Lent ~ 12 Steps After Falling Off Lent Wagon
“The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of Christ. By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God's glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe.”
—Pope Benedict XIV
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.
7 comments:
Beautiful post and quote by the Holy Father. Thank you for sharing...I plan on printing and going over this with our family.
Oh thank you Allison. I will print this off to go over.
Yeah, I'm going to print this, too. Thank you! God bless!
This is wonderful Allison. (I'm coming from Lacy's link up). I love all the lionks you put on the side of each paragraph. oh thank you!!
I love your twelve steps!!!
Other programs need exactly this. I can remember studying some of the AA books years ago for a friend and wish I'd had this then. As a matter of fact, I'm going to send her a link. She'll love it!
I think printing this is a good idea, too.
Very timely...as I have let my Lent become not what I expected.
Thank you!
Thank you for posting this! It is unfortunate that only a week and a half into Lent, some of us need to recommit, but I have learned this year that it can be a time of fierce spiritual combat. I am learning that I must recommit myself daily. Thank you again!
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