Wisdom from the Cloister: Your Lenten Practices are Right Under Your Nose

Every year as we approach the Lenten season, my mind goes back to one of my memories from Carmel.

As Lent in Carmel drew near during my year there, I asked the Novice Mistress (the Sister in charge of those in formation), if I could please add on x and y extra penance during Lent, overeager little postulant that I was. However, permission was firmly denied, as I was so new to Carmel still, and I was urged instead to focus on living the Carmelite life as fully as possible.

In that moment, I did not see the incredible value that lay in simply applying myself wholeheartedly to what my daily life already consisted of. How could that possibly be enough for Lent??

But now I look back and see my foolishness. How many Carmelite saints tell us again and again that even the smallest things done in love bear so much spiritual treasure. There were so many opportunities in the daily life of Carmel where I could deliberately offer my whole being when nature wished to give only half.

Now, as a wife and mother, I go back again and again to this wise admonition, still gaining so much inspiration and encouragement from it.

During these more intense liturgical seasons, we can be tempted to add so much to our daily lives. It is as if we mentally walk through a store of spiritual goods, adding thing after thing to our Lenten cart of resolutions, till it is so heavy that to push it far would be impossible.

This is not fruitful. This is not what God desires of us. The enemy delights in it, because while we are busying ourselves with elaborate pious planning (the carrying out of which  will be unsustainable), we are blind to the holiness that lies right in front of us in our daily living. THAT is where the real opportunities for progress lie. THAT is where devil does not want our attention.

So I challenge you, as you prepare your hearts for the rapidly approaching Lenten season, to look right in front of you.

In what areas of your daily living do you need to recommit? What areas need greater fidelity and zeal?

What virtues are lacking that are actually most needed for one walking your path?

How can you serve God more perfectly through your daily tasks?

This, my friends, is the secret to a fruitful Lent – a Lent that carries its force through all forty days (not just the first week), and has long lasting impact far beyond that.