Preparing for Lent: Spiritual Journey of Prayer and Penance

Archbishop Burke has provided us with sound principles by which we should begin our preparation for the Lenten season:

Our observance of Lent prepares us for the celebration of our salvation by the suffering, dying and rising from the dead of our Lord Jesus. It prepares us to enter as fully as possible into the celebration of the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday), the three days in which Christ brought to fulfillment His public ministry by pouring out His life for us, in order that He might live for us forever in the Church. The 40 days of Lent are a journey for us into the more perfect sharing with Christ in the mystery of His suffering and dying, which lead to His victory over sin and everlasting death in our human nature by His rising from the dead.

He further enumerates specific steps we should take, including a repeated request to consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

If you have not already consecrated yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and enthroned the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in your home, I urge you to prepare yourself, during the season of Lent, to do so.

He reminds us to give our attention to 1) prayer, fasting and almsgiving, 2) Eucharistic prayer and worship, 3) Reception of the Sacrament of Penance, and fasting and abstinence...

He further advises us: "During these days before the beginning of Lent, we should lose no time in establishing our plan of prayer and penance in order to draw upon the strong grace of Lent."

As recently as last night, I had been looking for an article on Lenten Preparations in order to enter more deeply into the season, and, by Divine Providence, one has been delivered today.

Read the entire article carefully. It is an excellent resource for preparing oneself for Lent.

Article here.