Lent 2025 has the potential to be the most profound, life-changing Lent you’ve ever had. It could also be the start of the best year of your life. Why? Because this year, you can enter into Lent with a new mindset—one that shifts your focus away from giving up random things and instead embraces the season with intention, purpose, and true transformation. 

This is where Spiritual Fasting comes in. 

Spiritual Fasting

I call it Delay and Pray™—delaying certain foods (sugar, flour, and alcohol) until Sundays and praying for someone specific during the discomfort. This type of fasting isn’t just about the body—it’s about the soul. It strengthens self-discipline, clears the mind, and focuses the heart on God. 

Many Catholics struggle with fasting during Lent. But the truth is, Jesus calls us to pray and fast—and we just don’t know how because we are trapped in a cycle of sugar addiction and overconsumption. Fasting becomes almost impossible when sugar has hijacked your hunger, hormones, and habits. But there is an answer. 

Delay the sugar. Delay the flour. Delay the alcohol. And Pray. 

Delay And Pray: 3 Ways To Transform Your Lent

This combination will change your Lent. You will feel better in body and closer to God in soul. Here are three ways to enter into Spiritual Fasting this Lent and experience a radical transformation. 

1. Make Lent Special in Your Life 

Instead of dreading Lent, lean into it. It is a grace-filled time to change your life for the good. Anticipate it and think of Lent as a gift. It is a sacred season set apart by the Church to bring about deep personal transformation. But for years, I didn’t see it that way. I would pick and choose what sacrifices fit into my life. This usually meant “offering something up,” like Starbucks or sweets. Sometimes I made it, sometimes I didn’t. I had no plan, little motivation, and no real sense of urgency. I didn’t see Lent as the communal, sacrificial, beautiful, life-changing season that our Catholic Church offers us every year. 

Everything changed when I made the decision to truly enter into Lent with a fasting mindset. What food and alcohol could I delay for these six weeks to get hungry for God? This line of thinking brought about great inspiration to enter into Lent as a healing time in body and soul. 

Ask yourself: What needs to change in your life? Consider both and soul. What weakness do you want to work with Jesus to improve? What transformation do you need—personally, spiritually, emotionally? Fasting can help in all these areas.

Many Catholics struggle to go without food for even a few hours, let alone a whole day. Mainly because we are sugar addicted biologically and neurologically, but instead of fearing hunger, start thinking about how powerful it will be to shift your focus from food to Christ. Offer your discomfort to Him. Ask the Blessed Mother to intercede. The truth is we cannot do this alone. But God can–especially during Lent. As St. Paul reminds us: 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9) 

Approaching Lent with a spirit of repentance and commitment to change allows the Lord to transform your weaknesses. 

2. Clear Sugar Out of Your Kitchen 

Food during Lent matters. We practice meatless Fridays, fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday—but what about every other day of Lent? Are you willing to give up your comfort foods for a period of time? The Church reminds us that we are made for greatness, not comfort. Fasting is about entering into holy discomfort—because discomfort brings growth, detachment, and dependence on God. So, the first step this Lent is to clear all sugar out of your kitchen including processed food, sugar and flour items, and alcohol. These things can cause overdesire, overhunger, and overeating. Clearing them from your kitchen and diet for Lent can help you get fit in body and soul. 

Clearing out these items lessens temptation and helps you stick to your Lenten promises. This is where Delay and Pray™ comes in. We are going to delay these items through Lent and pray instead. 

So why sugar? Sugar, flour, and alcohol create glucose spikes that lead to: 

● Insulin resistance (which can cause weight gain) 

● Cravings (which make fasting feel impossible) 

● Blood sugar highs and lows (which make you tired, irritable, and constantly hungry) 

Fasting for a spiritual purpose becomes so much easier when you aren’t in a constant state of sugar dependency. Lent is a perfect time to focus on metabolic health and treat your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Some people find it easier to eliminate sugar for all of Lent, while others prefer to allow a small amount on Sundays. If you struggle to get back on track after a Sunday treat, consider giving it up entirely for these 40 days. You won’t regret it. 

Think of this as a spiritual experiment. How attached are you to sugar, flour, or alcohol? Are these substances idols in your life? What emotions come up when you delay them? Instead of numbing emotions with food or alcohol, take those emotions to Jesus in Adoration or Mass. Utilize Lent as a season of self-knowledge and healing with Jesus Christ as the Great

Physician—but only if you enter into it fully. Jesus is calling all of us to join Him on the cross of fasting. If you commit to a little discomfort, He will help you carry the load. 

3. Create Your Own Lenten Church Calendar 

A Lenten calendar filled with extra sacraments changed my life a few years ago. It is the key to a successful Lent of delaying sugar, flour, and alcohol for Jesus. 

Years ago, my parish published a Lenten calendar with 46 daily boxes filled with: Mass times, extra Adoration hour, Confession times, Lenten speakers, soup suppers, charity events, Stations of the Cross, retreats in the Diocese, and more. That year, I ripped it out of the bulletin, put it on my fridge, and decided I wasn’t going to fit these events into my life. I was going to fit my life around these events. 

And it transformed my Lent. 

Instead of staying home and snacking at night, I was at Mass and Adoration. Instead of drinking wine on a Friday night, I was at the Stations of the Cross. Retreats and Parish Missions filled my Saturdays and Sundays. We even missed some school sports activities–just a few. I committed to Lent fully—not just in my mind, but in my actions and the actions of our family. 

The more time I spent in prayer and community, the easier it became to fast and let go of my attachments to food and drinks. I still do this every year. I set Lent apart from the rest of the year—and let it change me. Commitment fuels transformation. And when you commit, miracles happen. 

Final Thoughts: Make This Lent the Best One Yet 

Having a clear plan of fasting and prayer for Lent will help you embrace the season like never before. Miracles will abound. Your family will be blessed. Your body and soul will become healthier. Our church and nation need our prayers and fasting. Jesus is calling us to draw closer to him. When you begin to hunger for Him more than food, that’s when the real transformation begins. Lent isn’t just a season. It’s an invitation. 

Will you enter into it fully? Delay and Pray. Let God do the rest.

Looking for more direction on how to fast? Check out Beth’s book, Delay and Pray: Permanent Weight Loss Through Spiritual Fasting.