Lent is coming. Are you still looking for penance suggestions? I have a few to offer.
Lent is your 40-day window of opportunity! Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, when recounting Jesus’ descent into Limbo, relates the following concerning how we must labor with our Lord Jesus Christ in order to share in His merits:
All that Jesus did for us in time brings forth fruit for eternity, but we must in time cultivate and gather that fruit, otherwise we shall not enjoy it in eternity. The church is the most provident mother. Her year is in time the most complete garden of fruits for eternity.
Lent is one of these opportunities provided by the church to gather fruits for eternity.
How can I use this opportunity best?
Ask yourself:
- Do I need to make more time for God in my daily life?
- Do I need to make more time for my family in my daily life?
- Do I need to curb excesses in my life?
- Do I care too much about the good opinion of other people?
- Do I need to impose structure on my undisciplined lifestyle?
- Do I need to overcome a destructive habit?
- Do I need to reign in the endless stream of distractions?
- Do I need to practice detachment?
- Do I need to add fervor to my prayers?
You get the idea. Make a list of the habits you wish to overcome this Lent.
Got my list. Now what?
Since habit is overcome by habit, it is not enough to figure out what needs to go: You need something better to replace the old habit with. The goal of many of these is to break habits that border on addiction to free yourself from attachment to the things of the world, thus making room for the things of eternity.
Here are some suggestions for habits to develop this Lent.
- Set your alarm an hour earlier than usual. Use the extra time for the thing you always claim you do not have time for, like praying the Holy Rosary, for example.
- Use Lent to learn how to pray the Holy Rosary in Latin.
- Use Lent to learn how to pray The Stations of the Cross.
- Pray the Angelus at 6am, 12pm and 6pm, or at least at any one of these three times, every day throughout Lent.
- Dress decidedly modestly for 40 days: Close the top button of your shirt or blouse, wear long sleeves, choose decency over comfort when it comes to pants, shoes, t-shirts. Cover your head.
- Ladies: Don’t use make-up or style your hair during Lent. At all.
- Be charitable with your time and attention: Listen more, speak less,
- Do promptly what you are asked to do. Offer help instead of hoping nobody will ask anything of you.
- Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day, preferably at 3pm, the Hour of Mercy. You can also pray along with this sung version.
- Read only for edification, not for entertainment: No fiction! (Book suggestions under the next item)
- Do not use social media (at all) during Lent. Instead, read something edifying like
- Book of Job, Isaiah, Gospel of John or any other book of Scripture that helps you understand the meaning of sacrifice, penance, and redemption – you choose!
- Thomas a Kempis’ “Imitations of Christ”
- Anne Catherine Emmerich’s “The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ”
- St. Faustina’s Diary
- Any book written by (or about) the Church Fathers or a Saint
- Any book relating to the Holy Rosary and the Blessed Virgin
- Do not watch TV, Netflix, YouTube or whatever you are normally watching (at all) during Lent. Instead, read something edifying (see above).
- Do not listen to secular music during Lent. Stick with sacred music like Gregorian chant or classical music that is either explicitly dedicated to God (like Bach or Buxtehude) or Scripture set to music.
- Do not use earphones (at all) during Lent.
- Eat only one meal per day during Lent. Make sure to drink enough.
- Abstain from beverages that you have got used to: coffee, alcoholic beverages, sodas, energy drinks and the like. Stick with tea, water, milk or plain fruit juice.
- Take the Disciplina every day for as long as it takes to read/recite Psalm 50/51 (“Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam”, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy”), as St. Faustina stipulated for her order.
Obviously, the list could go on endlessly. Feel free to add to it!
Note: It makes very little sense to try doing ALL THESE (or all items on your own list) at the same time. Pick some things and stick with them. Some habit changers can be connected, like getting up earlier and praying the Rosary, or not watching TV and reading something edifying instead.
