Do you ever feel like Lent sneaks up on you? I feel that no sooner than Christmas has passed, Lent is around the corner! It’s always a good idea to be prepared, so I’m discussing some of my favorite Lenten devotions and prayers with you. Picking a devotion before Lent comes ensures that you’ll enter the season with a calm heart. Here some of my favorite Lenten devotions:
Stations of the Cross- is a popular devotion during Lent, as it helps us meditate on the events leading up to the crucifixion and death of Jesus. It consists of 14 pictures or carvings, usually hung in the sanctuary, that depict the events of the Passion. Most Catholic churches will pray the stations on Friday nights during Lent, and some even have a fish fry or soup dinner after. If you can’t make it to your parish, you can also pray the stations at home. We use THIS pamphlet and THESE awesome posters are a great visual for family prayer when the kids are too little to go to the church. Such a great personal or family prayer!
Divine Mercy Novena – The Divine Mercy Novena starts on Good Friday and ends on Easter Sunday. This is a beautiful devotion that can be prayed during any time of the year, but Jesus specifically asked it to be prayed leading up to the Feast of Mercy. For the full guide on how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet click HERE. If you pray the novena, attend confession, and receive communion on the Feast of Mercy, you receive a plenary indulgence, which is quite powerful!
Devotionals – Two excellent devotionals I highly recommend are The Little Way of Lent by St. Therese and Lenten Reflections by Scott Hahn. Another personal favorite of mine is 33 Days to Greater Glory, which is written by the same author 33 Days to Morning Glory. For more great Lent books CLICK HERE. The church has such a vast array of devotions for us to choose from, but you don’t need to pray them all at the same time. Just pick one or two!
Rosary– The Rosary is an excellent prayer during Lent! Here is a Step-by-Step guide to how to pray the Rosary! And something so awesome is if you start a 54 day Rosary Novena on Ash Wednesday it will end Divine Mercy Sunday (which is the Sunday after Easter Sunday) but what a great way to deepen prayer during Lent. Also a 54 day Rosary Novena is a very powerful prayer! For my favorite Rosary’s click here.
Bible and Catechism – You also can’t go wrong with reading your Bible and the catechism. These two books alone will always take you far spiritually! And I truly believe every Catholic home should always have these two books.
Do you have any favorite Lenten devotions or reflections? If so, drop a comment below! God bless!
