Make a list of 40 people for whom to pray. Dedicate 40 minutes a day to pray for one person each day, or choose one person for whom to pray for 40 minutes a day for all 40 days.
Attend eucharistic adoration at least once a week.
Choose a person to anonymously receive random acts of kindness.
Give up makeup.
Give up your favorite place to shop.
Visit the elderly.
Donate your time.
Make
cooking more plain, go to bed earlier. Work on habits to help be a
better person — review them along with morning prayer and seek to be
more intentional.
Volunteer at the fish fry.
Pray in front of Planned Parenthood.
Find
ways to spend less time on the phone. Give up Facebook for Lent and
checking email on the phone. There are apps, such as Moment, that track
screen time. Or completely eliminate all screen time — phones, TVs and
tablets.
Learn about the practice of Memento Mori (“Remember Your
Death: Memento Mori” by Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, available at
Pauline Books and Media).
Do your Lenten practice with a friend to hold one another accountable. Mix it up and assign one another a Lenten practice.
Send a hand-written note to someone who has had an influence in your life.
Each
day during Lent, call someone with whom you haven’t connected in a
while. Use the time to intentionally listen and connect with that
person.
Commit to a Lenten practice that extends once Lent is
over, such as another day of morning Mass, or another time slot for
adoration, or silent time in the afternoon for spiritual reading.
Spiritually adopt priests, seminarians or religious — write to them and let them know you are praying for their vocations.
Visit a deceased loved one at the cemetery.
Give up the snooze button.
Declutter your physical space, and donate the items to a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store.
Make
a good-deeds jar: For every good deed or sacrifice, add a bead,
colorful plastic hearts, jelly beans or other item. Do enough good deeds
to fill the jar by Easter.
Make a grapevine wreath filled with
toothpicks to represent Jesus’ crown of thorns. As each person makes
sacrifice of some kind for Jesus or a neighbor, a thorn is removed from
the wreath so it is no longer hurting Jesus. The goal is to teach
reparation of sins.
Eat soup every night.
Bury the Alleluia.
Invite others for Friday activities, such as Stations of the Cross or meatless meals.
Memorize the Ten Commandments.
Cover religious images during Lent, bringing all of it back at Easter.
Abstain from a favorite treat and donate the saved money to Rice Bowl. (www.crsricebowl.org)
Volunteer with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Introduce yourself at Mass to someone you don’t know.
Avoid gossiping and change the direction conversation that is focused on gossiping.
Attend daily Mass at least once a week.
Turn your phone on airplane mode and spend time doing something creative.
Pray for RCIA candidates and catechumens.
Sit in the lunchroom with someone new at work or school and get to know them better.
Visit residents at a nursing home.
Keep a journal.
Pray for children who will receive their First Communion or Sacrament of Confirmation this spring.
Read “The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice and Communion,” by Lawrence Feingold.
Whatever you do, do it for the love of God.