assess where you are empty in life and what does need some refilling, hopefully spiritually.
You’ll live more simply, appreciate things more, and probably save yourself a lot of money.
Again, if being a modern-day John the Baptist and limiting yourself to 2023 versions of locusts and wild honey works for you, do that, and be a leader, prophet, and example to the rest of us.
If not, there are ways to live out Lent without gritting your teeth to the finish line and relying on your own strength and willpower to “give up” things for the sake of giving them up.
To Easter and beyond
I haven’t forgotten the other priorities of Lent, prayer and almsgiving.
I have two small ideas for that.
For prayer, add another prayer time to your day. If you pray in the mornings, pray in the evening too for the same amount of time. If you don’t pray before bed, add that too. If you’re already praying at morning, evening, and night, increase your prayer time during those times.
You don’t need to pray as much as anyone else is, just pray more than you are.
For almsgiving during Lent, you can either double what you’re giving to your parish already (no, I don’t want to hear any “two times zero is still zero” jokes, you can do better than that), or every Friday during Lent, find something good and charitable to donate money to — as much as you can afford, but it should hurt a little bit. You’re saving money not buying new things, right?
Above all, just do a little better this Lent than you have been before.
Make goals that you want to keep doing once Easter gets here and is past.
Lent shouldn’t be torture for torture’s sake. It should be a time to get closer to God, however that looks for you.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.