Do you have any Lenten Resolutions?

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 2nd, and goes until the Triduum and Easter Sunday! There are 40 days in Lent because Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days after His Baptism, and Sundays do not count because they are mini Easters.

Every year, Catholics pray, fast, and give alms throughout Lent. If you don’t know what to do for Lent, here is some advice!

Prayer
There are many goals you can have for prayer, but my biggest advice is to pick 1-2 resolutions. There is a variety of beautiful prayers, but if you attempt to add too much, you may not be able to do most of them, and you could end up getting discouraged.

If you normally go to daily Mass every day, you may want to set a goal of praying a Divine Mercy Chaplet every day in addition to going to daily Mass. If you are hoping to start praying throughout the day, praying for five minutes is a great goal! If you realize your resolution is too easy, you can add another goal the next week, but it is better to add a goal than to realize you cannot do all of your resolutions. These resolutions are ones you can do daily, weekly, or monthly (depending on the goal):

-Pray in the morning
-Make 5-15 minutes to talk to God every day
-Pray the Litany of Trust, Litany of Humility, Surrender Novena, or another Litany or Novena
-Do Lectio Divina
-Pray a decade of the Rosary
-Pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet
-Pray a Rosary
-Do a Holy Hour
-Go to Daily Mass
-Go to Confession
-Pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Divine Office
-Do an Examination of Conscience every night
-Find a way to help you discern your Vocation
-Write a list of the things you are grateful for each night
-Find a Spiritual book to read (33 Days to Merciful Love and 33 Days to Morning Glory are great!)
-Pick a virtue to work on during Lent, and pick a prayer to pray every day which goes along with that virtue

Fasting
The first suggestions I have for fasting tend to be what you normally think of when you think of fasting. Pick one or two, or comment and tell us what you’re giving up!

-Fast from snacks
-Fast from sweets
-Fast from getting more than 8-10 hours of sleep or fast from staying up late
-Fast from social media
-Fast from TV

The next list is a list of some ideas for penances you can do during Lent. While it is very good to give things up for Lent, it is also very good to do things!

-Get up early and pray before you do anything
-Don’t complain
-Have a time limit for messaging and texting, and don’t text outside of that
-Fast from yelling
-Fast from doing your hardest subject last
-Fast from saying things about someone that you wouldn’t say to them
-Take a cold shower once a week

Almsgiving
Almsgiving may be the hardest thing to come up with, but here are several ideas!

-Reach out to someone by letter or phone
-Go through your clothes and give away excess clothes
-Spend time with your family (Read an article on MODG News about Making Time for Family Time!
-Visit the sick
-Pray outside Planned Parenthood

I hope you have a fruitful Lent! Comment and tell us what you are doing for Lent!

Check out former MODG News articles about what to do for Lent!
https://www.modgnews.com/9681/uncategorized/a-modgers-guide-to-a-fruitful-lent/ https://www.modgnews.com/4272/opinion/4272/