We have made it to Sexagesima Sunday. Sexagesima is Latin for 60 which signifies that we now have 60 days until Easter.
Now is the time to start finalizing our Lenten plans. All the ideas we’ve come up with in the last week now need to be decided on.
Ash Wednesday is 10 short days away, so we only have 10 more days to finish preparing for Lent.
Preparing Ourselves for Lent
Sacrifices
What are we giving up and what are we going to do instead?
Hopefully we’ve all thought of several ideas by this point, so all we have to do now is pick which one or two makes the most sense for us this year.
Lent is not for complicated, intense sacrifices. Try your best to not be planning on performing sacrifices that would normally be too difficult for you to accomplish every day.
We don’t want to feel like we failed this Lent. We want to do what will help us grow in our faith and better ourselves in order to earn our heavenly reward.
Keeping it simple is the key. It’s not about how many things we give up or how complicated it is. It’s about offering ourselves to God and growing our spiritual lives.
Take the time to be sure that you will be able to perform these chosen penances as we continue preparing for Lent.
Prayers
What prayers are we focusing on during Lent?
Is it an extra Rosary every day? A prayer for the saint of the day? Maybe it will be adding the grace after meals into our daily routine.
Maybe we’re planning on making the intention to think about God as we go about our day. Bringing God into every little thing we do.
Remember to keep it simple. As homemakers we already have a lot going on, so we don’t want to be planning anything that could easily end up being impossible which would hurt our spiritual growth.
Spiritual Reading
What book or books are we going to read this Lent?
Are you going to be inspired by the life of a Saint? Are you going to learn how to be a better wife or mother? Or are you going to simply brush up on your catechism a bit?
Maybe the book “The Life of St. Gemma Galgani” or the book “Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco” would be the ideal saintly reading this Lent.
Or maybe “The Wife Desired” or “Dressing with Dignity” will fulfill our goals for improving in our vocations. These two books are what I’ll be reading this Lent.
Definitely aim for something that piques your interest though because that will for sure help you pick up that book all throughout Lent.
Preparing our Homes for Lent
Menu
Did you write out all your meal ideas? I did! Next step is to organize the list a bit so that everything is a little easier to find.
Maybe have a snack section and a main dish one as well. But however works for you is best! All that matters is that we prepare for Lent.
As long as you have enough ideas of what to make throughout Lent for your family, you’re doing great.
Know what snacks to prepare for yourself and your husbands, and know what meatless meals you can prepare.
You still have some time to work this out a bit, so don’t stress it.
My family will be snacking on these maple pecan overnight oats throughout Lent.
Home Decor
I figured out the Lenten decor for my home, I just need to get a couple of things together for it and I’ll be ready. Hopefully you have a good idea of what you’re going to do as well.
If you still need some inspiration, here are some ideas:
- Purple tablecloth or tablerunner
- Purple napkins
- Purple dishes
- Crown of Thorns centerpeice
- Put away all decorative pillows or throws
- Take down a couple of pictures
Like everything else this season, try to keep it simple. Our churches will be looking somewhat bare, so a good goal would be trying to mimic that bareness.
Again though, it’s whatever works best for your family.
Finalize
Take the time to finalize your Lenten plans this week.
Remember to keep it simple. Simplicity is best for us as homemakers as we have to continue to run our homes and keep our families on track.
Throughout this whole process it’s all about spiritual growth and doing penance for our sins.
Penance doesn’t have to be complicated for it to be effective and everyone is different. So while it’s all good to listen to some ideas to get some inspiration, we have to do what works best for each of us individually without interfering with our daily duties.
So take the time this week to finalize all the Lenten plans for your family.
It’s what we have to do in order to prepare for Lent as homemakers.
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