“What are you giving up for Lent?” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this question over my many years of putting ashes on people’s heads for Ash Wednesday. For many of us it involves abstaining, or giving up, treats like eating candy, ice cream, pizza or a favorite snack, soda, coffee, or beer.
This Lent, however, I’d like to challenge you to think of Lent as a time to deepen your own relationship with Jesus Christ by making decisions that enable you to better “Live Jesus.”
St. Francis de Sales calls this type of decision “virtuous living” and he devotes the entire third section of the Introduction to the Devout Life to this task.
In the Lenten Season, God invites us to reflect on our habits, both good (virtues) and bad (vices). Doing this allows us to build up our relationship with God, with ourselves and with each other. Lent, in other words, provides us an opportunity to stop, evaluate our lives and see what adjustments are necessary so that we become who we are called to be.
As you go through this week, I invite you to begin Lent by reflecting on your habits, both your virtues and your vices, and identify where God might be calling you to persevere and to change.
Ask yourself:
What are the things I do every day? What are my daily habits?
Are they good (virtuous) habits?
Are they bad habits (vices)?
What good habits allow me to live each day well, allowing me to recognize God’s presence in my life, in myself, and in my friends?
What negative habits habitually lead me to live foolishly and keep me from recognizing God’s presence in my life and responding to it?
What good habits ought I to continue?
What bad habits ought I to stop?
Then, in prayer:
Thank God for the good habits or virtues that you have.
Ask God for help in overcoming your vices by practicing the opposite virtue; for example, if you are impatient, consider practicing patience.
For help with understanding the virtues check out this section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Finally, whenever we attempt to transform our lives, we would be wise to ask for God’s grace, for God’s assistance to aid us in our attempts and to withstand the temptations that are sure to afflict us. And, as always, remain patient with yourself for as St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Have patience with all the world, but first of all with yourself.”
“In order to journey well, apply yourself to living well the road right in front of you.” ~ St. Francis de Sales
Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
