The Hardest Thing to Give up for Lent

The best message I received this past week was from a priest in our parish who is blind. You can read about him here. Essentially, he said that we ought to put our best foot forward in Lent in order to give Satan "the triple whammy"- prayer, fasting and abstinence.

Meanwhile back home, I felt it important to help my kids put these three tried-and-true disciplines into action. Like students on campus, young people typically know that Lent is a good time to fast, give things up and do things that might contribute positively to our faith.

The question is always the same, but how do I do that?

Perhaps the easiest way is to embed the season of Lent in a bath of silence. Less social media, more prayer. Less talking, more listening. Less stress, more stillness. In each of these, silence is a sort of percussion under the hum of daily life.

Of the many (and I mean many!) resources available to us during Lent, this short video from Fr. Mark Toups may be close to the top. He discusses his own fear of silence and how it can be a greater part of our Lent. This clip is so practical that it's an ideal tool for discussion with students. 

For anyone who is tired of the hustle trap of doing more, a return to silence might be the best remedy of all.