Lent is all about simplifying - cutting out anything worldly that inhibits our relationship with God. Here are five areas of our life in which we can simplify, so as to more easily and directly encounter God.
Spiritual Life: This may sound counter-intuitive, as we view Lent as a time to be more intensely spiritual. However, I will repeat again what I have urged you to so many times before: simplicity in your spiritual life. Before you pull out your pile of Lenten devotionals and books and map out all the spiritual exercises you want to fill your day with, pause for a moment. What is most important in our relationship with God? Mass, scripture, mental prayer. Basic. I cannot encourage you enough to put these simple things at the front and center of your Lent - then add from there as time allows each day. Don't get so bogged down in devotions and practices that you miss the quiet whispers of God inviting you to a deeper, personal relationship with Him. Because ultimately, my dear friends, GOD WANTS YOU AND YOUR HEART - NOT JUST A PIOUS CHECKLIST OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING FOR HIM. The many mystical saints of the Carmelite order teach this simplicity again and again. Carmel's approach to God is not a matter of many methods - it is about simply immersing yourself in His presence ever more deeply.
Technology: The internet, television, our phones, social media, music - all these things constantly bombard us in our daily lives it seems. Lent is to be a time of deeper prayer, and therefore silence...the solitude of the desert as our inspiration and ideal. By stepping back from technology, we are opening moments for this silence in our day. I cannot tell you how tremendously my capacity for quiet prayer and for a deeper appreciation of beauty grew during my time at the monastery - largely because of the separation from constant stimulation.
Obviously, we are in the world, and not able to entirely avoid these things. But do not use this fact as an excuse to not try! There are so many moments when we do have a choice - turn on the tv in the evening, or read a book? Turn on the radio in the car, or tune in to God always present with us and talk with Him? Play music while you're doing the housework, or allow your work to become a prayer as your heart remains quietly pondering God's word?
There are many little pockets of silence in our day, if only we look for them, and use them. And once we start looking for them, we will see how often we have filled our minds and souls with distractions that inhibited our availability to God.
Appearance: Another way we can embrace simplicity this Lent is in our personal appearance. This will look different for everyone, but some ideas are: wearing only dresses and skirts; cutting back or altogether refraining from makeup; forgoing jewelry and hair accessories; veiling for Mass and/or headcovering daily in general; not wearing perfume; sticking to solid colored clothing rather than patterned clothing.
These things may sound unrelated to the spiritual life, but clothing has a huge impact on our mindset and our demeanor. Hence, certain career fields require dress clothes to help maintain professionality. Religious wear habits as a reminder that they are set apart from the rest of the world, among other reasons. And so, by embracing a "habit" of sorts of our own, and simplifying our appearance in ways tangible to us, we are helping nurture the mindset of focusing on heavenly things and not things of this world.
Our possessions: There are two things that fall under this category - greater discretion in the purchases of new items, and getting rid of items already owned.
Of course some spending will be necessary during the days of Lent. But we can be more conscious of what we are purchasing, and weigh its necessity. By giving up impulsive or worldly purchases, we are again detaching ourselves from this world, and fixing our focus upon heaven.
In looking at what we already own, we will likely find there is excess of necessity. We can make it our goal this season to practice detachment and get rid of items we do not need, or items we keep solely through attachment rather than necessity.
Food: Of course, there is the required fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (one main meal and two smaller meals, which combined do not equal the size of the main meal and no snacking), as well as the abstinence from meat required on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent.
But there are other ways we can practice simplicity in our food aside from fasting and abstinence. Whether it is cutting back on salt, refraining from soda and juice, omitting deserts, using up the pantry items that have been sitting unused, etc., there are many ways we can consume food focusing more on nourishment than enjoyment in this Lenten season. Once again, this simplicity of fare brings detachment, and a tangible reminder to focus on hungering and thirsting after righteousness as the Gospel teaches.
Our approach to our spiritual life, our use of technology, our choices in our appearance, our relation to our possessions, our use of food - these are all things in our daily lives that we can find ways to simplify in. By seeking simplicity in these things, we will make our days more of a desert in which, freed from focus on earthly things, we can seek to deepen our union with God.
“Therefore, behold, I [the Lord] will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her."
Hosea 2:14
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