A good time to revisit our Lenten promises

We are now getting into the teeth of Lent.  How are you doing?  This is a good time for us to revisit our Lenten promises.  Maybe we have already fallen off the horse.  Maybe we realize that our promises were a bit too easy and we feel called to go a bit deeper.
Lent is not a 15 year mortgage.  The terms are set and are not negotiable after a couple of years.  You are locked in to the terms for the full 15 years unless you pay off the loan.  Lent on the other hand is mutable.  We impose the specifics of how we are going to grow during Lent.  We set for ourselves what we are going to do in our prayer life during Lent.  We decide for ourselves what additional fasting we will undertake (in addition to the days of fasting and abstinence required by the Church).  We decide how those will lead to a greater almsgiving.  Since the Lenten promises are self-imposed, we can change the terms.
No I am not suggesting that you give up on your promises just because you are tired of the sacrifice, but I do suggest that if at this point in lent you realize that your self-imposed Lenten journey is not right, either because it is too hard or too easy, then you can alter the terms.  
Perhaps you need to clarify your promises.  Maybe you planned to attend Stations of the Cross on every Friday of lent, only to realize that you cannot make it in time after work.  Perhaps in such a case you can alter your self-imposed intention to promise to pray the Stations of the Cross in a chapel by yourself, or at home if you don’t know of a church that would be open when you could stop in.
The point is to remind ourselves that we should grow in intimacy with Christ and His Church during these days.  A good coach adjusts his/her game plan during a game to maximize the chances of victory.
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected]
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