Fr. Barron of the
Word on Fire Blog offers an explanation of Catholic Lenten practices.
PRAYER Prayer: The raising of the mind and the heart to God by John Damascus. I really like that image. Pray when you can. Pray the Rosary. Pray the Jesus prayer: Lord Jesus Christ son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner.Pray in the car.
I’m praying a decade of the rosary daily.
FAST Fast from the pleasures of the body so they don’t become to domineering. They are good, but shouldn’t be domineering. Abstain from meat on Friday. Choose a sensual desire that is too dominant and limit it during Lent.
I’m giving up sweets, not chocolate, just cake and cupcakes..my favorite.
ALMS When solicited by mail for donations, give, even if it’s just $5. Give to the homeless man you see on the street. If purchasing something, for example a coat, purchase the one that you can
afford and then give the difference from the most expensive coat to the poor.
I’m going to give $5 to any mail solicitations that I receive during Lent.
I never thought to look at Lent as a ‘season’ like winter/fall. Read the following perspective: Anne, from the
We make this look Easy blog wrote this: “Good thing Holy Mother Church is so wise in Her rhythms of the year....of having some Ordinary Time after Christmas, and just when winter is looking bleak, when all the half-assed New Year's Resolutions have faded, She gives us Lent. A time to sort our stuff out. Do some house-cleaning, soul-cleaning, re-ordering, purging, stripping down, all with the eyes toward the Resurrection at the end of the 40 days.”
What are you doing for Lent?
