Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of columns intended to help prepare our hearts for the season of Lent.
Look around you right now. Whether you are in a coffee shop grabbing a drink with lunch, or sitting in your living room relaxing on the couch, you are likely surrounded by distractions. Phones ringing with notifications, laptops dinging with emails, and faces illuminated by the light of screens while scrolling social media.
We are constantly plugged in, leaving little room for the quiet stirring of the soul. As Saint Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Many of us are looking to reconnect with God, but finding that focus when the world never stops trying to talk to us feels nearly impossible.
This distraction creates a challenge as the season of Lent approaches. Most Catholics want to experience a Lent that prepares their hearts for Easter. Often, however, we settle for the same old Lenten habits. We give up chocolate or caffeine; we promise to pray a few extra prayers each week. We start with good intentions, but when life gets busy, our Lenten sacrifices feel impossible to keep up. The next thing we know, we arrive at Easter feeling no closer to Jesus than when we started 40 days ago.
To change our Lenten habits, we need a different approach. As such, the Diocese of Camden’s Office of Communications has created a new, free resource called Journal Through Lent. This resource includes a series of short, daily video reflections with local clergy and religious that combine theology with an understanding of how our minds work, especially our psychological need for closure.
Our brain is wired to pay attention to stories. When a story opens a loop, we become invested in seeing it resolved. It is the same reason we binge-watch a show when the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Journal Through Lent applies this same principle. These daily videos are short, engaging scripts written to capture your attention, guide you on your Lenten journey and draw you to Jesus.
Journal Through Lent is simple and fits into even the busiest of schedules. It follows three easy steps:
1) Sign up for free at CamdenDiocese.org/lent or scan the QR code (below). Each day, a short reflection will be emailed directly to your inbox.
2) Watch the daily video. It takes just 45 to 90 seconds and can fit into your morning, lunch break or evening routine.
3) Respond to one simple journaling question using the free downloadable e-book.
By the end of Lent, the journal becomes a keepsake of your conversation with Christ.
If we do not have a plan, another Lent will pass us by. Journal Through Lent, and wake up on Easter morning feeling renewed, as you will know you spent the past 40 days growing closer to God.
John Kalitz is the digital media manager for the Diocese of Camden.
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