During this special time of purification, we have a series of concrete ways that the Church proposes to us and that help us to live the Lenten dynamic.

Above all, the life of the prayer which is an indispensable condition for the encounter with God. In prayer, if the believer enters into an intimate dialogue with the Lord, allows the divine grace to penetrate into his heart and as Santa Maria does, opens the prayer of the Spirit by cooperating with her with a free and generous response (see Lc. 1.38).

Likewise, we must also intensify the listening and attentive meditation to the Word of God, by attending frequently to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, as well as the practice of fasting, according to the possibilities of each one.

Mortification and renunciation to the ordinary circumstances of our lives also constitute a concrete way to live the spirit of Lent. It is not so much about creating extraordinary occasions, but rather about knowing how to offer those daily circumstances that are annoying to us. Of accepting with humility, joy and happiness, the different setbacks that are presented to us every day. In the same way, knowing how to renounce certain legitimate things helps us to live detachment.

Among the different Lenten practices proposed by the Church, the experience of charity occupies a special place. This is how St. Leo the Great reminds us: “These Lenten days urgently invite us to the exercise of charity, if we wish to reach Easter sanctified in our being, we must place special interest in the acquisition of this virtue, which contains in itself all the other virtues and also covers a multitude of sins. ”

This experience of charity must be lived in a special way with the one we are closest to, in the concrete environment in which we develop. Thus, we build in the other “the most precious and effective good, which is the coherence with each personal and own Christian vocation” (Pope John Paul II).

How to live Lent

1. Repenting of my sins and confessing

Think about how I have offended God, Our Lord, if it hurts how I have offended him, if I am  truly sorry. This is a very good time of the year to carry out a prepared and heartfelt confession. Look over the commandments of God and the Church to make a good confession. Help yourself with a book to structure your confession. Find time to carry all out.

2. Struggling to change

Analyze your behavior to know why you are failing. Make your intentions to achieve day by day and at night, check if you succeeded. Remember not to put too many because it will be very difficult to achieve them all. You have to climb the stairs step by step, you can not climb all in one jump. Know what your dominant defect is and make a plan to fight against it. Your plan must be realistic, practical and concrete for you to be able to fulfill it.

3. Making sacrifices

The word sacrifice comes from the Latin sacrum-facere, which means “to make sacred”. Then, making a sacrifice is doing a sacred thing, that is, offering it to God out of love. To make sacrifice is to offer God, because you love him, things that cost you work. For example, be nice to your neighbor who does not like you or help someone else in your work. Each of us have something that we have trouble doing in everyday life. If we offer this to God out of love, we are making sacrifice.

4. Praying

Take advantage of these days to pray, to talk with God, to tell him that you love him and that you want to be with him. You can help yourself with a good meditation book for Lent. You can also read passages related to Lent in the Bible.

Translated into English from the original post in Spanish from Acriprensa