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Lent practices: Calls to growth and conversion
by Sr. Janet Schaeffler special to The Michigan Catholic
Published February 13, 2009
Baptism calls us to be new creatures all the time, not just at the moment of our baptism. We continue to grow, to be more and more the persons God created us to be. Each year Lent calls us deeply to that (each evening we reflect on how we're doing), but each Lent, as a community, we do it together. In prayer (of all kinds), fasting (of all kinds), and almsgiving (of all kinds), we become fully the new creatures that baptism marks us.
Here (and next month) are 40 suggestions for Lenten practices (which, hopefully, will then continue in our daily lives).
1. Learn a prayer method that you have not previously used (Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, Liturgy of the Hours, etc.)
http://www.goodnews.ie/lectio.shtml
http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org
http://www.liturgyhours.org
2. Begin a bank in which you will donate money to be shared with those in need. Ideas will be given throughout these forty suggestions. First: Read Isaiah 58: 5-6. What injustice, what oppression do you see around you? How is "untying the thongs of the yoke" of oppression a form of fasting? Give a dime for every injustice you witness, hear or read about today. What role will you play in one of these situations?
3. Write an affirming letter to your newspaper or television station for some good programming or value-based coverage they have done. (Pope John XXIII said: "Look at the good there is, and try to encourage it as much as possible. That itself will lessen the bad.")
4. Pray that the best will happen to the public person you dislike the most.
5. Once a week go on a prayer walk with your family, your spouse or a friend. As you walk, pray for the people you come in contact with, the people behind the doors of the homes, the hospitals, the businesses. Pay attention to the things that make your neighborhood unique. Where are people caring for each other? Because we are often in cars, this time of walking may slow us down and help us to notice and pray for people and things we don't usually notice.
6. Compliment the person who you think needs it the least.
7. Start your day by reflecting on the day's Scripture readings. For help:
Bible Diary 2009: http://www.bible.claret.org/website/?q=node/24
The U.S. bishops' Web site, www.usccb.org/nab, offers podcasts of the daily readings
The site http://www.dailygospel.org will email you the Gospel reading each morning.
Visit www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html.
Visit www.goodnews.ie.
Visit www.daily-word-of-life.com.
8. The desert is a place where we are stripped of distractions. Give a dime for every TV program that you watch for the next three days. Give a penny for every commercial you see.
9. Try to go for a week without mentioning the weather; find other topics of conversation, especially those which will show that you are interested in your conversation partner as a person.
10. Pick a day a week (or every two weeks) to fast from TV (or from a program that you think you can't do without. In today's culture, television has become our story-teller, rather than family members (or our Scripture). Spend time with these story-tellers.
11. Look for the good. Take time to see the good in your life: family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. Find one good thing each day of Lent. Tell that person one way he/she shows you the goodness of God.
12. Fast from self-criticism. Sometimes the worst enemy of our own spiritual growth is the harsh way we speak to ourselves. Spend time this Lent realizing that you are a beloved child of God. Speak kindly to yourself.
13. Check some of the Web sites that encourage a simplicity of lifestyle:
Affluenza: www.affluenza.org.
Alternatives for Simple Living: www.simpleliving.org.
50 Ways to Challenge Over-Commercialism: http://www.earthhealing.info/fifty.htm.
New American Dream: http://www.newdream.org.
Simple Living: http://home.nwciowa.edu/andres/simpleliving.htm.
The Simple Living Network: http://www.simpleliving.net/main.
14. Give a dime for each unused appliance, toy and article of clothing in your home. Why do we sometimes buy things we don't really need?
15. Two meals per day. Most of the world survives on two meals per day or less. Fasting by eating less attempts to balance what we really need and what is excess.
16. Eat with family. Make family meals a priority during this Lent. More than sharing food happens during meals. Meaning, difficulties, and joys are shared. Bonds are created and relationships are strengthened. Fast from fast food and eating on the run.
17. The father of the prodigal son planned a joyous feast when his younger son returned home. How do you give thanks for the children in your extended family? Pray for the well-being of all children of the world. Give a quarter for every child you see today.
18. Connect with our larger family. Learn about the saints; today we have a number of books and websites that help us become acquainted with those who have gone before us: "Saints for Every Occasion: 101 of Heaven's Most Powerful Patrons" by Thomas J. Craughwell (Stampley Enterprises, 2001); "My Life with the Saints" by James Martin, SJ (Loyola Press, 2006); "Blessed Among All Women: Women Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for our Time" by Robert Ellsberg (Crossroad Publishing, 2007); "Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Teresa" by Richard P. McBrien (HarperOne, 2006); www.AmericanCatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay.
19. Reach out: who needs you? Phone a lonely person to share a friendly "hello" and to listen for a few minutes; volunteer to cook for senior citizens or someone who is grieving; deliver Meals on Wheels; is there someone in your parish who needs a ride to church each weekend?
20. Philo of Alexandria said, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." Choose one person a day (or week) to do something (small or large, anonymously or not) to make their day a little brighter.
Sr. Janet Schaeffler, OP, is the archdiocesan associate director for adult faith formation for the Office for Faith Formation/Catechetics.
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