5 Steps for a Simple & Meaningful Lent

Hello, and welcome to today’s blog post! We are halfway into this year’s Lent, but I still wanted to share five ways and resources to have a simple Lenten season and focus on what truly is important: the Passion of Christ. Grab a cup of coffee, or tea, and let’s dig in.

There is a general consensus and idea of what Lent is. Some things I often hear is “Oh, that’s when Catholics don’t eat meat” or “What are you giving up?” and so many others.

As Catholics, we know in our hearts what this time is truly about: to realign our focus on the Lord, and remember that he gave his life up for the forgiveness of our sins and our lives. Keeping that in mind, here are five free or cheap things I am doing this season to ensure I keep a daily and weekly reminder to spend time in his presence, aside from going to weekly confession and Sunday mass of course.

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

// Isaiah 53:1

1. Giving something up | Suffering

The best known of all Lent actions is sacrificing (or giving something up) that you love. We are called to sacrifice and suffer to some degree, in order to grow closer to understand that Christ’s sacrifice was the ultimate gift we received as humans. So let’s think about what we can avoid, to help us understand this one aspect. For some it may be related to gluttony.

I am giving up all things sugar and alcohol this Lent. No sweets, no candy, no simple sugar. If it doesn’t naturally come in something like fruit, I won’t eat it. I also won’t have alcohol.

For some, coffee may also be a daily “need” that can be offered up. Or another form of vice like smoking.

For some of us it may be something that steals our time, like social media or the TV. Even though I am not giving that up necessarily, I am trying to limit those as well. Instead, we can take the time we use sitting around doing those to pray or read the Bible.

Look at yourself and observe the 7 deadly sins (gluttony, lust, greed, sorrow, wrath, sloth, vanity and pride) and see which one you feel like robs you of coming closer to the Lord every day. Chances are that if you’re able to give something up that truly is a conscious or unconscious vice, you can give it up for good even after Lent.

2. Adding something to your day

Even though I do believe in sacrificing in these forty days, I also truly believe that it’s important to add something meaningful and life-changing to your daily and weekly routine as well.

Maybe you have been meaning to pray the Books for Lent” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” title=””>Lent. I make sure to pray the Rosary nice and early in my day, so that I can get my day started in the best possible of ways. I am also trying to learn the Rosary in Latin, which is a sub-goal of my first.

You can complete a St Joseph” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” title=””>St. Joseph, St Lucy” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” title=””>St. Lucy are some popular ones). You can also pray a novena for a specific area of your life, like prayer-life, work, family, marriage, etc.

There are also lots of challenges you can join now, like Hallow’s Pray40 challenge. This post is not sponsored by the Hallow App, but I do love it very much. There is a free version of the app that includes some great basic prayers and routines you can add to your account. And if you’re short on money, it’s definitely enough to help you with the daily Gospel readings, the daily Rosary, other prayers, sleep music and more. They offer all this for FREE in MULTIPLE LANGUAGES! I just think it’s incredible that this resource is out there. I used the free version for a very long time.

Now I have the premium version, which unlocks all prayers, meditations, and readings, and it is hands down 100% worth it. What is best about Hallow is that they always have great trials, and right now you can sign up for a 90 day FREE trial through the app directly or the website and see if it’s something you want to invest your money on later on. I will say it again, I think it’s 100% work the cost!

3. Sign Up for a Free Email List

Similar to taking advantage of an app like Hallow, there are tons of companies out there that will send you a daily devotional email straight to your inbox daily! My absolute FAVOURITE one at the moment is the Blessed Is She (BIS) Lent Devotional email. Usually they send out a regular devotional, but they are now running a Lent focused daily email, which is incredible. You get an excerpt of the content from their Rescued Devotional book and also exercises to help you dig a bit deeper into the analysis of the text, your own experience and prayer with the Lord. This has quickly become by far my favourite email to see in the mornings. Since I do wake up so early (usually around 4:30) it’s great not to have to wait until I am in the office to do my prayer time.

Other email subscriptions I also have and highly recommend are Morning Offering from The Catholic Company and also Bishop Robert Barron’s Daily Gospel Reflection from Word on Fire. All three of these are completely free and come straight to your inbox every morning nice and early between 1am and 3am.

I know some people try to avoid their phone in the mornings or during prayer time. I can totally respect that! I do however try to read my bible and, when I am lucky and all kids are still asleep, sneak in a Rosary before I go on my phone to read these. But these are obviously great sources of liturgical information to go on your phone for, especially if you can stay off of all other social media or email.

4. Keep reminders around you

This one was inspired by Ashley Hetherington’s “Truth Mirror.” I have followed and watched a lot of Ashley’s content over the past few years, and this is one of those little things which I truly think can make a difference in how we see each other, remember Bible verses, keep in mind what is important and encourage others to read and see the Word of God.

Grab some sticky notes and write Bible verses on them, prayer intentions, chapters that are meaningful and relevant in your current season, and put them up on your mirror. It can be the bathroom mirror, your entrance mirror, or a living room mirror. Somewhere that you walk by or have to stand in front of every day. The reason this is important and so beneficial, is that even though we want to remember things, learn and memorize certain prayers or verses, we also have busy lives and lots going on in our heads. This is an incredible way to pay yourself forward, and first, because you will stand in front of or walk by that area anyways, so you will see what you wrote and bring it top of mind.

Something I like doing right now is using guidance from Hallow’s Pray 40 challenge to theme my sticky notes by. A quote from Father Walter Ciszek, a bible verse they mention, a prayer they make you repeat. Something that jumps out at me and seems to be important. I will write it both for our bathroom, and the kids bathroom as well, and make sure to read it out loud for them. I also place prayers for my home and family at the entrance of our home, to pray before leaving the house.

In my opinion, this is such an underrated, yet habit-creating and powerful addition to any home and anybody’s routine. So plan out a few prayers, verses and meditations for your lent, grab pen and paper/sticky notes, and bless your house and those around you, including yourself, with this easy addition.

5. Connect with Your Community

Last, but certainly not least, go and reach out to your community! Look at church or in your friend group, and create a little accountability or encouragement group text/chat. I was lucky to meet the sweetest of friends at a Sunday’s “Coffee and Donuts” they had at my church and she quickly became one of the best and most wholesome friends I have ever had. She also introduced me to her friend group from college, all Catholic mommas, and we now have an incredible group chat where we share photos, prayer requests, hardships we’re going through and so much more.

This season is a very busy one, but we used to constantly have Mommies Nights and trade where we would meet. From charcuterie nights, to pizza and chips and desert nights, we tried to just get together, pray together and make sure we were there for one another. In a world where “community” is a very difficult thing to have if you live far from family like my husband and I, or you’ve just move to a new town/ state, where studies or work and kids and homes keep us busy, it is so much more important to make an effort to create your community however you can.

This is also a simple step, but does come with effort and sacrifices too. Maybe it takes a few times to find a good day or time to meet, maybe you have to get together late on a week night because that’s the only time that works for all, maybe you have one or more kids trying to be with you in that time. All that is ok, because in the end, you’re sharing life with these people and that’s what matters most. These women are my family, they are my spiritual guides, my advisors, teachers and friends. And I couldn’t imagine doing life without them.

So if you don’t already have one, create a little group and see how incredibly rewarding it is to surround yourself with people you love and care for.

Lent truly does not have to be complicated or cost anything. We don’t have to go out and purchase that subscription or journal and everything else out there. If you can and you want to, then great. But if not, we can still keep a very meaningful season and do things that not only help and challenge us, but our families and friends.

Let’s try to keep our relationship with and seeking of Him at the center of everything we do this Lent season.

Are there any other resources that I didn’t mention here which are free, cheap and easy for other? Did you start a new tradition or ritual with your family and kids especially that you’d like to share? Leave a comment below so that others can see them and have even more options to add to this year or start next year.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Yara

Disclaimer!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. when you click on it or purchase an item through it, i may receive a commission and/or financial reward. this is at no extra cost to you. all opinions are my own.