Preparing for Lent

"Lent is the Autumn of the spiritual life during which we gather fruit to keep us going for the rest of the year". ~St. Francis de Sales

Tomorrow is Septuagesima Sunday. It begins a very short season in the liturgical year; the next three Sundays, which lead up to Lent. 

I only discovered this beautiful little season a couple years ago, when I began consistently attending the Latin mass. It makes me sad to think that for all the years I've been Catholic, I've never had this preparation before diving in to sacrifice and penance. Some say by removing Septuagesima from the calendar, it makes Ash Wednesday a more grave and important day. Based on the amount of people I know today who give up chocolate for Lent and call it a day, has me thinking otherwise, but I digress...

How am I preparing for Lent? 

Something I learned from last year is that the spirit of Lent should be a part of every aspect of our lives. I'll never forget St. Francis de Sales' idea of fasting. He said that not just the tongue should fast, but all the senses, because we have sinned though all of them. I wrote out his full quotes in last year's post here.

Therefore, I see this pre-Lenten season, as a time of cleansing. A time to prepare for the season in which we put our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving into practice.

My goal is to use these three weeks before Lent to really ponder about my life and my daily habits. 

How can I be less worldly and more Christ-like? Do we need to watch movies every night of the week? Should I be listening to, or worse, partaking in gossip and detraction? Even just idle, useless talk, that doesn't really hurt anyone, could be avoided as St. Francis talks about. Maybe I could make more daily masses or holy hours. Do I need to spend hours doing my hair and makeup, or will a simple look be enough? Why am I eating dessert? Or going out to a restaurant rather than eating at home? Is it to satisfy the desires of my flesh or is it for nutrition and to satisfy nothing but my hunger? 

These are just some of my thoughts in regards to my own life. The great thing about this practice of thinking and cleansing is that although everyone's journey will look different, everyone has things they can work on. 

The Practical Stuff...

Besides all that thinking, here are a couple of concrete practices I'm planning to do this Lent:

First, of course, I had to look through last year's notes. Seriously, if you aren't doing this already, start this year!! It has been so helpful being able to look back at the previous year's Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter notes. It makes the next year a lot smoother.

Last year, we had a very fruitful Lent. I attribute that to our marriage. It's much easier to stick to a list when you have someone to keep you accountable. We made three lists of things we are giving up/taking up: a personal one for each of us, and a joint list. We already made them for this year, but I'm going to tweak mine over the next three weeks based on my thoughts as mentioned in the beginning of this post.

We also said "no" a lot. It was tough. But let me tell you, going out with friends during the Easter season was more enjoyable than ever!

I'm still debating whether or not I want to decorate for Lent. When I say decorate, I really just mean pull out the Crown of Thorns for the kitchen table, a purple candle for our home altar, and maybe some other things here and there. Nothing crazy! It might be different when he have kids, but currently, our cat wins the prize for the most thorns taken out of the crown and he's been known to be dishonest about making sacrifices before pulling one out...

Ok. I'm deciding now as I write this. We will be decorating! I might also go to Hobby Lobby before Lent begins and find some religious Easter decorations to replace the Lent ones. 

Which leads me to Easter preparations...

Last year, most of my preparations were made before Holy Week, so that week could be even more solemn and prayerful. I'm going to try to make the plans even before Lent begins (wish me luck!) 

For me there isn't a whole lot Easter prep. Much less than Christmas time. But on Holy Saturday, we have a Polish tradition of getting an Easter basket blessed at the cathedral. I want to write a whole post on it when the time comes! Besides that, finding our Easter outfits and making a small basket for my husband and our pets is all I have for physical preparations. The rest is about preparing the soul.

I have to say, growing up, I hated Lent. Really, I still dread it today. I think that's normal. Nobody likes to deny themselves, especially in this culture of instant gratification. Once I'm deep in the Lenten season however, the dread turns into appreciation, and come the Triduum, appreciation turns to gratitude and a deep love for what Jesus has done for us. There's something special about Easter, I can't explain it. And I feel it can only be seen when Lent is done well.

I wish you a blessed pre-Lenten season, full of the grace to see where conversion is needed in your life!

Gina💕