Lent – The Season of Renewal

Spring seems to be coming early this year in the northeast. Our snow is slowly melting, the sap is running, and Lent is just around the corner. Traditional Lenten practices encourage our bodies to refresh, while Lenten prayers renew our souls and help us to grow closer to God through repentance.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the pillars of Lenten practice. These pillars are designed both to encourage us in repentance and refresh our relationship to Christ in preparation for the celebration of His Resurrection. But sometimes, we can turn Lent into one, giant distraction. We can focus so much on the actions of Lent and forget that Lent is a season of interior renewal.

Springtime

Lent is meant to be the springtime of our hearts. The season when the snow melts, the sap runs, and new life springs up from the barren ground. In Lent, if we allow ourselves to look closely, we’ll “see God striding across the earth like a sower; he takes his heart in both and scatters it over the face of the earth” (Paul Claudel).

I love Lent. It’s my favorite season. Lent feels like a new chance at the whole year. It feels like planting flats of seeds and watching them sprout. Or like hatching baby chicks and watching them grow. Lent is the season in which “the earth is like a child that knows poems” (Rainer Maria Rilke). At their best, Lenten devotions work to nourish my soul and make it a place where God’s heart can take root and grow within me. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are like water, light, and soil for the seeds as they grow.

But when you over or under provide water, light, or soil for your seedlings, they die. Our Lenten devotions can do the same to our interior renewal. So, here are some ideas for Lenten devotions if you’re looking for ways to bring balance, nourishment, and renewal to this season.

Prayer

Every year, I vow to pray the rosary every day during Lent. It’s a good practice – the rosary is such a rich devotion, and the practice builds a consistency and an interiority that is so helpful to an intimate relationship with God. But a daily rosary isn’t a catch-all for Lenten prayers – sometimes, committing to a daily rosary is an ideal way to embrace Lenten prayer, sometimes it’s not. If a daily rosary isn’t the ideal Lenten prayer commitment for you, I’ve got a few other ideas for you:

Divine Mercy

The Divine Mercy prayer is a great option for people who like praying with rosary beads and for people who long to reach out and learn to trust the mercy of Christ in a deeper way. The prayer reminds us that God’s mercy is “endless and the treasure of compassion is inexhaustible.” It’s an opportunity to see the tender Fatherhood of God as it relates specifically to each of us.

St. Joseph

The feast of St. Joseph always falls within Lent, and this gentle, quiet man is a fantastic companion during the Lenten season. St. Joseph’s willingness to entrust his entire life to God’s direction is an inspiration – especially if you’re living through a time of deep uncertainty or anticipation. This man, chosen by God to be God’s own foster father and the husband of God’s own Mother, is so full of loving guidance and strength. Embrace this ancient prayer to St. Joseph during Lent if you would like to entrust your Lenten renewal to him:

O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph, assist me by thy powerful intercession and obtain for me all spiritual blessings through thy foster Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer thee my thanksgiving and homage.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thine arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near thy heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.

Fasting

In our family, we follow a specific fasting practice that embraces a traditional, Byzantine fast. I love it, in part because it’s something we all do together and in part because it follows a rhythm throughout the week. Overall, we fast from animal products and sugar, as well as giving up alcohol during the week.

This practice may seem extreme, but it has in various ways, been a part of the Lenten practice of the universal Church for centuries. It’s not for everyone though, and there are some other fasting practices that may work better in your life.

Intermittent Fasting

It’s not just a health craze. Choosing to fast from eating for a specific time period each day is a great practice to incorporate into your Lent. Whether you avoid eating for 12, 16, or 20 hours – pick a schedule that challenges you and stick to it. Try to remember why you’re fasting though – and don’t allow your approach to fasting to devolve into mere self-improvement.

Vegetarian

Monks, nuns, and hermits used to avoid eating meat throughout the year. Try spending your Lent imitating these holy men and women by abstaining from meat all through Lent, instead of just on Fridays. Or, if giving up all meat feels too challenging, try abstaining from just red meat. There’s something inspiring about uniting your fast to that of the generations of Catholics who have gone before you.

Almsgiving

Often, almsgiving is the Lenten practice most likely to fall by the wayside. We like to challenge ourselves with prayers, meditations, and rigorous fasting schedules, but almsgiving is so much harder to figure out.

My own almsgiving practices during Lent are all over the place. I’ve hosted retreats for busy moms, kept cash and gift cards in the car to offer anyone asking for help, and spent some extra time volunteering. Don’t feel limited in your almsgiving – it’s not just about money. Of course, if you’re finding ways to not be generous with your money, you should try to work on that. But if you have a creative opportunity to give alms – go for it.

Connecting

So many people are deeply lonely. Sometimes all they really need is someone to listen and care. I’ve spent tons of time at stores just talking to people in the aisles. All it takes is a smile and an understanding comment to start a conversation that may brighten someone’s whole day. If grocery-store conversations aren’t likely for you, try sending letters to old friends or family members. Reach out to people you haven’t talked to in years. Send letters, pictures, postcards, or even packages and welcome them to write back.

Explore a New Ministry

Our parish has a few vastly underrated ministries. They’re small, but passionate groups of people who are doing more than their share to support their brothers and sisters in challenging situations. Does your parish have a ministry like that? If so, check it out. You might not realize that God is calling you to build relationships with a sister-parish in Haiti, the homeless, grieving people, or those incarcerated. There are often a variety of ways to support these ministries, so look around and see if you can find your passion.

Whatever you decide to do, let your Lenten devotions renew your relationship to Christ in beautiful, tangible ways.