Every Lent, what we plan to do for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving seems to get more complicated or overwhelming. Lent is surely a special time to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus and how we want to respond to His love, but it does not have to be a multiplication of so many things that we are weighed down with lots of “extra” things to do. Primarily, Lent is a time for coming closer to God in intimacy and trust. How we actually do that can be quite simple.
One very simple way to draw closer to God is to read about, imitate, and pray with the saints. Learning about the saints and how they became more intimate with God gives us encouragement and inspiration to do the same. Whatever we are praying for during Lent, whether for ourselves or for someone else, is multiplied when we pray with the Saints on their Feast Days, when Jesus told Saint Gertrude they are most powerful in their intercession. So, by reading about and praying with the saints, we become inspired to imitate their response to God and grow in intimacy while we obtain what we are asking for in our prayer. It is a simple way to do Lent, and then life, as it doesn’t have to end at Lent. This beautiful practice can be begun now and continued as it only takes a few minutes a day to do!
I have written a book, Pray with Us: A Saint for Every Day as a gift to you to help you do just that! By reading about the saints in a short bio and then asking them to pray with us to our Father, we are praying in power for our own and others’ needs. It takes only about 3 minutes, but we begin to connect with our big brothers and sisters in Heaven. We have their prayers for a good Lent and life. This Lent, let’s keep it simple. Let us strive to enter deeply into a contemplative relationship with our Lord with the intercession of the Saints and, in the process, get to know more of our family. We can bring the communion of Saints alive this Lent and then keep going throughout the year. It will change our lives, and it won’t be hard, complicated, or too much to do. We can then be faithful to this simple Lenten practice way beyond Lent.
Order Pray with Us: A Saint for Every Day on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/1639662103
The post Praying with the Saints on their Feast Days through Lent and Life first appeared on Today's Catholic Homeschooling.
