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
- How The Holy Spirit Built Our Young Adult Home Ministry: Friday Night Limes
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly Have you ever watched a plant grow, from seed to sapling, then bloom from flower to fruit? This was the experience my mom and I had as we watched our at-home young-adult ministry grow from strength to strength. It was our plant, entrusted to us to nurture, but we… Read more: How The Holy Spirit Built Our Young Adult Home Ministry: Friday Night Limes - Gospel Reflection: Twenty-Third Sunday In Ordinary Time
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every… Read more: Gospel Reflection: Twenty-Third Sunday In Ordinary Time - Renewing Catholic Education: How To Start A Parent Group In Your Catholic School
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly “We’re Back!” the principal excitedly shouted. And then immediately followed up with a request: “Can you help us renew our commitment to Catholic Education?” It was just before the start of the 2023-2024 school year. We were coming off the heels of the COVID pandemic – kids learning 6… Read more: Renewing Catholic Education: How To Start A Parent Group In Your Catholic School - How A Petition Started A Movement For Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s Cause
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly “Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and Religious. It’s up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops,… Read more: How A Petition Started A Movement For Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s Cause - Praying With Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment: The Trumpet Shall Sound
Facebook Pinterest Gmail LinkedIn Print Friendly It’s what I get for writing a book titled Talking of Michelangelo: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell in the Burgundy Region. Interviewers are constantly asking me about Michelangelo and his painting The Last Judgment, which graces the cover of my book. It’s gotten me thinking more and more about… Read more: Praying With Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment: The Trumpet Shall Sound
