This Wednesday, the 17th of February is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. During these forty days, the Church recommends that we renew and revitalize our relationship with our Lord in order to be able to celebrate well the sacred Easter Triduum. This renewal is to come about through our practice of the traditional trio of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. While many of us try to be attentive to fasting ("giving something up for Lent"), it is easy to neglect, or at least not concentrate on, the other two -- prayer and almsgiving. In a real sense, our fasting should easily lead us to prayer and almsgiving, by freeing up time (to devote to God through prayer and spiritual reading) and money (to ease the material suffering of others by what we save in not giving to ourselves). Try to make this Lent a time of taking up the three together in order to make Lent a real time of spiritual renewal. Fasting alone can be good for the soul, but it often devolves to being only good for our waistline; by adding prayer and almsgiving, fasting becomes good for body and soul!
Some ideas for prayer/spiritual reading during Lent:
- Pray the Rosary daily, if you do not already do so.
- Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy (ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm)
- Read a chapter of Sacred Scripture each day. I particularly favor the Prophet Jeremiah or the Gospel of John for Lent.
- Read some writings of the saints. Fr. Jerabek has arranged various reading plans for Lent and are worth checking out. The advantage is that they can be accessed online so can be read anywhere without having to carry a book around. They are available here: www.lovethechurch.com/lent
- Assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as often as possible during the weeks of Lent.
Whatever you choose to do, know that our Lord rewards richly those who seek Him with a contrite heart. A blessed Lent to all!
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