For me, the purpose of Lenten sacrifices is to find something that will draw me closer to God. While it is good to learn self control and develop control over our fleshly desires (AKA giving up chocolate) I've found that it doesn't necessarily help me grow spiritually. Instead this year I will be more intentionally focusing on giving my time to God. I love to read, fiction especially. While I strive to find great books with good writing and engaging stories, it is still made up. This year I am devoting my reading time to spiritual reading only. I have several books that always seem to get shoved aside as I get engaged in a story, so this Lent my goal is to finish them. I am also going to start the Divine Office in the mornings and evenings again. I have an app on my phone which makes it so easy to do, it would be shame not to start and end my day united in the prayers of the church.
As a family this year we are again doing "40 Bags of Lent" in which we will purge a bag a day from our house. We did this last year and thought it was a great family sacrifice. We will also add more family prayer time together. Last year we did a "Stations of the Cross" throughout our house. I printed off and mounted the stations of the cross and placed them around the house, then at the end of the day before bedtime, we would walk the stations of the cross around the house and turn off the lights as we finished in each room. We start and end at our family alter. The kids really loved this practice and I thought it was a great way to soak them even more in the passion and death of Our Lord. It is also a calm and quite way to end a busy day together.
(station 10, in the kitchen)
That is what we will be doing for Lent this year. What are your favorite Lenten practices?
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