My Lenten Plans — 2024

I used to do a post like this every Lent and then gradually fell out of the habit, figuring that it wasn't really important to anyone but me. However, I recently found myself inspired to take up a few new practices by reading of others' plans, so I'll share mine in case it is similarly helpful to anyone.

As we mentioned last week, the marks of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I began Ash Wednesday by realizing I wasn't really taking Lent seriously. My reaction to remembering the all-day fast was an internal tantrum over the fact that I had to actually do it, not just think about it.

That made me realize just how much I need Lent.

• Prayer — I always intend to do daily intercessory prayer but often give myself a pass. JD Flynn at The Pillar talked about St. John Henry Newman's intercessory practices in a way that made me vow to fulfill my intention daily. I want to remember the people I'm praying for in a more personal way than I often do.
  
  I'm also going to try JD's idea of hand-copying Scripture. I've never heard of this before. I'm trying to figure out where I will incorporate it in my schedule. It may be a good addition to my morning prayer. As to what I'm going to copy, it will be Baruch. I'm not excited about this selection but when you aren't sure what to copy and flip your closed Bible open to see what pops up, sometimes you wind up with Baruch. (Especially when you flip to the same page two times in a row. Yeah, I tried to get out of it, but I also can take a hint.)
  


• Fasting — I've got two fasts this year. First, no between-meal snacking. I've slid into having something "just a little something" here and there in a practice of self-indulgence and comfort. I've noticed the trend lately in homilies for priests to act as if giving up something like ice cream or snacking as childish or not deep enough. Hey, sometimes we need grounding in the basics to remind us of how to make space for God. I need the spiritual discipline of not coddling myself so that I have the habit of making a small sacrifice when the need arises.
  
  I'm also going to fast from criticizing people to others. There are a lot of people that I can view charitably even when they annoy me — so I've made some progress over the years. But just recently I realized that, again, I give myself a pass on that for certain other people. It was a humbling realization and from my thoughts about how hard it is going to be I can see that it is much needed. I recently had occasion to remember my "Lord have mercy on me and bless [insert name here] prayer. (Read about it here.) I feel as if I'm going to be busting that out a lot.


• Almsgiving — During Covid we got out of the habit of picking up things for the food pantry every week. I'm going to start that up again. This is something that Zombie Parent's Guide reminded me of.
  
  
• Reading — Fiction: Last year I read 22 pages a day of The Lord of the Rings for my lectio divina. It was powerful in a way I didn't anticipate. In fact, I wound up reading fiction a lot of the year during lectio divina because of that — and it was also very fruitful. So I'm doing it again this year, of course!
  
  Nonfiction: I always read something spiritual in the morning after looking over the paper. This year I'm focusing on Lent with The Power of the Cross: Good Friday Sermons from the Papal Preacher by Raniero Cantalamessa. I really love his writing anyway, but Joseph at Zombie Parent's Guide reminded me of it in his 2024 Lenten post. Be sure to click through his link to his review.


• Movie watching — I haven't rewatched The Mill and the Cross or The Passion of the Christ for years. This is the year!

This looks like a lot of things but most of them fit a spot that's already in my schedule.