The season of Lent is the season to recuperate, detach from the world and deepen our life in Christ. We should focus on the sufferings
of Christ through the three tenets of prayer, penance and almsgiving.
I used to long for the beginning of Lent which always seems to occur not too long after the indulgent Christmastide. It was the perfect chance to refrain from those greedy habits that had been acquired after long holidays and reset for the rest of the liturgical year. However, since falling pregnant with my eldest, I have either been pregnant or breastfeeding through this penitential season for the last three years and I felt at a loss as to what to observe each Lent.
The Church does not require any restraint from food for nursing or pregnant mothers as the health of the child must not be compromised. Of course, prayer and almsgiving can still be increased with no problems. Nonetheless, I was left longing for something to draw closer to God during this preparation for Easter (the greatest feast of the Church’s calendar).
Each Lent, I would chose something quite vague or simple like only having one coffee a day (which I should be doing anyway) or getting up as soon as my alarm rang. However, for some reason, I never seemed to to manage even these small offerings (even though I had successfully done much more difficult ones in the past.)
Yet, this Lent, I felt the need to detach from the world even more. Since the birth of my daughter (now over two months old) I had been really struggling to maintain my usual prayer routine. Meditation is almost impossible. When I do manage to attend an extra Mass throughout the week, between soothing a newborn and preventing a toddler from trying to be an altar server, I’m barely present. Not to mention the general tiredness which accompanies raising small children and working from home.
As we reached the season of Septuagesima (approximately two weeks before lent or seventy days before Easter), I began to contemplate even more, what would be appropriate for my state in life to prepare for Easter. As mother’s we must have the physical strength to care for our children and our time to dedicate to prayer and almsgiving is already so fleeting. The more I brought this to prayer, the more I realised how God provides us with daily instances in which he calls us to our Lenten observances.
This is certainly not an exhaustive list of disciplines that can be taken up by mothers but I hope it provides some direction.
Firstly, have an intention for your Lent. There may be someone in your family who is suffering, or a priest in your diocese who is not living out his vocation well. In each of the moments of prayer, penance or almsgiving, remember your intention and it will motivate you throughout Lent.
Take delight in the food that nourishes your child but eliminate something that is not nutritionally beneficial. For me, a 3pm piece of chocolate is definitely a guilty pleasure that I will miss dearly but is something concrete that is easy to remember and does not denying my child the food they need.
If you are awoken through the night by your baby, take that time to meditate. You can meditate on Our Lady caring for Jesus or something short you have read throughout the day. This is your holy hour.
Listen to a podcast that will bring you closer to Christ. I truly love this one! I am constantly on the go throughout the day so the easiest thing is to pop in some earphones and listen to a podcast. Fr Mike Schmitz has started a podcast called “The Bible in a Year” which is a great way to get in some scripture reading throughout the day and also gives me something to meditate upon throughout the night.
Get to bed on time. Once the hectic time of feeding, bathing and putting kids to bed is over and you can finally relax a little, the temptation can be to starting finding new jobs to do, or scroll through social media or just procrastinate. DON’T! Set yourself a time and just go to bed (trust me, everyone will thank you especially yourself.)
When you are cooking a meal, cook enough for two. Store the extra meal and give it to a family who might need it. They may have just had a baby or someone is sick in the house. Either way, a busy family will always appreciate a meal they can leave in the freezer and reheat when things are a little crazy.
God always gives us the graces to survive through each stage in life so we just have to be open to his guidance. We can become very overwhelmed when we are surrounded by littles constantly in need of our attention. This Lent, join the struggles of this season in your life to the Passion of Christ. You will see the amazing gifts God will give you this Easter!
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