Catholic Journal

Ten Things For Lent

  1. Attend daily Mass at least once a week.
  2. Pray the Stations of the Cross each Friday.
  3. Set aside a few minutes each day to use Lenten reflection booklets provided by your parish.
  4. Do some spiritual reading each day of Lent—either the Bible, one of the papal encyclicals, or other good Catholic literature.
  5. Choose one of your bad habits and, with the help of God’s grace, work to overcome it.
  6. Choose an area of your spiritual life or personality in which you’d like to grow, and, asking for Our Lord’s help, work to improve it.
  7. Write a letter each day of Lent to someone who has helped you, or someone you admire, and thank him or her.
  8. Recite an extra Rosary each day, or say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
  9. Give up something you enjoy (dessert, movies, pizza, etc.), and donate the money you save to your favorite charity.
  10. Go out of your way to perform a kind deed or favor for someone each day of Lent.

Fr Joseph Esper

REVEREND JOSEPH M. ESPER is a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit and pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Anchorville, Michigan. He received his Master of Divinity degree from St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan. Through the years, Father Joe has lectured at Marian conferences, appeared on EWTN, spoken on Catholic radio, and written more than a dozen articles for This Rock, The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, and other publications. He is also the author of numerous books, including Saintly Solutions, More Saintly Solutions, After the Darkness, Lessons from the Lives of the Saints, and Why Is God Punishing Me? In addition to Amazon, many of his most recent books are available through Queenship Publishing.