Planning our Lent 2022
It's nearly Lent again.
I said in 2020 that we had the Lent to end all Lents - lockdown came in just as the season began, and continued way longer! - and all the ideas and practices we had looked forward to incorporating into our lives just went by the wayside as we adjusted to having to stay home all the time. In 2021, I wrote a whole series on Lent as I followed a set of meditations.
This year, Lent feels more familiar to us. We have settled into our Catholic life, living liturgically to some extent - certainly keeping Advent, and this now being our third Lent observed as a family; and we even celebrate some feast days and avoid meat on Fridays. Living in that liturgical rhythm is very much a process, a deepening each year as we go: and so it is with Lent.
So, my thoughts for this year...
- I had planned to go TV free for Lent in 2020, which of course wasn't feasible when lockdown came, but this year it definitely is and we're going to do it.
- In line with my recent drive towards simplicity in all things - possessions, activities, technology - we will really simplify life in this season. And as distractions are removed (not just for the kids: I plan to keep my phone off completely on Sundays, and on weekdays check it no more than 2-3 times a day!) we will allow ourselves to be bored, to be creative, to take things slowly.
- With all this subtraction, there will be much free time which I expect will be a challenge at first, but a relief as we settle into a slower pace of life. There will also be additions, though: prayer. We used to pray a family rosary fairly regularly, but haven't done that in a while - for Lent, while it may not happen every single day, we'll try to get back to doing it more often than not. Also, a weekly visit to the Church to follow the Stations of the Cross will help us focus on the proverbial 'reason for the season'. Mass, of course, will also form part of our days as it has been - most mornings we catch an online Mass, but we will aim to catch at least one in-person weekday Mass per week.
- Finally, a commitment not to shop except for essentials. I've recently done a lot of clothes shopping as the weather improves (living in hope to be wearing short sleeves before long!) but the truth is, I have everything I need and so do the children.
We have enough.
We are enough.
This season is a pulling back of distractions, in order to focus on what matters. We look forward to it. Before that, however, Pancake Day is coming and the kids certainly look forward to that!