Getting to the Heart of Lent

Getting to the Heart of Lent

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Featured, Inspiration, Spirituality | 3 comments

I’ve been seeing Lent as a kind of celebration this year. Instead of looking at it as a time of deprivation and gloominess, I’m focusing on the fact that setting aside certain things has made room for other things that actually bring me joy.

A renewed schedule for morning prayer and an evening examen: incorporating the Angelus, Rosary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy into my day. Making time for spiritual reading. Foregoing a few overindulgences or wasting time has hardly been missed, at least so far. Instead, I have enjoyed the mindfulness and self-examination that these small disciplines have brought.

One of the books I’m using this Lent is The Sacred Heart for Lent by Thomas D. Williams, published by Servant Books. The daily meditations are a great way to focus on Jesus and develop a love for his Sacred Heart, especially during Lent.

Here’s a prayer from the book that spoke to me this week:

“Dear Jesus, I love getting to know you! There are always new facets of your personality to discover, always new virtues of your heart to contemplate. Draw me nearer and nearer to yourself. Reveal your Heart to me as you never have before. I want to feel the attractiveness of your Spirit; I ache to belong totally to you.”
(from the section opener for Week Two)

How is your Lenten journey going this year? What practices are you finding that make Lent real and meaningful to you?

[As Fr. Williams says, "Lent is the ideal time to get to know Jesus better."]

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Photo: porbital/freedigitalphotos.net

 
 

About the Author

Claudia Volkman is a director of product development for Servant Books. She and her husband, Scott, live in Connecticut, where she enjoys walking, knitting, and spending time with her Corgis.
 
 
 
  • Yolanda Cisneros

    I too have chosen to observe Lent in a different way this year and by depriving myself of certain meaningless morning rituals, I have opened up my mind to more spiritual activities. In filling my morning hours with prayer and readings of a more spiritual nature I have come to enjoy the peace and tranquility that comes with that territory. Instead of starting my day watching sensationalized news, or screaming talk shows on television wasting morning hours away, I begin my day reading prayers and inspiration enveloped in peace and quiet. I don’t miss Facebook (yet) or playing games online, nor watching endless program repeats on T.V. It’s a different observance of Lent for me since abstinence involves activities this year in addition to certain foods or drink.

  • Marywhitmer1

    I am feeling more of a connection to Lent this year that I have before.  God has been calling me to come to Him and listen to His word.  It is hard to crowd out all the distractions in the day, and in the world, the news, friends, work, children, grandchildren, all of it distances us from God.  I am praying to stay more focused on
    my journey to the cross,  Each morning I try to spend time in prayer and reflection on
    God Word.  If I begin my day without this time, it is as though I have forgotten the best part of my day with God.
    God Bless Everyone on their Lenten Journey

  • Sr. Juliemarie, SND

    Claudia, I love the Sacred Heart and appreciated the quote. A renewal for me this Lent has been reading and practicing the suggestions in the book by the Linns. Sleeping With  Bread has made the evening examen more meaningful to me. I also have read once and re-reading the book Make Room for God. For months now, I have been getting rid of clutter to make room for God. I hope to have externals of my room completed by Easter. I, too, have a blog. I write a prayer poem each week focused on the Gospels of Cycle B. You can reach me at http://www.prayerpoems.org