It is now officially one week into Lent and I’m proud to say I have my official “game plan” for Lent worked-out. Some may view my feeling of accomplishment as a bit of joke, because I clearly missed the mark on deciding what to do before Lent starts. However, at this stage of my life, I have acknowledged that I have to work with who I am, and well, I’m just embracing that I have a plan at all!
Before I reveal this hugely profound plan (wink, wink) I want to throw-out a disclaimer. My personal goals and focus for Lent are based on where I’m at in life and my faith journey at this moment. There are hundreds of different ways to approach Lent, so by no means do I mean to discredit penance, sacrifice, and giving-up chocolate. I will be doing a little bit of all of those things, it’s just not my focus right now. The reason is because my family has faced some pretty rough financial trials in the last couple of years that have forced us to sacrifice a good amount of material goods and comforts. I honestly don’t even think we could find 40 things to donate for the 40 days of Lent at this point. And trust me, I’m not complaining about that! After all, I had been praying to simplify my life and become detached from material goods. Now we’re living with my parents and I’m sharing a closet that is a fraction of our walk-in. God is so good at answering prayers, isn’t he???
All joking aside, this year I’ve decided to spend Lent focusing on deepening my understanding of God’s love and mercy by spending time at the foot of the cross. I’ve been praying for years to the Holy Spirit and our Blessed Mother to help deepen my relationship with Jesus, and to come to a greater understanding of who He truly IS. I always felt that I was missing something in my prayer life; that I didn’t know Jesus well enough, like His personality and His heart. Through prayer and a few miraculous experiences in Adoration I feel that I’m being called to immerse myself in His Passion, but specifically by attempting to, as Saint Mother Teresa, would say, “Quench His thirst”. You may be thinking, “Duh, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do anyway during Lent?” And I would say, absolutely, that’s why I’m taking it a step further.
Not only am I taking Lent as an opportunity to get to know Jesus in a deeper way through His passion, console Him at the foot of the cross, but I’m going to incorporate the three components of prayer, fasting, and alms to do achieve my Lenten promises. In order to console His sacred heart through prayer, I plan to spend time with Him in Adoration every week and also contemplate His suffering and great love for us through reading and praying the Stations of the Cross. I’m also going to fast and give alms by being intentional about using fasting as a prayer for the conversion of souls in my family. Lastly, I’m going to engage my family in almsgiving as a way to serve our neighbors, the poor, and the lonely. After all, when we serve others we are in fact serving Jesus. Clearly, that consoles Him. And because I’m a huge dork, I’ve created a chart that I can continually reference to make sure that I’m staying on track. Feel free to use it if you have a similar focus.
In the end, like Saint Therese “The Little Flower,” I have come to recognize my “littleness” and inability to master mortification. I also realize that I’m going to keep falling short if I keep setting lofty penance and fasting resolutions for myself during Lent. Jesus will meet me where I am and will turn it into something beautiful. In the diary of Saint Faustina in her entry 1617, she recorded that Jesus told her “Because you are a child you shall remain close to my heart. Your simplicity is more pleasing to me than your mortifications.” And that, is consoling to my heart.