If you are looking for some Lent Inspiration here’s a list of 30 Pious Practices for Lent. You can do these in addition to the resolutions you made or make these part of your Lenten Resolutions. Sometimes it is easier to break things down into manageable habits throughout the 40 days of Lent.
Our Lord tells us in Scripture, “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
30 Pious Practices
- Abstain from Meat
- Abstain from fast food/junk food / soda / alcohol
- Abstain from using salt and pepper for food/cream for coffee
- Abstain from desserts
- Fast each day
- Take a cold or luke-warm shower
- Limit shower time to 5 minutes
- Put a small pebble in your shoe daily
- Limit or refrain from watching TV.
- Limit the use of the internet to only what is necessary
- Abstain from video games
- Abstain from watching movies/videos
- Abstain from social media
- Abstain from unnecessary spending
- Pray the Rosary daily
- Pray the Angelus daily – 6 a.m. Noon and 6 p.m.
- Wear the Brown Scapular
- Pray the Litany of Humility daily
- Pray the Litany of Trust daily
- Visit the sick or a shut-in
- Attend Mass daily
- Make a daily visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament
- Do daily Spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes
- Practice 15 minutes of mental prayer daily
- Read a life of a saint
- Pray for the Souls in Purgatory
- Pray for those who are close to death
- Make a weekly confession
- Make an examination of conscience at lunchtime and before bed each day
- Pray the stations of the cross daily
This list is not extensive. There are many other pious and penitential practices you may adopt during the season of Lent. Remember, the goal is to do these things out of the Love of God, and for the good of our souls. The purpose of these pious practices is to draw closer to the Heart of Christ. It is to increase our confidence in Christ and not in ourselves through total self-reliance. These practices are done with Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary as our help and guides.
