Falling off the Lent wagon ~ 12 steps

"Once long ago in Ireland during the persecutions there was a priest who went round the countryside dressed as a poor beggar playing a tin whistle. The people would hear the music and know to gather for Mass. The priest looked like a beggar but he came only to give. The people could see through the disguise and recognize the Lord first in the beggar's music and then in the Eucharist. May the Lord let us hear the tin whistle of grace and see him in each beggar we meet."
~ Based on St. Matthew 25:31-46 by Father John Corbett, O.P. as in today's Magnificat Lenten Companion

Reading this last night made me sad. I feel like I can't hear the music...like I am not seeing Jesus in the beggar. Do you ever feel ineffective during Lent? What if you fail miserably? Do you set different goals? I keep falling off the Lent wagon ... and so I googled a search for Lenten "12 steps" and found this and revised it a little:

Twelve Steps to recommiting after falling off the Lenten wagon

1. Admit we are powerless —that our lives have become unmanageable. - Act of Humility

2. Believe that the Holy Spirit can restore us to sanity. - Come Holy Spirit

3. Decide to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Jesus thru Mary - Daily Consecration/Morning Offering

4. Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. - Marian examination of conscience

5. Admit to God, to ourselves, and to a Priest the exact nature of our wrongs. - Confession

6. Become entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. - Act of Contrition

7. Humble ourselves, ask Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Restitution. Do good and ask forgiveness of those we've hurt.

9. Call on the intercession of the Saints! ~ Litany

10. Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong promptly admit it. - Nightly Examination

11. Seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. - The Lord's Prayer

12. Work toward a spiritual awakening/deeper conversion as the result of these steps, practicing these principles and recommiting every time I fall off the wagon.

Hi, I'm the owner of this blog and I'm 6 days into Lent and recommiting....