Every year, as Lent approaches, I think to myself, “alright Lent is starting next week, I have to figure out what I’m doing this year before it gets here”.
But somehow it still happens.
If you’re anything like me, it’s always a week into Lent before I have decided what I am doing in regards to what I am giving up for Lent.
However, it’s never too late to pick something, because holiness is something we have to choose every single day.
What is it that you usually end up doing for Lent?
Some people give up chocolate. Others add something, like more prayer, instead of giving something up.
Regardless what it is, at the end of Lent, we want to look back and see how it went. I think we’ve all had those years where we have had a “Lent fail.”
Here are 3 things to do that I think can make your Lent more fruitful for you.
Afterall, Lent is supposed to prepare us spiritually for Easter, so we can celebrate Easter more fully.
So if you haven’t decided what to do for Lent, try these.
Give Something Up for Lent
First of all, why do we give something up for Lent?
Giving something up for Lent does several things in our life, all of which are important. There are different aspects that we can take away from it.
Giving something up for Lent is a little way of fasting.
We’re all called to do 3 things during Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Giving something up is one way that we can fast from something. It doesn’t even have to be food.
Giving something up for Lent is a way to deny ourselves. It’s not that the things we give up for lent are necessarily bad in themselves, but it does give us a way to get outside of ourselves, and not always consume everything we want, when we want.
We are living in a culture and a time right now that is all about immediate gratification. Lent is a time when we can step back from that mentality and say to ourselves, I don’t need this particular food or item right now.
I think denying ourselves of little things, at times, can help teach us how to deny ourselves and say no to bigger things when they come around in our lives. If we are conditioned to always get what we want, it’s a lot harder to deny ourselves of something we shouldn’t be going after when that time arrives.
On the other hand, if we teach ourselves to be able to say no at times, we are more likely to be able to reject temptation when it comes around.
Giving something up for Lent can also help rid ourselves of something that is keeping us from God. What is something in your life right now that is a barrier in your faith life that is coming between you and God?
Again, maybe the things we give up aren’t bad in themselves, but when we focus too much on ourselves or things, we become attached to them and they consume us. They can consume us to the point that it is actually creating an invisible wedge between us and God.
For example, how much time do you spend on Facebook a day? Or Netflix? Now, how much time did you spend in prayer? See what I mean?
Fr. Mike Schmitz, of Ascension Presents, says Lent helps to do 2 things:
“Back in the day, like almost 2000 years ago, almost, only a couple centuries shy, people come into the Church. It was a long process. In the last little stretch of time, in that coming into the Church, was a season called the season of purification and enlightenment. The whole idea was this: okay what’s still in my life that can’t be in my life if I’m going to follow after Jesus? So I need be purified of that. The second thing, that enlightenment, is what are the ways which I need to take steps to follow after Jesus to get closer to him and to start conforming my life to his? How can I let God use this time in me to make me the person he wants me to be? How do I be a saint?”
So giving something up can do 2 things for us:
- To purify my life of the things keeping me from the Lord or from being present
- To get closer to Jesus
The key to giving something up for Lent is in what we choose. When you choose to give something up, don’t make it way too difficult.
It’s like setting a goal. I think we’ve all heard this advice for setting a goal. Don’t set your goals too high to a point that it is impossible to achieve. Conversely, we also don’t want to set our goals too low, to a point that it is too easy to achieve and we don’t grow out of the experience.
The same is true for giving something up for Lent. Don’t choose something that you will never be able to complete. On the other hand, don’t choose something that is too easy, either.
We want Lent to be a time that helps us to die to ourselves, so that we can celebrate the resurrection more fully during Easter.
Add Something for Lent
In addition to giving something up for Lent, I think we can also grow in holiness by adding something during Lent.
What do I mean by adding something?
Well, if we give something up to purify ourselves and to deny ourselves, what is something I can add that will help me grow closer to Jesus?
Maybe it is adding some time in my day for prayer.
Matthew Kelly, of Dynamic Catholic, has a Lenten video series called Best Lent Ever. It’s free. You just sign up for it and he sends you a daily, short 4 or 5 minute video to your email each day.
The videos usually have some sort of reflection in a way that encourages us to think about our daily lives.
Maybe this is something you want to add for Lent.
It’s not too late to sign up!
Make it part of your morning to watch the video. Then say a few prayers after and reflect on how you can incorporate the message that day into your own life.
Of the three things during Lent (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving), adding something could be one way that you add some extra prayer to your life during this season.
Who knows, maybe it will stick with you after Lent is over, too!
The same is true for adding something during Lent as is giving something up – don’t try to add something that you won’t follow through with.
But at the same time, give yourself a little push and challenge. If you don’t have a strong prayer life, maybe try to start out with committing 10 minutes each day in prayer.
Need help praying? Try our free digital prayer book. You can download it right to your phone and have it with you at all times. It is a collection of Catholic prayers that will help you pray at any time of the day, no matter how you are feeling.
[Free download: The Ultimate Collection of Catholic Prayers]
Growing spiritually is similar to working out and exercising. If you aren’t use to working out, you can’t walk into the gym and start lifting your maximum weight and repetitions. You start small and work your way up to it.
Fr. Michael Denk at The Prodigal Father, has a great Pray40Days app on his site that you can sign up for free. It guides you through 40 days of prayer and meditation and helps you to have a better prayer life.
Another thing that can help you increase your prayer each day is to read the daily Mass readings. Use them to read scripture each day and pray along with them.
You can receive the readings right to your email each morning from the USCCB. Just sign up on the bottom of their page.
I also like to use Bishop Barron’s daily Gospel reflection, from Word on Fire, to help guide my prayer each morning as well. This also comes by email.
Give During Lent
As you may have guessed, the third way to make your Lent more fruitful is to give. The third part of what we do at Lent is almsgiving.
When we give alms, we give to help others in need. It could involve money, food, or maybe in other ways, such as our time or talents.
Giving our time could involve volunteering, but it could also involve other things, too. You could decide to help others during Lent with your time or other things you might be good at. If you decide to do something with your time, make sure you do it consistently.
Whichever it is you decide to do, make it generous.
As Fr. Mike Schmitz says, “We’re not called to give from our surplus, we’re called to give from our need, from our substance.”
One way to give alms during Lent is to partake in the Rice Bowl from Catholic Relief Services (CRS). At your local parish, you should be able to get one of the cardboard boxes, or “bowls”, and use it to fill up with money throughout the Lenten season.
There are lots of other places and charities we can support financially. Consumer Catholic provides a list of Catholic-friendly charities.
[Related Content: 7 Questions Catholics Should Ask Before Donating]
Bonus: the 4th Thing that will Complete your Lenten Season
As an added bonus here, I’ll give one more way to make your Lent more fruitful.
Go to confession.
That’s it. It’s easy.
Go to reconciliation.
The Church encourages us to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a year. Lent is a great time to go to confession, as it helps prepare ourselves for the Easter season.
[Related Content: How to Make a Good Confession]
Wrapping it all up…
We celebrate Easter to its fullest when we have properly prepared ourselves during Lent.
Lent is a period of 40 days to wander the desert and to rid ourselves from the things that are keeping us close to God.
It is a chance to die to self, so that we may also rise with Jesus in the resurrection.
If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace. – Romans 6: 8-14
May the things we pick to do during Lent that involve prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, help purify us and grow us closer to Jesus.
The better we prepare during Lent, the better we can celebrate Easter after Lent is over.
So don’t take the easy way out.
At the end of Lent, we want to be able to look back at the season and not see it as another failed year, but instead as something that truly helped us grow in holiness.
As my wife always encourages our 3 year old daughter, “we can do hard things”.
This song by Matt Maher is a nice song of reflection for Lent: