The Best-Laid Plans
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. We layout the best plans for our Lenten journey. We seek to approach Easter having undergone a well thought out and executed routine of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
If you are like me, this does not always go as planned. In fact, you may have completely fallen off of your well-laid plans and think your Lent is over. What if you only have a week left? What if you have a month left? What if it is literally the day after Ash Wednesday? What happens when Lent goes wrong?
First of all, we have to get this phrase out of our vocabulary. Lent cannot go wrong. Lent is there as a gift from God to restore harmony within our souls. It can also establish peace and harmony in our soul if it was lacking to begin with.
Our Lenten penances are built upon prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is important to discern how to exercise these during Lent (and beyond), but it is never too late during Lent to add or subtract practices. First, we need to examine why we are doing these penances.
Why Do We Do Penances?
Lenten practices heighten our awareness of God and allow God’s grace to penetrate our heights and minds more readily. So, it is important to be consistent. This is where most folks fall off the plan and stay off the plan. If we waver in our Lenten practices, there are three options: abandon course, alter course, or get back on course.
Three Options – Abandon, Alter, Acknowledge
Abandoning course is not an option for the Christian. No matter how difficult like gets and no matter how much we are suffering, Christ is there to share the burden. He does not tell us, “Be complacent and you will be happy.” Instead, He tells us to take up our cross, follow Him, and live the radical life of the Beatitudes.
We can alter course slightly. We can perhaps work on only a few disciples and try to really commit to them before adding more. The spirit is often willing, but the flesh is weak. This is not an excuse to stop pressing on. Instead, it is the realization that we should challenge ourselves, but we should do so by entering by the narrow stream taking one step at a time, rather than diving headlong into the ocean.
The third option is actually the first one to try. We must acknowledge where we have not lived up to our commitments. Instead of letting this define our Lent or cause us to despair, we simply get back on course. We ask God for the grace to begin again.
The Welcome at Every Start
Proverbs 24:16 says this: “… for a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity (Proverbs 24:16).” This very wise teaching tells us that the Christian life is a long-distance run, not a short sprint. We may fall several times (read: thousands of times), but we are always invited by God’s grace to get back up and try again.
There is a beautiful line in the Mumford and Sons song “Roll Away Your Stone” that encapsulates this reality. I think it also works well for a spiritual reminder during Lent and for our entire lives, really. The line goes like this: “It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart, but the welcome I receive with every start.”
It is inevitable that we will fall. It is part of our fallen human nature to be inclined to sin, to be weaker than we want to be, and to fail. However, God never fails. He never fails in extending His hand to lift us back up and get us back on course. Never be discouraged if you are clinging to God. And if you are distracted for a time, then simply allow God’s grace to give you a renewed focus.
Lent Resources
- Questions Children May Ask About Miscarriage — And Catholic Answers Parents Can Give
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly “Mommy, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” There are some conversations you wish you didn’t have to have with your children. We had just announced our pregnancy 2 short weeks ago. After a traumatic visit to the ER, I lost my baby at 15 weeks. Not only did I… Read more: Questions Children May Ask About Miscarriage — And Catholic Answers Parents Can Give - Beyond the Click: eCatholic and The Catholic University of America on Finding True Fruitfulness in Digital Ministry
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly There is a palpable peace you feel in a well-run parish. When administrative foundations are set in place with care and intention, the noise of the work fades and what remains is a community built on systems that actually support those who serve. Having worked in ministry myself—both as… Read more: Beyond the Click: eCatholic and The Catholic University of America on Finding True Fruitfulness in Digital Ministry - How To Create A Space For Prayer In Your Home
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly “Be still and know that I am God!” – Psalm 46:11 Our homes are meant to be domestic churches. They are places where we live out our faith not only on Sundays, but in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Creating a prayer space in our home can be… Read more: How To Create A Space For Prayer In Your Home - 10 Things We’ve Learned In 30 Years Of Marriage
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly We often enter marriage with our own worldview, shaped by how we were raised, our DNA, our wounds, our culture, and our education, and we assume our spouse shares a similar worldview. These assumptions are precisely the fertile soil that gives birth to the weeds of misunderstandings… Read more: 10 Things We’ve Learned In 30 Years Of Marriage - Impact Of St. Carlo On Today’s Young Catholics
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly The Race and St. Carlo Acutis St. Carlo Acutis died in 2006 at age 15 and is our first millennial Saint. Known for promoting the Eucharist as the highway to heaven, Carlo brings simple reason to our complicated world. St. Carlo is nicknamed ‘God’s Influencer’ due to his use… Read more: Impact Of St. Carlo On Today’s Young Catholics
