Lent Is Coming

Karen Estep explains why adding instead of taking away can make a more meaningful impact to the Lenten season.

Lately in our RCIA classes, it feels like our director has turned into Paul Revere. She seems to be shouting, “Lent is coming, Lent is coming, Lent is coming!” Granted, I am grateful she is because it lets us know that a new liturgical season is about to be upon us. When Advent came, I was not prepared for all of the changes that would happen during Mass and it left me feeling like a fish out of water. I had just learned Ordinary Time, and then Advent felt like a curveball!

For a new Catholic, there is a lot to learn about Lent! As I am prone to always be doing, I did some research and as I have done a few times in my RCIA process, I thought about backing out of this whole thing altogether … I found out there are some fasting days. Look, I am not a super patient person even with food: take my food all the way away and I may have to go to confession for a week straight. My husband even said that he and the kids would go stay with family on those days if I could not have my coffee or food. Thank goodness I was informed that I can have two small meals and one big meal—whew! My husband is also going through the RCIA process and is new to being Catholic as well. He grew up on a pig farm in the heart of the USA and LOVES meat. He likes to tell me that if it were a contest between bacon and me, I would beat bacon but just barely. So, giving up all meat on Fridays will be a shock to his system.

Now, here comes the truly fun part: What do we give up for 40 days? I am not new to giving up something for Lent. While attending a Methodist church we were also encouraged to sacrifice something for 40 days. Most of our friends gave up sweets, carbs, alcohol, and so on. One year I gave up chocolate and then because I research things often, I spent almost a day researching if that meant I could still eat white chocolate. (Side note: if you give up chocolate, you can still eat white chocolate because technically white chocolate is not made from cocoa beans, it’s made from cocoa butter.) My husband told me if I would have put as much effort into truly understanding the point of sacrificing chocolate as I did into researching if white chocolate counts, then I probably would have understood the whole reason we sacrifice for Lent a bit more. And he’s not wrong.

Boy was I surprised when our RCIA director told us for this year we did not have to give up anything! I was amazed that we were in the clear. All the chocolate I could eat, all the carbs, no sacrificing—I am in! Well, turns out she wanted us to ADD something for 40 days. She wanted us to add prayer, add reading more Scripture, add more connection with God because pretty soon, we won’t be young Catholics: we’ll be the real deal.

So this question became not what to give up, but what to add?

My family decided to add praying the Rosary. Now, this may not seem daunting; however, our first experience praying the Rosary in RCIA was a huge flop! No one told us what bead to be on and we had not even attempted to memorize the Hail Mary yet. It was truly disheartening. Here we are new to all of this and a major part of the faith went completely over our heads. To say we left that class feeling defeated was not even half of it.

But my husband is a football and wrestling coach, and he knows a thing or two about resiliency. So, we’re dusting ourselves off and I ordered some kid friendly interactive rosaries to keep our 5- and 3-year-olds interested and we’re going to do this thing! Just like with everything with me, I have done my research and I know how beautiful the blessings can be from praying a daily Rosary.

Click to tweet:
Whatever you choose to add or even sacrifice, know that Lent is a time to draw nearer to Jesus. #catholicmom

Here are some ideas for things you and your family can add to your 40 days of Lent: 

• Family dinners with no TV or technology. We do family dinners nightly but sometimes we don’t fight TV while eating, however, I feel like we’re missing so many good connections by keeping the TV on.
  
  
• Read the Gospel of the day. Catholic Mom sends out a daily email with the readings, a reflection, and a prayer. Reading through these with my morning coffee has helped me tremendously by starting out my day with God.
  
  
• Instead of scrolling aimlessly on social media, stop and truly reach out to a friend while scrolling. I often fail at giving up social media altogether and I often just scroll or hit like. How many people's days can I make brighter if I leave a comment on their photos or status updates?
  
  
• I have recently discovered novenas and how moving those prayers can be. You could do a few novenas in 40 days. (My husband is a math teacher and he would tell me to tell you that in 40 days you can do 4 complete novenas and have some free prayer days.) 

Whatever you choose to add or even sacrifice, know that Lent is a time to draw nearer to Jesus. It is a time to reflect on how beautiful, passionate, and miraculous His love is for us that He should die on the cross for our sins.

Copyright 2022 Karen Estep
Images: Canva Pro