As Lent Ends

Suzanne Beck offers encouragement to persevere in our Lenten promises, even when we're tempted to think we've failed.

We are into the home stretch … Lent is almost over. How have you done with your Lenten promises? Are you tired of fish? Is the chocolate stash intact? How many times did you hit the snooze button? Did you “take Sundays off” or go hard-core through start to finish? Did you keep up with the extra things you added? Did you pray more? Did you feed the hungry or clothe the naked? Did you let God love you? Did you listen to Him more? Seek His presence in quiet solitude? Are you even just a tiny bit more like Jesus than you were on Ash Wednesday?

If you have faithfully done any or all these things, you can thank God that He has given the grace to stick to your promises. However, if your efforts were less than stellar, you can also thank God for His grace—and mercy! God is delighted even with our feeble efforts to please Him. If you succeeded even 23 of the 46 days, guess what? He is pleased and you have taken steps forward on your walk with Christ. St. Paul says,

Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

It does seem about this time every year, we hear or read confessions of friends lamenting their Lenten failures. Some lasted a week, some two, some maybe three; but the overall feeling is …. failure. “I’ve failed; I didn’t even last a week” or “I’m a loser” or “How will I ever get to heaven if I can’t even do 40 days?” or “Well, there goes that, might as well not try for the rest of Lent.”

Do you know who is behind those accusations? You guessed it! The enemy of your soul, Satan himself. ANYTHING that he says is a lie. Lysa TerKeurst of Proverbs 31 Ministries said it beautifully in a recent Facebook post:

The enemy pickpockets our purpose, cripples our courage, dismantles our dreams and blinds us to the beauty of the Lord’s great plans.

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As our Lenten journey ends in the next few days, let’s stop the enemy in his tracks and claim the precious name and blood of Jesus Christ over our Lenten intentions, attempts, successes, and failures. Declaring His name, the Name above all names, brings authority, security, and perspective to our minds. We can be assured that He is pleased with our efforts. He knows us inside and out, and what we have learned or accomplished this Lent is exactly what He intended.

If we failed, then like any good parent, He does not condemn us, but will find another way to teach us that lesson in the future. Wasn’t the actual purpose of our Lenten promises to draw closer to God? Even amongst the failure are you even a teeny bit closer to Him than you were on Ash Wednesday?

So before Easter Sunday, go to Confession and then move on into Eastertide and Pentecost in the knowledge that He is merciful, that His grace is sufficient, and that He is a good, good Father. With Venerable Bruno Lanteri say,

Though I fall a thousand times, each time… I will rise again as peaceful as if it were the first, knowing my weakness and knowing, Lord, your great mercy… And so, if I should fall even a thousand times a day, with peaceful repentance, I will say immediately, Nunc coepi —Now I begin again!

May you rest in God’s grace and peace as we enter these holy days.

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