Getting Ready for Lent

On the website, I have posted a couple of articles that are Lenten and Easter related:

The Essential Message of Easter

Book Review and Author Interview on "Lent: An Uncommon Love Story



This article on "Getting Ready for Lent" was forwarded to me by Janet Cassidy and I thought that I would share it with you:



Here comes Lent, like it or not!

Does your anxiety increase the closer we get to Lent, anticipating the pressures of self-deprivation?

Or, are you in the minority who look forward to Lent with the recognition that you need it?

As a word of comfort if you happen to be in the first group, keep in mind that Lent is about conversion. Self-denial is a part of that experience of conversion, but it’s not the only part. When we give something up, that helps us grow stronger through self-discipline. But, our Lenten experience is really three-fold:

Conversion in relation to ourselves through fasting.
Conversion in relation to God through prayer.
Conversion in relation to others through almsgiving.

If we focus only (or mostly) on self-denial, we may not be fully experiencing Lent!

Are you looking forward to Lent? May your joy come from a desire for a lasting, deeper connection to God and others—not simply a self-improvement plan.

Let’s take some time in the next couple of days to pray and consider what we can offer to God by way of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

With a heart full of gratitude and a sincere desire for conversion, may He lead us into the desert and renew us by His love.

God Bless!

Janet

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