How can I better prepare for Lent this year?

Q: Father John, How can I better prepare for Lent this year?

A: You have no idea what God has in store for you this Lent (but God does, and he is looking forward to it!). On the other hand, you do know that God has chosen to work in our souls through the Liturgy, and that includes the liturgical seasons. So preparing for Lent means getting ready to hear and heed what God wants to say to you during those days. The Church gives us three general directives in this regard.

First, intensify our prayer life

Start thinking now about how you can do this. It’s a good topic to talk about in spiritual direction. Do you need to increase your Eucharistic life, give more discipline to your personal prayer time, inculcate family prayer time, go on a retreat? God will put something on your heart. But be realistic. Don’t let your eyes be bigger than your stomach (in the spiritual sense).

Second, embrace the Cross

Lent is a penitential season, a time when we remember how self-centered we have been and tend to be, and renew our commitment and efforts at repenting and growing in Christian love. This is the origin of the tradition of “giving something up for Lent.” The idea is to make a sacrifice, denying our naturally self-indulgent tendencies in some way in order to unite ourselves more fully to Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on Calvary. This is not merely a self-help kind of resolution. It is a self-offering to God: “Lord, many times I have chosen to do my own will instead of yours. By offering this sacrifice I want to learn to take up my cross, to say “yes” to you and your will, following in Jesus’ footsteps.” Whatever we give up (e.g. watching sports, eating desert) or take on (e.g. daily Mass, weekly Way of the Cross) as our Lenten sacrifice (again, be realistic), the key is to give it that truly Christ-centered meaning.

Third, the practice Christian charity

Lent is a time to prepare for the fruitful celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection during Holy Week. That Paschal Mystery was God’s unfathomable and amazing testimony of love for us sinners. There is no better way to get in tune with that self-forgetful and self-sacrificial love than by imitating it. During Lent we should make a special point of serving our neighbors – but here again, be realistic. Here the traditional corporal works of mercy can spark ideas. The Catechism reminds us of them (#2447)

Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead.243 Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God

Something in the air of spring brings out new buds, new branches, new life. The word “Lent” has its etymological roots in an Old English word meaning “spring.” Something in the air of Lent will bring out new buds, new branches, new life in our relationship with Christ; we just have to open up some windows.

Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC

Image Credits

How can I go deeper in my faith this Lent season?

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a great group of men at parish here in Colorado about my conversion to the Catholic faith. One of the things I shared was the unusual amount of personal suffering I have experienced. The short list of loss includes a brother and sister in their thirties and a niece at two years old. At a young age I have lived the difficult reality that life, for any of us, can end at any moment. Faced with this understanding, there really is no better time than the present to ensure that when we see God face to face he says, “well done” rather than “depart from me, I never knew you.” The latter is a terrifying thought, the former, a glorious one.

At the end of the talk, one of the men asked, “How would you advise someone who is ready to go deeper in their faith?” Here’s the “Going Deeper” plan for anyone looking to better prepare their hearts for this upcoming holy season:

1) Get a copy of “Inside the Passion” by Father John Bartunek and commit to reading a portion of it every day during Lent (starting Ash Wednesday, February the 17th) with a finish date of Tuesday the 1st of April – the day before Good Friday. If you finish this ahead of time, commit to one decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries on a daily basis or pray through the Stations of the Cross each day. A great way to do the latter is through the “Passion Companion” which also leverages the artwork of the film to held us better experience the Stations of the Cross devotion.

2) Commit to praying for five minutes (or add five minutes if you already pray) on a daily basis using any prayer that appeals to you (i.e. Our Father, Rosary, etc). Ask God to reveal himself more fully to you, just as the father of the sick boy in Matthew 9:24 asked Jesus, “…I do believe Lord, please help my unbelief.”

3) Watch the “The Passion of the Christ” on Good Friday. Be careful to watch it devotionally instead of from the standpoint of entertainment. Watch it at night just before you go to bed. Don’t pop any popcorn and keep the chips in the pantry. Prepare your heart and enter into the film. Pray that Christ would reveal himself to you. Engage with Christ as he gives his life up for you. Ask Him, “how can I give back to you in return for such an overwhelming gift?”

After Lent, use that same prayer habit you developed during lent (or further developed) and learn to know Christ more deeply. Pick up a copy of Father John’s book, “The Better Part.” Learn to meditate on the incredible person and work of Christ on a daily basis.

You will never regret your investment in your eternal destiny, and you will never be the same.

Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him

Dan

Inside the Passion – Book Recommendation

FREE SMALL GROUP STUDY GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE FOR ALL WHO PURCHASE “INSIDE THE PASSION” FROM THIS BLOG

This beautiful four week study guide will help take you deeper into the passion during Lent. It has four units of study, 1) Faith, 2) Hope, 3) Love, and 4) forgiveness. Place your order soon in order to get your books in time for Lent. When you purchase Catholic materials through this site you become part of our ministry to those seeking to move deeper into their faith

Here’s the only way to get the guide: If you purchase Inside the Passion from this blog, be sure to then email us at RCSpiritualDirection@gmail.com and let us know you purchased the book. We will then e-mail you the study guide in pdf format. Yes, this is the only way to get the guide.

Here’s More about the Book:

Looking to go deeper into your faith this Lent? “Inside the Passion,” coupled with Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” are profound ways to better understand Christ’s suffering for us. I know few other ways to understand and experience Christ’s love for me than this incredible work of art. Father Bartunek provides us with the only authorized explanation of the film. He accompanied Mel Gibson, “watching him work with the editors, composer, promotions team, and the press.” He “asked him questions about the film that no one else asked, discovering reasons behind… the innumerable artistic choices that he was forced to make, choices that turned this small art house project into an international blockbuster.”

If you are looking to go deeper this Lent, I recommend that you purchase this book, and read it during Lent with the intent of finishing it on the day preceding Good Friday. Then, on Good Friday, watch the film. However, don’t watch it as a movie. Watch it devotionally. Pray that God would reveal His profound love for you as you place yourself with Christ as He suffers and dies for you. I promise that your life and heart will never be the same.

Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him

Dan

Purchase INSIDE THE PASSION Here to Support this Site. When you purchase through the links on this site, we receive credits to purchase and review books on the spiritual life that we then share with you. We only pass along recommendations to books that are faithful to the magisterium and that are consistent with authentic Catholic spirituality. Thank you in advance for your support as we seek to serve you in your quest for a deeper relationship with Christ!