5 Tips for a Great Lent

“5 Tips for a Great Lent” by Brian Flanagan

First Sunday of Lent

So how long did you last on Ash Wednesday before you accidentally smudged your ashes? An hour? Twenty minutes? All day? Regardless of how you did, sooner or later those ashes are coming off on your hand, your pillow, or in the shower.

It would be great if they could stay there all Lent long, but getting new ashes every day might be overkill, and getting them tattooed on would make for an awkward Easter season. But for one day of the year, every time you look in the mirror you literally have an in-your-face reminder of one thing. You’re a sinner. You’re a sinner, but you’re called to be a saint. So how do you do that? Here are “5 Tips for a Great Lent” that will help you out.

Tip #1: ADMIT You’re a Sinner

The point of getting ashes in the first place is to get us to admit that we are sinners. All of us. Even Pope Francis, and he’d be the first to tell you that. Even me! If you want to have a great Lent, you have to admit that you’re a sinner. I don’t just mean admitting that you’re not perfect, but admitting that you regularly go against God in one way or another. That sometimes you know what the right thing to do is and don’t do it. That too often you know something is wrong and do it anyway. This Lent, let’s stop rationalizing, stop making excuses, and start taking responsibility for the times that we spiritually mess up.

Tip #2: DECIDE to Be a Saint

Okay now that we’ve admitted we’re sinners, let’s do something about it. Let’s decide to become saints. God is calling each of us to be holy. Jesus even goes as far as to say, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That might seem like a tall order, but we need to aim for perfection. It doesn’t do us any good if we aim for mediocrity and fall short. And we will fall short (see Tip #1). So let’s aim high this Lent and give it all we’ve got, striving for spiritual awesomeness.

Tip #3: COMMIT to Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving

Most of us have given up chocolate or soda for Lent before, but this year let’s kick it up a notch. The Church traditionally asks us to increase our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during Lent. Let’s each pick one thing in each of those categories that will help us grow in holiness and virtue this Lent (see Tip #2). Pray more – Daily rosary? Five minutes of reflecting on your day before bed? Making sure to get to Mass every Sunday even when your family doesn’t go? Whatever it is for you, pick one way you’ll pray more. Fasting – Giving up chocolate is actually great to do, but only if you normally eat chocolate all day long. Try giving up something that’s more common to your daily routine like Netflix or coffee. Too hard? Try giving it up 2 days a week during Lent. Self-denial with little things goes a long way in helping us be less selfish. Lastly, almsgiving (or giving to the poor). Sometimes that gets interpreted loosely as being generous with our time, but this year try giving actual money to the actual poor. Pope Francis would be thrilled if you did that! Even if all you can scrape together is $10, that’s $10 more that the homeless guy could have in his pocket or $10 more that the soup kitchen could have to spend on supplies. And I bet you could give $50 – that’s only a bit more than a dollar a day during Lent.

Tip #4: ASK for Help

We can’t stick to all those awesome commitments on our own – we need others to support us. Find a friend you can be accountable to for your Lenten commitments and that you can help be accountable too. If nobody is asking you how giving up coffee is going, it’s way too easy to give up on it. I recently saw a video of a tortoise at a zoo in Taiwan who was stuck on its back. Then another tortoise came and flipped his buddy over. We need each other to have a great Lent! (see Tips #1, 2, 3)

Tip #5: REPEAT

Probably every day this Lent in one way or another, you’re going to have to repeat all of these steps. Admitting our sinfulness isn’t a one-time deal the first week of Lent, but we need to do it every day. We need to reaffirm the decision to become the saints we’re called to be every day. We need to recommit ourselves to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving every day (whether that’s getting back on the horse after we mess up or reminding ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing). We need to keep asking our brothers and sisters in Christ for support. Follow these 5 Tips, and you’ll have a great Lenten season. When we get to Easter, each of us should be better versions of ourselves and even closer to being perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. Happy Lent!