The penitential season of Lent helps the faithful prepare for the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter.
The Church particularly recommends prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during these 40 days. These three “pillars” of Lent help bring about a conversion of heart preparing you to receive the grace and mercy offered through Christ’s Passion and Resurrection.
Prayer
Prayer is an essential component of the spiritual life; how can you grow in friendship and love of God if you never speak or listen to Him? During Lent, we are particularly called to connect with God more intentionally and reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice.
The Sorrowful Mysteries of Rosary or the Stations of the Cross can help guide your meditations on Christ’s Passion and Death. You might also try praying with Scripture using Lectio Divina or Ignatian Meditation.
Click the links to find more novenas to pray in February and March.
Fasting
After Jesus was baptized, he retreated to the desert for 40 days where he prayed and fasted. Fasting allows us to unite ourselves to Christ in the desert in a real way, and is an efficacious way to pray for a particular intention.
Denying yourself something through fasting allows you to strengthen your resolve in your pursuit of virtue, and grow in detachment of the world thereby increasing your awareness (and hunger) for God.
The Church requires you to fast from food on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstain from meat on every Friday during Lent. However, you may also choose to give up something like chocolate, coffee, or social media for the whole season.
Almsgiving
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus frequently reminds us of the Christian call to charity and Lent provides an opportunity to renew our efforts in responding to this call.
This giving of alms can look like donating money or items to people in need or performing other acts of kindness. God wants us to use our time, talent, and treasure to build up the kingdom of God.
Take some time to think about what gifts God has given you and how you can use those gifts to glorify Him and love others. Consider the Corporal Works of Mercy–which ones can you do this Lent?
While Catholics hear the readings at Mass, we don’t always know how to approach the Word of God in our personal prayer. But we need to.
St. Ambrose, one of the Doctors of the Church, said: “We have been given Sacred Scripture so that God and man may talk together; for we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying.”
Scripture isn’t a collection of stories and wise sayings–it’s the Word of God Himself. He speaks to us through it, and He has a lot to say, if only we will listen.
What the Saints said about Praying with Scriptures
Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
“He will find there in much greater abundance things that are to be found nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the wonderful sublimity and wonderful simplicity of the Scriptures”
“The person who thirsts for God eagerly studies and meditates on the inspired Word, knowing that there he is certain to find the One for whom he thirsts”
There are many ways to incorporate the Scriptures into your prayer.
You can pray a Scriptural Rosary, meditating on the words of Scripture for each mystery. You can pray with the Psalms with the Liturgy of the Hours. Or you can meditate on a passage from the Bible using Lectio Divina.
Lectio Divina (Latin for “Divine Reading”) is an ancient practice most commonly found in Western Monastic communities, but don’t let that intimidate you. It’s accessible for everyone, just follow these simple steps:
Lectio Begin with prayer, particularly to the Holy Spirit inviting Him to be your guide, and then read a passage of Scripture slowly and deliberately; you may even want to read it twice. If you aren’t sure where to start, pick a story from the Gospels.
Meditatio As you read, pay attention to the word or phrase that stands out to you. Consider the meaning of this passage.
Oratio Next, turn a listening ear to God. Ask the Lord what He wants you to learn from the passage.
Contemplatio: Finally, take some time for silent contemplation; simply dwell in the presence of God. Allow what had been stirred up during this time of prayer to take root in your soul.
The Scriptures facilitate an encounter with Christ–the Word Made Flesh. He reveals Himself through the words of the Bible so praying with Scriptures is essential to the Christian life.
Catholic Author, Speaker, and Spiritual Director Karen May delved deeper into how you can pray with the Scriptures and how you can hear the voice of God for the Pray More Novenas Lenten Retreat. You can listen to the full talk below:
When we give up something for Lent — whatever that might be, we’re ultimately going to be tempted to fill that desire with something else. So the best Lenten advice we can share with you is to prepare for that — to know that you’re going to be tempted, and to have a plan for what you’re going to do in that moment.
So when you consider what to give up this Lent, also plan for what you’ll replace it with… Because every time we say “no” to something, we’re saying “yes” to something else — even if we don’t realize it.
So here are some of our suggestions of what you can replace the thing you’re giving up with… Things you can say “yes” to while you say “no” to what you’re giving up:
+ If you’re giving up social media: Replace it with reading the daily Mass readings, or a daily devotional, or replace it with listening to a podcast (like ours or the Bible in a Year podcast). Text a friend about what you’re reading. Put a picture of a short prayer as the background of your phone and pray it every time you reach for it.
+ If you’re giving up podcasts, tv shows, or movies: Replace it with watching or listening to Catholic talks that help you grow in your faith life, like the online Pray More Lenten Retreat, or Formed videos, or daily homilies you can find online. Take the time you would have spent watching a show and pray the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, or visit the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.
+ If you’re giving up complaining: Replace it with a journal of gratitude and praise for the Lord. Write down the little blessings you see around you throughout your day. Plan to share an encouragement or compliment with someone each day. Say prayers of gratitude every morning before getting out of bed and every night as you fall asleep.
+ If you’re giving up shopping: You can donate what you no longer need or volunteer your time during Lent. You could visit a friend you haven’t seen in a while, and ask them if they need something before you drop by.
+ If you’re giving up any sort of food or drinks: You can replace it with a prayer for those who are hungry and in need. For people who are lonely or forgotten, or for the souls in Purgatory. You can volunteer to make a meal for someone in your parish.
Whatever you give up, we hope these suggestions will be helpful for you to have a fruitful Lent.
The Lord is with you as you pray, fast, and give! And these sacrifices for the Lord are one way that we can grow in holiness during Lent.
In the history of Catholicism, several saints practiced their faith and devotion in secretive ways particularly when faced with the threat of persecution and other adversities.
These saints were not embarrassed of their faith nor did they fear martyrdom for their faith; instead, they concealed some aspects of their lives for a time so they could more efficiently build up the Kingdom of God during dark and difficult times.
St. Sebastian lived during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians.
Sebastian joined the Roman army and was given a high position in the Praetorian Guard but unbeknownst to the leaders, Sebastian was a Christian. He worked to help those being persecuted and converted many people to the faith, including many prominent people.
Because of this, Sebastian’s faith was soon found out and the Emperor ordered him to be killed.
Other saints emerged during the persecution under Diocletian, including Saint Anastasia. Saint Anastasia secretly cared for the imprisoned Christians, bringing them food and tending to their suffering. When her pagan husband learned of Anastasia’s charitable work, he beat her and imprisoned her.
After his death, she continued to care for the persecuted faithful before being arrested for her faith. The threat of torture and death did not sway her to abandon her belief or her vow of virginity which had remained intact even throughout her marriage.
St. Charles Lwanga lived in Uganda in the 1800s and served at the court of his country’s ruler, King Mwanga II of Buganda–a harsh, violent, and immoral man.
Charles Lwanga became a Christian and took over the secret role of heading Christian instruction for the other members of the court. However, when the King learned about the spreading of the faith among his servants, he demanded the Christians renounce their faith.
Charles, however, courageously refused and led the others to do the same. He baptized the catechumens before they marched to the place of their executions, and they faced martyrdom with joy and love for God.
St. Margaret Clitherow was an English laywoman who lived during the persecutions of Catholics under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I. She was fined and jailed several times for refusing to attend Anglican services.
Margaret allowed priests to hide and celebrate Mass in her home, despite the government declaring that harboring priests is a capital offense. She also rented another house to hide priests in and to have them say Mass in.
She was later put to death for her actions and died a martyr for her bravery.
Many traditional tales surrounding St. Nicholas involves him secretly leaving gifts or performing acts of charity in the night to help poor families in need.
He likely took inspiration from Jesus’ words to his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew: “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
St. Margaret of Castello lived her faith in secret for a different reason than the others. Margaret was born with many physical disabilities to powerful noble parents. As her parents wanted to protect their reputation, they confined Margaret to a secret room for 14 years.
This room was near the chapel and she could overhear mass being said and receive communion. While few people showed her love, the parish priest recognized her great faith and capacity for holiness.
She faced many more hardships in her life but faced them all with a devout faith and profound love of God.
Blessed Miguel Pro was a Mexican Priest who lived during the persecution of Catholics. He ministered to the persecuted in many stealthy ways to continue to bring them the sacraments and teach them the faith, helping others to live out their Christian identities during such a dark time.
Blessed Miguel Pro would even dress up in disguises to avoid suspicion; he dressed as a beggar, a businessman with a flower lapel, and even a police officer to slip into jail to visit those who had been imprisoned for being Catholic.
He eventually was caught and sentenced to death by firing squad. He died boldly proclaiming “Vivo Cristo Rey!” or “Long Live Christ the King!”
Pope Francis recently beatified the Ulma Family–a Polish family of nine who were martyred during the Holocaust.
This humble and devout family consisted of Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children: Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni, Maria, and their unborn baby.
During the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, the Ulma Family responded to injustice with courage and compassion as they offered to hide, shelter, and protect Jewish families facing arrest and death.
When they were found out, all members of the Ulma family were killed for their good deeds.
Before he was Pope, John Paul the II (born Karol Wojtyła) worked to undermine the Nazi’s influence on Poland by working to maintain Polish culture.
He co-founded the Rhapsodic Theater which staged secret shows in people’s living rooms to avoid arrest and brought truth and beauty to other living through that dark time.
Wojtyla later entered seminary in secret, continuing to write plays like The Jeweler’s Shop which in many ways is the precursor to his later writings of love and marriage like Love and Responsibility and Theology of the Body.
The concept of the Trinity is perhaps one of the most profound and mysterious teachings of our faith, yet it is central to our beliefs and to our relationship with God.
We believe in One God but that God is also three persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They have the same nature, substance, and being, yet they are distinct.
God invites us to have a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We were made for unity with His Trinitarian love.
The Catechism of the Catholic church tells us that we are “…called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: ‘If a man loves me’, says the Lord, ‘he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him’” (260).
We can make room for the Holy Trinity in our minds and hearts through the reception of the sacraments, offering sacrifices, doing works of mercy, and prayer.
Praying with the Trinity
When we pray to God, we pray to the Trinity. The works of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are inseparably one; however, we can address them individually and for specific needs.
Novenas are a powerful form of prayer that will help you present your needs to God, and will also help open your heart to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
These novenas in particular invite you to meditate on this great mystery of our faith and will draw you closer into the love of the Trinity.
This novena to the Most Holy Trinity praises each person of the Trinity and specifically asks the Holy Trinity to reign in your heart and soul.
This novena is most often said before the Feast of the Holy Trinity, which takes place on the first Sunday after Pentecost; however, you can pray this novena at any time.
In God the Father, we have a loving Creator who gave us life and desires a loving relationship with each of us His children. However, turning to God the Father may be challenging especially if the relationship with your earthly father is wounded.
This novena helps you to approach God as a Father whose love never fails and who remains eternally faithful to His promises.
John 3:16 reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Because of the infinite love God has for mankind, the Son became incarnate. Out of love, he took on our human flesh and along with it the debt caused by our sin in order to free us of it.
This novena invites you to meditate on this radical love and opens your heart to receive it more fully.
The Church calls upon the Holy Spirit for enlightenment and to guide us in our journey toward union with God. This novena invites the Holy Spirit into your mind and heart to help form us as Christians and bring God’s grace to our lives.
During the Last Supper, Christ promised his apostles an “Advocate” given by the Father that will remain with them always.
The third person of the Trinity–the Holy Spirit–is the promised advocate who comes to us though many of us don’t give the Holy Spirit the attention He deserves. As Catholics, we believe that no one can come to Father except through the Son, and no one can know the Son except through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation pours out special gifts and produces spiritual fruits that guide the faithful to deeper understanding and love of God.
The Fruits vs. the Gifts of the Spirit
The phrases “Fruit of the Spirit” and “Gifts of the Spirit” are often used interchangeably although they are not the same. They are distinct endowments on us by the Holy Spirit and highlight the generosity of God with those who seek to live in His friendship.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Fruit of the Spirit as “…perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory” (1832). If we live a life of the Spirit–a life in Christ– these virtues will be found.
Church Tradition lists twelve fruits:
Charity
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Generosity
Gentleness
Faithfulness
Modesty
Self-control
Chastity
On the other hand, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the faithful through Baptism and strengthened through Confirmation.
They are: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, these gifts provide supernatural help to man in order to perfect the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. They, in turn, further produce the fruits of the Spirit.
The Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit form a “spiritual arsenal” of sorts that enable you to live a profoundly Christian life.
Come Holy Spirit
Prayer and these endowments of the Holy Spirit go hand-in-hand.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “We pray the way we live, and we live the way we pray.” These graces are freely given by God, and our only response as creatures unworthy for such a gift is prayer; at the same time, prayer will allow these graces to take root in our hearts and flourish.
If we want to live a life in the Spirit of the Lord and allow Him to bear fruit in our lives, prayer is non-negotiable.
Turn to the Holy Spirit in your prayer; open your time of prayer with the phrase “Come Holy Spirit.”
If there is a particular gift or fruit you desire to grow in your life, ask Him to soften your heart and make it fertile to fully receive these graces.
The Church considers the Rosary one of the most powerful forms of prayer after the Mass.
Through it, the faithful meditate on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and invite the intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary who can lead us closer to her Son.
Countless saints have spoken on the importance of the Rosary, but a few saints stand out in their devotion to this prayer:
Saint Dominic established the Dominican Order because he saw a need for a group of religious people dedicated to teaching in order to combat the heresies rampant at the time.
Dominic is often credited as being the first propagator of the Rosary after, as legend holds, the Blessed Mother appeared to him with instructions on how to pray it.
French priest, Saint Louis de Monfort has become almost synonymous with devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Rosary.
His writing on the Rosary and on consecrating oneself to Jesus through Mary has helped to shape the faithful’s understanding of Mary’s role in our lives and in the Church.
Italian Capuchin priest and mystic, St. Padre Pio is one of the most well-known saints of modern times. He engaged often in spiritual warfare, sometimes even being physically attacked by demons.
Padre Pio prayed the rosary everyday, which strengthened him against the attacks of the evil one. He even describes the Rosary as a “…weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”
St. Francis de Sales was a Bishop of Geneva and is now considered a Doctor of the Church. His book Introduction to the Devout Life is part of the Church’s treasury and a well-read spiritual classic.
De Sales had a great devotion to Our Lady and helped establish the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary or the Salesian Sisters. He advised the sisters to say the Rosary “…every day with as much love as possible.”
Pope St. Pius X had an incredible devotion to Mary and even dedicated an entire encyclical on the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception. He spoke often about the need to pray the Rosary and especially encouraged families to pray it daily.
Pope Pius X implored the laity: “If you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary” and “If there were one million families praying the Rosary every day, the entire world would be saved.”
Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and known for her great love and service for the poor and sick, prayed the Rosary constantly.
She instructed her sisters: “Never go to the slums without first having recited the Mother’s praises; that is why we have to say the Rosary in the streets and in the dark holes of the slums. Cling to the Rosary as the creeper clings to the tree—for without Our Lady we cannot stand.”
One of the most well-known and beloved popes in Church History, Pope St. John Paul II’s papal motto was “Totus Tuus,” a phrase borrowed from St. Louis de Montfort. This phrase summed up his sincere belief that in giving himself totally to Mary, he could give himself totally to Jesus.
He spoke about the Rosary often in both his writing and his preaching, and even added the Luminous Mysteries to the meditations of the Rosary.
St. Francis of Assisi received the Stigmata on Sept. 17, 1224, a date that is still celebrated as a Franciscan feast.
At the time, Francis had spent many weeks in prolonged contemplation of Christ’s suffering on the cross. While praying Francis had a vision of a seraph, containing the form of a man crucified, which bestowed on him the five wounds of Christ–becoming the first recorded stigmatic.
St. Pio de Pietrelcina had a vision of the crucified Christ from whom he received the stigmata–the only priest to have received such a gift.
During the apparition, Christ lamented the ingratitude of men, particularly consecrated persons, and invited the Capuchin friar to unite himself to the Passion and offer his suffering.
After the vision, Padre Pio had open wounds on his hands, feet, and sides that he attempted to keep hidden. However, in obedience to his superiors, he gave his testimony and allowed for a photo of him with the stigmata to be taken as it seemed the Lord intended Pio to serve as a sign for the whole Church.
14th Century Dominican tertiary and Doctor of the Church Saint Catherine of Siena first received visible wounds on her after receiving Communion.
After receiving the Eucharist, Catherine went into her usual ecstasy and had a vision of Christ Crucified coming toward her in a great light. Her body rose to meet him and the five rays of blood coming from His wounds toward her hands, feet, and heart.
Catherine asked for the Lord to hide her stigmata from others and He granted her request–allowing her alone to see and feel the wounds. In this way did she suffer with Christ interiorly and intimately until her death.
St.Rita of Cascia was a wife and mother who joined the Augustinians after the deaths of her husband and sons.
St. Rita spent many hours meditating on the Passion and prayed that God would allow her to participate in the sufferings of the Cross. She received a partial stigmata–a wound on her head caused by a Thorn from the Crown that pierced Christ’s head.
Unlike other stigmatics, who’s wounds seemed to exude a heavenly fragrance, the wounds of Saint Rita had a rotten smell, causing people to stay away from her.
Italian saint Gemma Galgani received a vision of the Blessed Mother and Jesus with his open wounds on the vigil of Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.
Mary wrapped Gemma in her mantle and supported her as fire came forth from the wounds of Christ and touched her.
Gemma woke from the vision with open wounds matching Christ’s on her hand, feet, and heart. She kept the wounds covered.
The stigmata appeared on Gemma every Thursday and disappeared at 3:00 on Friday afternoon until she died. After her death, faint marks of the wounds she suffered remained.
Italian Penitent and Lay Franciscan St. Margaret of Cortona lived a life of penance and devotion after turning from a life of sin. She dedicated herself to serving the poor and sick, often going without food or clothing so she could give to the poor.
Margaret also had many mystical experiences that helped her understand God’s love and the importance of compassion, including the wounds of Christ on her hands, feet, and side.