Lenten Reflections 2023

I had written this post back in April and still wanted to publish the text as it is a good reflection and reference for any Lenten season. Even if I don't do the daily 10 minutes anymore and keep it mostly for Sundays, the proximity to Jesus was transformative and added to my life a healthy dose of thirst for the Lord.

From April 9th 2023

Alleluia! The Lord has Risen!

How was your Lent?

One more Lenten season has gone by and now we share the joy of the Resurrection of Jesus! I wanted to reflect on the gift that these forty days have been for our family and for me personally, and on how we have lived it. The things that worked for us and for me personally. Each Lent and Easter are a gift from our Lord for our spiritual growth and to become closer to God. I am sharing these reflections in the spirit of sharing the joy that following God represents, and the abundance of possibilities to get close to God. Each family is unique and needs to find what works for them.

Listen and meditate in the Lord for 10mn every day

When Lent started I wondered what I could do in terms of prayer that would make sense. As usual when we are in the path of the Lord, when we seek answers we find them. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7)

I had the idea of, every day, first thing in the morning setting my alarm for 10 minutes, trying to clear my mind and listening to the voice of the Lord. Where did this idea come from? Back when my husband and I went through the RCIA (Rite of Christian initiation for Adults) I remember discussing the prayer topic with the beloved priest who baptized us. He had a way of making difficult things seem easy. He told us of a story of a man who prayed by looking at an image of Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me”, and that is all we need. His advice was: “Light a candle and spend 10 minutes listening to the Lord”. I had started practicing this from time to time, usually on Sunday mornings before the kid’s catechism, however I was usually in a rush.

I decided to challenge myself and to do this every single day of the Lenten season. They say a habit is formed in 2 weeks. I succeeded with my challenge and have to say the results have been incredible. Towards the end of Lent, I couldn’t not do my 10mn meditation and a denary of the Holy Rosary. It gave me the strength to make progress in my daily tasks at work or at home, little by little to find the right priorities, to feel I understand a little bit better the Lord’s plan for my family, that I understood better His will. What an incredible gift. The most important thing we can do is to work in understanding the Lord’s plan for our lives. We will always be happier when we do that because he has a unique and marvelous plan for each one of us.

This practice is one that I plan to continue. Was it easy to do? Not really. Sometimes I just sat in my bed, with my Rosary in my hands, thinking about the Lord. It gave me a nice way to start the day. Sometimes, when I wasn’t too tired, I mustered up the strength to go to the living room, light a candle and sat there for 10 minutes. Sometimes, my 8-year old would wake up and I hadn’t finished. I told him I was listening to the Lord and to stay there by my side to do the same thing. Did it work for him? I don’t know, but I think it’s important for him to see that we do not just talk about God’s plans for our lives. That we make a conscious effort to understand it because it is very important. Sometimes I was interrupted before the end of the 10 minutes. Did it matter that it wasn’t a perfect practice every day? Not really. The Lord knows our hearts, and I made the effort every single day. It was transformative.

I realized that the Lent and Easter seasons are a huge opportunity for a reset, for integrating the teachings of Jesus our Savior, to get to know him at a personal level and to love him more and more. It is a fantastic gift and it is up to us to accept it or not.

Snapshot of beautiful Saints Peter and Paul Church decorated for Palm Sunday 2023