Lent is Coming...

Easter is the feast of feasts, the pinnacle of the liturgical year. We spend forty days in Lent just to prepare for it! But how do we prepare for Lent? Is there something that can help us get ready?

The idea of a pre-Lent season has been a long-standing tradition in the Church and was commonly known as Septuagesima or Shrovetide. Various cultural traditions such as the Carnival and Mardi Gras find their origins in this season. As we approach the fast of Lent, we take a special joy in the goodness of God's creation - and our Sisters' cooking! This savoring of the delights of food is also practical as it gives a household the opportunity to finish up any treats or sweets in the pantry before they enter the penitential time of Lent. But there is also a more serious aspect to this time of preparation. It is an opportunity to turn to Our Lord and arouse our desire to unite with His fasting for forty days in the desert and accompany Him on the way of the Cross. It is a good time to pray about how we want to spend our Lent and what concrete practices we will undertake. If we mentally prepare beforehand, Ash Wednesday can find us ready and excited to enter the grace-filled season of Lent.

​In the Convent, one of the ways the Sisters spend this time preparing for Lent is by writing a "Prayer and Penance Program". While the we have communal obeservances of penance and prayer, each Sister takes on her own personal resolutions. Her program is in the form of a letter, directed to Jesus or Mary, describing the practices the Sister has prayerfully discerned the Lord is asking of her in order to grow in closer union with Him during the 40 days of Lent. She knows too that the greatest penance is often found in accepting the unexpected Crosses that daily arise, and she turns her will to align with whatever Lent the Lord has prepared for her. 

These final days before Lent are the last chance to enjoy a bit of feasting but it is also an opportunity to turn the heart and mind with joyful expectation to the great fast of Lent and the subsequent greatest miracle of Christ's ultimate victory over death and sin.