A Note on Lent from Fr. Adorjan

Despite having several extra weeks, with Ash Wednesday coming quite late this year, somehow it feels like Lent has snuck up on us yet again. There’s been a lot of chatter over the last few days about what practices of prayer, penance, and almsgiving people are doing. I’ve been edified to see many students working with each other to design Lenten practices. People often ask me for advice about what to do, and my answer this year is the same as always: do something that will really disrupt your life. Sin is a concrete reality and therefore looks like something; so do something this Lent that also looks like something, and causes your day, your outlook, your routine to be really different.

This year, I’ve decided to change my phone screen to black and white. Studies have shown that the appeal of endlessly scrolling is reduced significantly when the appeal of vibrant colors are taken away. I’m also taking some steps to eat better and exercise more, and have taken the plunge to get some professional help with this. Finally, I’ll work to be strict with myself in not starting office work or using social media before my morning prayers are done.

These are not very significant things in themselves, but they are things that will either really annoy me and help me become patient and humble, or represent a true desire to change my routine and get things going each day on the right track.

At school, we’ll again be celebrating the Novus Ordo in Latin on some days during Lent, and we’ll be implementing silent lunches with a spiritual reading aloud during lunch on Thursday. Please pray for each other this Lent, and know that the whole Chesterton community remembers you in prayer and in our works of penance and almsgiving.

Read or listen to Fr. Ryan’s Ash Wednesday homily over at his blog: https://ryanadorjan.com/give-us-new-hearts-ash-wednesday-2022/