“What are you doing for Lent?” or “What are you giving up for Lent?” Sometimes we ask one another these questions as casually as if we were asking, “What are you having for dinner?” Or “Do you have any plans for the weekend?” And maybe our answers are as casual as the questions…but are these really the deeper questions that we should be asking ourselves as we begin this holy season?
Yes, Lent is a time where we can “give up” various things or try to “do” more – whether that’s in the line of prayer or service, and there’s nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it is a good and necessary aspect of our Lenten journey. However, maybe sometimes we get stuck on what we’re doing rather than why we’re doing it or on what we are doing rather than on what God wants to do in us.
GOING DEEPER
Therefore, as we begin this journey of Lent, I invite you to go deeper. In the spirit of the motto of this Jubilee Year of Hope, try to make this time of Lent a time of pilgrimage – a pilgrimage into your own heart.
When one makes a pilgrimage, one usually brings an intention. A pilgrimage includes a profound realization of human helplessness and the need for divine assistance. Where are you experiencing this human helplessness in your life? What is your intention on your Lenten pilgrimage? What in your heart needs renewal? Where do you need an answer or a new beginning?
it costs something
This then leads into the next step of the pilgrimage – the aspect of sacrifice. In the original meaning of a pilgrimage, it cost the pilgrims something. Often, they would journey long distances on foot, bringing along only what was absolutely necessary for the journey. However, this renunciation, this sacrifice must have a goal, and that goal is ultimately love. We want to increase our longing and love for God by focusing more on him and therefore we set aside or sacrifice things which demand much of our time and attention – with the intention of fixing our hearts and our gaze more fully on him. Sacrifice is also part of the process of renewal and conversion, which requires leaving some things behind in order to make room for the new. As Pope Francis tells us in his Message for Lent:
“A first call to conversion thus comes from the realization that all of us are pilgrims in this life; each of us is invited to stop and ask how our lives reflect this fact. Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone? Am I seeking ways to leave behind the occasions of sin and situations that degrade my dignity?” (Pope Francis, Message for Lent 2025)
Here, each of us can ask ourselves, “What in my life is currently distracting me or even pulling me away from God? What can I offer to him this Lent as I set out on this pilgrimage journey?” For each of us, this will look different – perhaps for some it’s food, for others it may be social media, for others perhaps it’s a relationship that is pulling me down…whatever it is, try to offer it, not only to “give it up”, but to give it to God.
in the silence of the heart
This aspect of sacrifice leads into the third aspect of our pilgrimage journey – making time for prayer and silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. Take time on your Lenten pilgrimage to discover the infinite love of God for you personally – to ponder the amazing truth that Jesus died on the cross out of love for you and to let this truth awaken and deepen your love for him in return. Try to spend more time in prayer, in adoration, attending Daily Mass, praying the stations of the cross. Let the void in your heart be filled by God and his love for you.
invite him…
And remember, in the end, this Lenten pilgrimage into your heart isn’t so much about what you are doing, but what God wants to do in you. He is the guide on your pilgrimage, so to speak. Open yourself completely to him, offer him not only your successes, but also your failures, and invite him to journey with you into the deepest places of your heart.