A Catholic Single's Guide to Lent

The Christmas season has ended (traditionally February 2^nd) and we are moving through the Liturgical calendar. Lent is here and we singles are continuing to live our current vocations.

No matter what age we are or how our lives are going, we should always be striving to be better. Jesus said, “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” Mat. 5:48. While we know we can never be perfect, Christ does call us to strive for it.

Lent is the perfect time to give us that added incentive to try just a bit harder to take steps in that direction. 

What is Lent?

With there being many new converts and reverts the past couple years, it may be good to quickly review what Lent is and what we should or should not do. EWTN has a nice starter guide. Though it doesn’t include everything, it’s a good starting place! The forty days leading up to Easter are days of fasting and penance in preparation for the Resurrection. While not demanded, it is also a great time to further offer voluntary sacrifice, build good habits, and break vices. 

Discipline

With Lent being a major preparation time for Easter, what better time to improve ourselves not only for Christ, but for our future vocation of marriage? It’s a win-win for us! Everything we can do will benefit us in both areas. Discipline comes in many forms and may look different for each of us. Some of us may be ahead of others, but the simplest of things can begin our journey if we are really lacking.

Start by making your bed EVERY morning. It sounds silly and mundane, but that act of doing something day in and day out is a solid basis to build on. For those further along, maybe we can go with the tradition of giving up something we enjoy for Lent. This could be TV, secular music, secular reading, anything that may not be specifically God centered, and replace it with something that brings our attention more towards God. Replace TV with a walk outside or a puzzle. Replace The Top 50 with Gregorian chant or classical music. Replace your favorite fantasy book with one about the Saints. There are many paths one could take here. Each will help us build that personal discipline that will serve us both spiritually now and in our future vocation. 

Vices and Virtue

This may be a bit repetitive after talking about discipline and how we start to attain it or strengthen it, but it is worth reinforcing. In marriage, we give up our own needs for those of our spouse. If we have vices or addictions, these can stop us from being fully selfless. Again, depending on where each of us is in our journey, our vices may be large or small. Eliminating big ones like impurity, or something as small as practicing temperance with drink or food, can give us an opportunity to become better. Sometimes doing too much is a recipe for disaster, so let’s pick one and see how much progress we can make! The opposite of vice is virtue, and by default, the practice of virtue will help us break the corresponding vice. Are we prideful and don’t like to take responsibility for our mistakes? Then let’s practice more humility. Are we prone to intrusive or impure thoughts? Let’s practice better chastity and guard our eyes and ears from suggestive material using temperance and prudence. You get the idea!

Prayer, Tradition, and the Liturgical Year

Lastly, let’s talk about becoming more involved Catholics. If we are here on Catholic Match we are obviously looking for a Catholic spouse right? I bet almost everyone’s profile talks about living like the Holy Family and a Christ centered marriage, or at least it is implied. How can we better do that? The Church gives us so many ways to enrich our lives through prayers, traditions, and the Liturgical Year. If we don’t pray the Rosary every day, we could start with that. Try saying it every day during Lent. Or maybe choose the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Or the Angelus at any (or all!) of the times. Traditions are rich during Lent and in the Holy Tridium. Ash Wednesday starts off the Forty Days of Lent. Stations of the Cross are often offered on Fridays during this time. Holy Thursday and Good Friday, despite not being Holy Days of Obligation, have so much to offer not just from the Mass, but also the stripping of the altar, the celebration of the institution of the Priesthood, and the Adoration of the Cross. We can also use this time to jump-start living the Liturgical year. It’s amazing how much observing and celebrating the days and feasts of the Church calendar can bring us closer to the lives of the saints and through them, to God Himself. What better way to prepare for a fully Christ-centered marriage than constantly being aware of His Prescence in everyday life?

Rome wasn’t Built in a Day

Just like the Rome of old, our growth and striving for perfection will not be complete today, tomorrow, or in the near future.

We need to be kind to ourselves if we fall short but keep putting in that effort! 

During this time of Lent, we are given the opportunity to not just do what the Church demands, but to offer even more of our lives and selves to God. Let’s take advantage of this time to better ourselves spiritually, physically, and mentally. In our search for Christ, we might just find our spouse for whom we will be better prepared to support, love, and serve on our journey together to Heaven.