Tried and True Recipes for Lent?

Planning for Great Lent is a lot like making a New Year’s resolution. Goals and activities should be deliberate but realistic, and parents should make an effort to explain to their children know why these practices are being adopted, rather than merely forcing them upon them.

After setting our individual and/or family goals, we need to arrange our schedules, plan the different events and make adjustments to our life to put these resolutions into practice. Our daily life doesn’t stop just because Lent is here. The challenge is to observe the spirit of Lent and perform the works of Lent while living in a secular culture, to remain “in the world but not of the world.”

The Three Elements of a Lenten Program

There are three principal works for Lent, as taught to us by Christ: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Of course, more categories can be added such as Good Works and Education. All are linked to each other.

Prayer

“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God” (St. John Damascene). We communicate with God and work on our relationship with God. It is through prayer that we know God and understand His Will for us. Through our prayers we open ourselves to charity, generosity towards others and self-denial to ourselves. There are many forms of prayer that we can and should practice, both privately and corporately.

• Ideally, we should make a strong commitment to participate in the weekday services whenever possible, especially during Pure Week and the Presanctified Liturgies. The liturgical priorities of Holy Week, of course, go without saying. Remember, Lenten worship, with its special “key” in the chanting, its “bright sadness,” Prayer of St. Ephraim and prostrations, etc., can only be experienced Monday through Friday. (Saturday evening and Sunday mornings are always Resurrectional, i.e. Paschal)
• When this is not possible, as a bare minimum, the scripture readings from the calendar and selections from the Psalms should be read and meditated upon daily. This could be done as a family, perhaps at the dinner meal.

Included in this category we might add Education and Reading. During Lent (and throughout the year) we need spiritual instruction. We need something for the mind, something for the soul, something for the heart. During the daytime weekday services in church we’ll be reading Tito Colliander’s Way of the Ascetics. I also highly recommend Great Lent by Fr. Alexander Schmemann and The Lenten Spring by Fr. Thomas Hopko. See me (Fr. Stephan) if you would like some other suggestions.

Fasting

All of us are called to fast and abstain from certain foods and beverages during Great Lent. However, there are other forms of abstaining and fasting which also are an essential part of our discipline. We are called to fast with our eyes, our ears, our hands and feet and our tongue. Here are some examples of these forms:

• Refrain from complaining, gossiping, grumbling or losing your temper.
• Reduce or eliminate time surfing the Internet or playing video games.
• Curb forms of entertainment such as TV, dining out, movies, especially during Pure Week and Holy Week.
• Eat less at meals, or eat fewer snacks between meals.
• Eat without complaining. Make simple meals that are healthy.

Almsgiving and Good Works

Almsgiving is also tied closely with fasting. Whatever we give up, the money we save should be given away to the needy. It helps to make this a visual practice by, for example, having a jar or box in the center of the table as a reminder and measure of progress.

It is also considered “almsgiving” to give one’s time and goods to those who are in need, i.e., donating time for a soup kitchen, giving clothes to charity, visiting the shut-ins and elderly, driving those without transportation and other similar practices.

Our Daily Duty with Personal Time

At the end of our life, we will be held accountable for how we have used our time. Where is there room for improvement now? Are morning and evening prayers in our routine? Preparation for Confession and Communion? What do you do on Saturday at 6pm if for some reason worthy of a blessing you’re not at vigil? Can we spend more personal time for prayer, or discipline ourselves to get the right amount of sleep (in order to be less irritable and more fruitful)? NOW is the time to make the best of our daily duty.