10 ideas for a good Lent
10 ideas for a good Lent
1. Retreat to a church to savor the silence and presence of God.
In a world that robs us of serenity, spaces of tranquility and oases of peace are necessary to assess, reflect and make a self-criticism about the life we lead
“Silence is the only rumor that God makes when he passes through the world.” Victor Manuel Arbeloa
2. Listen to the Word of the Lord.
We are totally besieged and arrowed by a multitude of advertising wedges and half-truths that are big lies. The Lord, with his Word, guides us to take the right direction without moving away from Him.
Let no one say: “why should I go to church? Look at those who go every day…, they don’t practice what they hear”…
However, they do something: pray… So, one day they will be able to do both: listen and practice… But you… how are you going to practice if you are running away from listening? Saint Augustine of Hippo
3. Go out to meet others.
The rush train, with its corresponding stress cars, makes us individualists and ignore certain situations of pain that surround us. Lent invites us to open our eyes, our hearts (and our pockets if necessary) so that we do not forget that Faith requires commitment.
Charity is a long-term bill of exchange in favor of the one who practices it, accepted by a firm of unlimited credit: God.
(Anonymous)
4. Love and work for the Church.
Today, perhaps, it is not fashionable to say “I am a church and I love it”. The truth is that, in periods of difficulties, it is where the brave and great in faith really come out and manifest themselves.
The Church today does not need part-time Christians, but one-piece Christians! John Paul II
5. Take up again or even initiate a taste for prayer.
Pope John Paul II invited us to walk the path towards Holy Week by intensifying our relationship with God. Silence, among other things, is the noise that God makes when he passes by us.
“Pray when you feel alone, prayer will bring you the company of God”
6. Keep vigil and fast.
When one “has a lover” one is able to do anything for him/her. Every Friday of Lent, being sober and different in our diet, we remember that Jesus is still important in our homes and… that is why we make this gesture.
Let’s rid the body of its toxins, feed it correctly and be the miracle of health (Dr. Arbuthnot Lan)
7. Daily Eucharist.
Shaken by a constant and persistent secularization, we Christians need to take strength and vitality from that great source of energy that emerges at the altar. We are in the Eucharistic Year; why not make every sunset or sunrise extraordinary with our participation in the Eucharist?
The Eucharist, the authentic manger where to adore Jesus. (Father Raniero Cantalamessa OFMCap)
8. Promote within our families an appetite for God.
It is not necessary to go far, much less to other continents, to give an account of our faith. How long has it been since we reminded our closest relatives of her belonging to a church that she gave to Jesus and that, as a mother, she needs them?
The family is the spiritual womb where beliefs and customs are fostered.
9. Give thanks to God for the values that the Gospel proposes to us.
In the midst of the moral relativism that shakes us, far from deserting, we have to be grateful to God because He makes us different from many people who believe that happiness lies in “anything goes”.
Reading and doing what the Gospel says helps to aspire to greater freedom. (J. Vallmajor)
10. Speak well and delicately.
We cannot forget that more is achieved “with honey than with gall”. Lent is a good time to correct the profanities in our language and the offenses or harsh judgment towards those around us.
Suppress and shout against God and the night will have become in the human soul. (Lamartine)
Author of the text: Father J. Leoz.
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