During Lent, Christians traditionally give up something that they enjoy, such as favorite food, activity, or form of entertainment. This sacrifice is meant to pay homage to Jesus’s 40-day fast in the desert before his death. While there’s nothing wrong with choosing to give up chocolate or candy, Lent can often become a bit of a second try at our New Year’s resolutions, rather than keeping Jesus as the focal point.
If you’re looking for Lent ideas that don’t involve subtracting sweets from your diet, consider these seven things you could add to your life for 40 days to deepen your relationship with Jesus.
1. Pray a Daily Rosary
Praying the rosary is a powerful way to connect with Jesus through His Mother. If this isn’t already part of your regular routine, consider picking up the rosary every day during Lent. While this will only be a small sacrifice of your time, the rewards of praying a daily rosary will be much greater. Not only does this allow you to carve out special time for Jesus every day, but it can also help you better understand and reflect upon the gospels, as well as afford you special graces.
Alternatively, you could pray the Seven Sorrows Rosary, which reflects on the sufferings and trials of Mary.
2. Go to Confession
Many of us have become lax about regularly going to confession, but this is an important sacrament that we should all be taking full advantage of. If you’ve fallen out of the habit of going – and even if you haven’t gone in decades! – consider making a point to go to confession once per week throughout Lent (and thereafter).
As an aside, a common question we have all probably wondered at some point is, “Why do I have to go confession to confess my sins?” I really love this answer from Mother Angelica: “[Jesus] knew (and you know) you need to hear, with the very senses you sin with, that you have been forgiven. You do not go to confession to a man. You go to confession to Jesus. He gave the apostles and all those after them the power to forgive sin. You need to hear, ‘I absolve you.’ It isn’t a man who absolves you; it’s Jesus.”
3. Get Back to Church
If you’ve fallen out of the habit of going to mass on Sundays, make it your Lenten vow to go every week. As with praying the rosary and going to confession, you will find that going back to church will bring with it great spiritual benefits, including the ability to form a deeper and richer relationship with God, a better understanding and knowledge of the scriptures, a dedicated time to pray and ask the Lord for help or offer thanksgiving, and maybe even a stronger sense of community and belonging.
I have found that God hasn’t made rules for the simple sake of making rules – He’s made them because He acutely knows what is good and best for us.
4. Give God Your “First Fruits”
Consider committing to praying as soon as you wake up in the morning, even if just to say hello to Jesus and ask for His guidance throughout the upcoming day. This is a simple yet impactful way to give the Lord the first fruits of your day, before you get bogged down with work or other daily tasks and end up too preoccupied or tired to pray. This is also an excellent way to help set your day up for success and reframe your mindset each morning.
5. Pray for Those Who’ve Hurt You
If you’re holding a grudge or hanging onto anger, Lent can be the perfect opportunity to work on letting go and praying for that person or people instead of harboring anger or resentment. It’s all too easy to let our pain and hurt feelings over the actions and even injustices of others harden our hearts and make us too stubborn to forgive. But forgiving is just as important, if not more, for your own soul as it is for the person whom you are forgiving.
Allow God to use this Lenten season to soften any anger or resentment in your heart so you can release those chains for good.
6. Concentrate on a Challenging Commandment
Is there a particular Commandment that you struggle to keep? Maybe road rage keeps getting in the way of loving your neighbor, or maybe you’ve been so busy, you haven’t been able to keep the Sabbath. If this idea speaks to you, consider honing in on one particularly challenging Commandment and doing everything in your power to follow it throughout Lent. With any luck, and a little help from above, you’ll be able to continue that newfound virtue well after Lent has passed.
Scan through the list of Commandments to see if anything jumps out at you to try this with:
- I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
7. Fast
While Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence from meat, you might consider adding your own fasting ritual, such as on all Wednesdays and Fridays throughout Lent. There are many different ways to fast, and you can choose one that will be realistic for you to follow. Of course, those with certain medical conditions may not be good candidates for fasting, and the Catholic Church does recognize medical exemptions for fasting during Lent.
Bottom Line
There are lots of ways to add something to your daily routine this Lenten season, rather than subtract. If you’re looking for something different from the classic giving up of sweets for Lent, consider adopting one or more of these ideas.
What ideas do you have for Lent that go beyond giving up sweets and junk food?
