“Second Chances” by Amilee Beer, Fiat Ventures
Second Sunday of Lent
It’s Week 2 of Lent…how are your Lenten promises going? I’ve been asking around this week, and I’ve heard a mix of things. Some people are still going strong, and some people gave up day 3. For me, it’s a mix. I gave up a few different things…and not surprisingly, the most difficult things were the things that were first to go. So now what?
Early this week, a friend of mine put it simply. “I’m fasting from being overly anxious, and I’m feasting on a better prayer life. She went on to explain that whenever she started to feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, she would stop what she was doing and say three Hail Mary’s. In addition, she was starting each day with three Hail Mary’s. Her commitment to prayer isn’t anything grandiose, but it directly connects to what she’s giving up. When I asked how it was going, she was very positive about it—the fasting and feasting were not important but not overly difficult things, and they worked together to refocus her thoughts on God whenever negative feelings arose.
The simplicity of her Lenten promises really struck me: rather than give up sweets just to fail 3 days later and spend the rest of Lent deep in Catholic guilt, why don’t I re-focus my Lenten promises towards God? This could work in many different ways. Maybe, like my friend, you want to offer up a short prayer whenever you feel tempted or give in to whatever it is you “gave up”. Maybe it means telling someone else so that they can help keep you accountable, or maybe it means giving up something extra, like I did a few years ago.
When I was a junior in college, I lived with three other girls who I did not know before moving in. They were lovely girls, and I got along with them well, but tended to curse freely and often. Before I knew it, cursing had become a normal part of my vocabulary too, without even realizing it. Curse words had lost their meaning, had become a casual and normal part of conversation…and I knew that wasn’t right for me. So for Lent that year, I gave up cursing. Every time I slipped up, I tallied it up, and at Easter I donated a dollar for every time I cursed to a local charity. Not only did it help me curb the bad habit, but I was also able to use my vice to help others.
Wherever you are in your Lenten journey, it’s not too late to re-commit yourself to your promises, or re-focus them on the Lord. Pray that the Holy Spirit gives you the strength you need to fulfill your promises, and brings you back to Jesus if you fall. As humans, mistakes are easy to make, but in God we have a Father who never runs out of second-chances.
