What Is Lent Really About?

I love my job as a youth minister! I especially love the insights that teens give me on different subjects because teenagers are so real and don't hold back anything or any thought! I recently had a conversation with some teens about Lent and what it really means.

While talking about Lent, one teen commented and said, "Well I guess it is that time of year for me to give up my chocolate." This comment caught me off guard at first. I thought to myself surely these teens don't think that Lent is simply about giving up chocolate! 

The more I talked with other teens the more I realized, that is exactly what they think Lent is about. All of them talked about how Lent is the time where you give up things that you like to eat or do, but didn't know anything about the season.

Thank goodness for the Church which tells us what Lent is truly about. Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. 

Prayer- 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "pray without ceasing." We see Jesus in the Gospel praying all the time. He would go to a remote place and pray. We see in Jesus a man who was praying so intently before he was going to give us his life for all us that he sweat blood! This inspires me this Lent to step up my prayer. Lent is about spending more time in prayer centering ourselves on Christ and surrendering our lives to him. If you don't have a regular prayer life take this Lent to start one. I recently did a P90X workout, which helps you to strengthen your body. 

This Lent I encourage to do P40X(Prayer for 40 days). Strengthen your spiritual lives. Maybe you dont know where to start? Start by setting aside a time each day to pray. Read Scripture, journal, pray the Rosary, go to Mass, or spend time in silence. The important thing, in the words of Nike, is to "Just Do It," - go out and pray.

Fasting- We take our lead once again from Christ. He entered into the desert for 40 days and fasted. Fasting not only helps us become more self disciplined, but also gives us self control. Fasting is always a tough thing for us, but isn't it so comforting that around the world on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday in Lent I am joined by over 1 billion other Catholics fasting! Image if we all take this opportunity to allow this fasting to strengthen us and help us build our spiritual lives. The same is true from abstaining from meats on Friday. Lets take the opportunity to let these things transform us for the better. So there is nothing bad about giving up chocolate, just make sure that this is something that is going to draw you closer to Christ and not some mindless choice you do every year. 

Almsgiving- I believe we forget about this aspect of Lent the most! I know the last thing that you want to hear is that you have to give more money out of your pocket! Well there is good news and bad news here. Yes, we do need to give financially to the Church, it is one of the precepts of the Church, (if you dont know the 5 precepts, stop and look them up now!) but we can also give in our time that we can donate to the Church. As my mom always says, "there is one thing that we can't get back in life and that is our time." The great news is that if there is one place that I would love to spend my time it is for the Church. Another great thing to do during Lent is to donate your skills to the Church. The Church is always in need of help so if you have a skill set offer it to the Church!

The great thing about these three aspects of Lent is that these things do not have to stop at the end of Lent. This is a way we can live and unite our lives to Christ every day. Now go be holy. Happy Lent!