Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy

Women and Men Seeking Holiness as the Answer to Abortion

  • Welcome
  • Seeking Holiness
  • Membership
    • Directors
    • Special Prayer Partners
  • Sacraments
    • Holy Mass
    • Eucharistic Adoration
    • Frequent Confession
  • Prayer
    • Morning Offering
    • Devotion to Mary
    • The Holy Rosary
    • Lectio Divina
    • Chaplet of Divine Mercy
    • Examination of Conscience
    • Annual Retreat
  • Mercy
  • Patron Saints
    • Our Lady of Mercy
    • St. Augustine
    • St. Margaret of Cortona
  • Resources
    • Articles from other websites
      • Horror of Sin & the Mercy of God
    • Recommended Books
    • Brief Quotes from Saints
  • Contact
  • Prayer Requests
You are here: Home / Spiritual Teaching / Making a Holy Lent

Making a Holy Lent

March 7, 2014 by Fr. Ben Cameron Leave a Comment

How do we make a holy Lent?  Some of the saints teach that when we pray, we need to add fasting and almsgiving to our prayer.  Think of prayer as the soil of our soul’s garden.  If something is going to grow in the garden, it also needs rain.  And even with rain, it still cannot grow unless it has adequate sunlight.  Fasting is the rain, and Almsgiving is the sunlight.  We need all three for true spiritual growth.

What kind of fasting should we do?  Well, that depends on what each person can handle with their health, personal strength, etc.  Many Eastern Rite Christians (both Catholic and Orthodox) practice a very ancient form of fasting — they abstain from all meat, eggs, and dairy products for all of Lent!  I cannot imagine being able to do that!  But we can fast by abstaining from meat for all but one meal each day, or by giving up cigarettes, or having only one (or two) cups of coffee in the morning.  We can all do some form of fasting!  And fasting is not giving up something that is intrinsically evil, but giving up something that is good, for the sake of something that is better — in our case, for deeper union with our Lord Jesus Christ, and less dependence on the things of this world.

How about Almsgiving?  It doesn’t matter how poor we might be, there are always people who are worse off than we are — can we help them in some way?  Giving money, even giving the “two copper coins” like the widow in the Gospel, is the most common form of almsgiving.  But there is another form of almsgiving that is mentioned by St. Caesarius of Arles, one of the Fathers of the Church:  Giving forgiveness to those who hurt us, and giving it immediately!  Wouldn’t that be a good practice for Lent?

So we need to practice Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving — the Soil, Rain, and Sunshine for the growth of our spiritual garden — for our growth in holiness.  May you all have a wonderful and holy Lent!

 

Filed Under: Spiritual Teaching

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

Can God forgive our gravest sins?

Sometimes people ask if God can really forgive our most grievous sins — He not only can, but He actually does, if we ask for forgiveness. In this video, I share some stories of people who were notorious sinners — some would say “monsters” — who experienced the grace of forgiveness from the Infinite Mercy […]

One Soul at a Time

Over the past year, we have seen a several signs of hope regarding the sanctity of every human life, and suffered a few setbacks as well. On the positive side, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the infamous Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions, rejecting the notion that there is a federal […]

November – Month of the Poor Souls

One of the spiritual works of mercy is to “pray for the living and the dead.” We usually remember that we should pray for the living, because they are around us, seen by us, and their needs are often apparent to our eyes. But do we remember to pray for the dead, for the souls […]

Our Lady, Terror of Demons

We are in a war, a spiritual war. The Christian life is a constant war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. But what does that mean? We are at war with “the world” in its fallen state, in which the world around us, fallen and prone-to-evil human society, attempts to lead us away […]

Blogroll

  • Testimony from a Woman Healed from Abortion
  • The Power of God's Mercy to Heal even the Deepest Wounds
  • Women of Grace: Part one of interview with Fr. Ben Cameron

Devotional Links

  • Chaplet of Divine Mercy
  • How to Pray the Rosary
  • Miraculous Medal
  • The Green Scapular

Post-abortion healing

  • Entering Canaan Retreats
  • Hope After Abortion – Project Rachel
  • Rachel's Vineyard – International Site
  • Rachel's Vineyard Kentucky
  • Rachel's Vineyard Kentucky Facebook page

Religious

  • Fathers of Mercy

Posts: Listed by Topics

  • Art in Honor of the Unborn (2)
  • Latest News (30)
  • Liturgical Prayers (3)
  • Prayer requests (1)
  • Radio/TV interviews (3)
  • Reflections from Saints and Holy Persons (34)
  • Spiritual Teaching (82)
  • Testimonies (4)
  • Uncategorized (5)
  • Works of Mercy (18)

Post Archives: By Month

Copyright © 2023 Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy · All Rights Reserved · Website built by Spears Marketing · Admin