At the beginning of every Lent, most of us face the familiar invitation to “give something up.” Many of us might sacrifice in classic ways: cutting out chocolate, alcohol, or doomscrolling. Others, wanting to up their Lenten game, might do cold showers, bread-and-water fasts, or (my personal favorite) give up snoozing the morning alarm. These can all be effective ways to live Lent as an “intense moment of the Church’s penitential practice,” 1 but I’d like to offer a slight Ignatian reframing that might make all the difference in deepening our experience of Lent this year.
At the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius writes that the “Creator acts immediately with the creature.” 2 Later on, Ignatius invites us to begin prayer by considering “how God our Lord is looking at us.” 3 These two insights offer a radically different approach to Lent. Rather than beginning with our thoughts, desires, and ambitions–what we should do or give up–we start with God’s desire and love for us.
Lent is a privileged time to refocus and recommit. But between family, work, and our many daily responsibilities, letting Lent be a time of renewal and growth in our relationship with God can be difficult. Our Lenten penances and seeming need to “give something up” can often feel like one more task on our endless to-do list.
But despite how we often feel about it, Lent is not a call to do more; it’s a call to be more. Above all, Lent is about our journey with Jesus. And that journey begins with a startling truth: Jesus comes to us. He desires to be with us. He breaks into our lives, meets us where we are, and invites us to something new–something better. Encountering Jesus, Nathaniel discovers he’s been deeply seen and known all along. 4 Witnessing Jesus’s power, Peter drops his nets and follows. 5 Arriving thirsty, the woman at the well leaves transformed by the living water she thirsted for all along. 6
We arrive at Lent with the opportunity to respond to that invitation of encounter, conversion, and transformation. In this season, God does not simply want something from us; God wants us. In the words of St. Ignatius, Jesus invites us to “know him more intimately, to love him more intensely, and so to follow him more closely.” 7
Perhaps, then, the question to ask as we begin Lent is not “What should I give up for Lent?” but “God, what do You desire for me this Lent?”
What if, instead of giving up chocolate or alcohol, God is hoping you will be more present at meals with family and friends? A daily rosary may be fruitful, but perhaps God is calling you to sit in quiet prayer and let yourself be known. We can certainly try to doomscroll less, but God may really be wanting to transform the loneliness and despair we feel deep within.
When we turn to God first, we realize that God knows what we truly need and want. Lent then becomes less about self-improvement and more about surrender. So, before deciding on your Lenten sacrifice, ask God what He’s hoping for this Lent. You might be surprised where that leads.