LENT IS THE SEASON of prayer and penance set apart by the Church to prepare us for
the solemn feast of Easter. To make this preparation bear fruit, She has us
traverse the way of Our Lord, that is, by fasting and doing penance in the desert
for forty days (cf. Matt 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13). Lent is a time to learn to love our souls more
than our bodies. Thus, every Christian should make a special effort to practice mortification
and strive for holiness during these forty days. These can be fittingly accomplished through
voluntary amendment of life, acts of penance, and works of charity.
Do not let this time to Grow in Holiness
Pass You By!!
Consider the following categories on what we should do for Lent this year.
1. VOLUNTARY AMENDMENT OF LIFE: Give up those things that need to go sooner or later,
namely bad habits. Our goal here is to learn to love our souls more than our bodies… to break
a bad habit forever and Lent is a good time to do it. Examples: Gossiping, surfing the web
without real need, watching T.V., overeating, eating between meals, eating and drinking junk
foods (e.g., soda), bad drinking habits, complaining, saying vulgar words, not getting up on time,
using a snooze alarm, wasting time playing video games, going to movies, listening to base music,
useless chattering on facebook, blogs, and the like, etc.
In this category I am going to give up ____________________________________________
2. ACTS OF PENANCE: Perform some kind of penance. Our goal here is to train ourselves to say
“no” in little things so that we can say “NO” to big temptations later. We can resume doing the
things given up here once Lent is over. Examples: Avoid eating or drinking something that we
enjoy, such as desserts. Give up eating out, taking completely warm showers, drinking alcoholic
beverages, etc...
In this category I am going to give up______________________________________________
3. WORKS OF CHARITY: Perform some good and holy action(s). Our goal here is to strengthen
our relationship with Christ and His Church. Ideally, what we start here would continue in
some way even after Lent is over. Love God more than yourself! Examples: Pray the Rosary
everyday, attend daily Mass as much as possible, read the Sacred Scriptures _______ minutes a
day, spend _______ additional time everyday with my family, read a life of a saint or saints,
increase spiritual reading in place of electronic media, make a daily visit to the Most Blessed
Sacrament or shrine of Our Lady.
In this category I am going to ____________________________________________________
