Four ways to finish Lent well

Monday, April 3rd, 2017

As we near the end of Lent, it’s a good time to stop and assess how we have done thus far.

Before the revision of the Roman Missal in 1970, this coming Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, was referred to as “Passion Sunday” and marked the beginning of Passiontide.

In his incredible fifteen-volume work on the liturgy, Dom Gueranger remarked, “This Sunday is called Passion Sunday, because the Church begins, on this day, to make the sufferings of our Redeemer her chief thought.”

Though we now celebrate Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday as one, on the Sixth Sunday of Lent, we can still use these next two weeks—Passiontide—to renew our Lenten practices.

Where have we succeeded? Where have we failed? It’s time to make the Passion of our Lord our “chief thought.” Here are four ways to enter more deeply into Lent and finish it off well.

Recommit. Perhaps we had grand plans on Ash Wednesday, and we have since failed once, twice, or perhaps entirely.

Rather than just throwing up our hands and going back to our normal routine, let us recommit ourselves to our Lenten program. Rather than being discouraged at failures, let us be thankful for the two remaining weeks of Lent that will give us a second (or third) chance to pick up our crosses.

Be honest with God in your assessment and ask for the grace you need to continue. Lent isn’t pass/fail. Just because you may have hit that snooze button every single morning doesn’t mean you can’t recommit to abstaining from it for the next two weeks. Avoid the trap of defeatism.

The Devil wants you to throw your plans out the window. God wants you to start again. Continue reading