Now Is the Time to Prepare for Lent, by Marge Fenelon
Reasoning From Darkness to Darkness, by Anthony Esolen
February 26, 2025
Saint of the Day for February 26: St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin
February 26, 2025
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, fresco at an Orthodox church. 14th century. Anonymous. Public Domain. Wikimedia
By Marge Fenelon, National Catholic Register, February 25, 2025
Marge Fenelon Marge Steinhage Fenelon is an award-winning author, international speaker, and professional life coach. She has written several books on Marian devotion and Catholic spirituality. As life coach, she is passionate about helping others grow personally and spiritually. Her podcast, Simply Holy, airs on many popular podcast platforms. Learn more about Marge at MargeFenelon.com.
Lent begins next Wednesday — how will you use these 40 days to draw closer to God?
You may have more on your plate than you can manage, and so thinking about Lent ahead of time may be completely off your radar. Yet now is precisely the time to think about it so that you can take full advantage of those 40 precious days marked out by the Church for your benefit. Lent is a sacred time during which we are invited to reflect, re-evaluate and renew our faith and relationship with God. But all that takes time and effort that we might think we do not have.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem offers gentle admonishment for those of us who think we are too busy or burdened to give serious thought to Lent. He said, “Have you run so many circles of the years bustling vainly about the world, and yet you don’t have 40 days to be free for prayer for your own soul’s sake?” Bustling vainly about the world fits the description of my life right now, and I imagine it might fit yours as well. …
Related posts
Pope Leo XIV blesses a chunk of ice from a glacier in Greenland during the opening session of an international conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," at the Mariapolis Center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Oct. 1, 2025. The ice block was fished out of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland after becoming detached from the ice sheet. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
