Good morning, friends!

If you’re anything like me, then you probably go into every new season of the Church with the hope of conquering it.  You think, this is going to be the year that I don’t mess up on my Lenten penance.  This is the year that I’m going to pray the rosary every day like I said I would.  And on and on the list goes.

Just like New Year’s resolutions, though, Lenten resolutions are not a race to be the best in the least amount of time.  They take effort and won’t show results in a heartbeat.  And, due to our beautiful human nature, and a God who likes to keep us humble, we will naturally have a hard time accomplishing too many things at once.

And that is A-Okay.

Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t reach for your highest potential with everything you do.  I’m just saying that every good thing comes with time and effort.  To accomplish our goals when it comes to faith, health, and life, it also comes in handy if we have a concise plan in place.

Enter my new favorite Lenten resources.

I was so happy to find out that Dynamic Catholic was putting out a Lenten journal this year.  This journal is in collaboration with their “Best Lent Ever” daily email program and Matthew Kelly’s best-selling book, Perfectly Yourself.  All three of these resources are so beautifully curated and written.  Each is an aid to better use of the next, leaving so much room for growth and development.

I’ve been using this system in my daily prayer for the past week.  Just one week.  And I have learned so much about my identity as a person and a daughter of Christ.  This system makes it so easy to measure growth during this Lenten season.  Each day is like another personal victory and another step towards a deeper relationship with Christ.

Before I go into explaining how this beautiful time of prayer looks, I’d like to make one suggestion for success; block out a half hour of your day each day to commit to this Lenten prayer.  If you don’t intentionally block out the time to make it happen, chances are, it won’t happen.  And don’t choose 10:00 to 10:30 at night!!  The earlier the better!!

Now let’s break down a little 30-minute Best Lent Ever session, shall we?

Each day, the journal has suggested a handful of pages to be read in Perfectly Yourself.  I like to start by reading these 5 or 10 pages.  This gives me a chance to unwind a bit before going onto the more reflective work.  It also gives me a bit of background to the topics that will be talked about later.

This book’s focus is to teach you to become more perfectly the person that God created you to be.  With this focus, it reads much like a self-development book.  Think of it as God’s plea to be who you are truly called to be, from the core of your being.  It’s the call not to cheat yourself on what you have been created for.  Matthew writes from such a wealth of knowledge and experience, we all have something to learn from his words.

Once you have read the suggested reading for the day, its time to check your inbox for some very happy mail.  I receive my Best Lent Ever email every morning at about 5:30 a.m.  So, East coasters, have no fear, that email will be waiting for you every morning (that is, unless you are a boss and wake up at 4 a.m.  Props, my friend, props).  In that happy mail, you get access to the daily video.  In each video, Matthew Kelly talks about some of the major topics for the day and challenges you to think a little deeper into what kind of action they are calling you to.  After Matthew finishes his little talk, we get to hear from one of Dynamic Catholic’s staff.  They help you to understand the one major question for the day and how they have answered it in their own lives.  Each day, they walk through questions such as, “Are you making progress?”, “What are your unique talents?”, and “Who are you trying to please?”.

Last, but certainly not least, you have the option of journaling your thoughts in the Best Lent Ever Journal.  I have found this journal extremely helpful in dissecting the daily topics.  Each journal page asks you to write down some thoughts from the video and then answer the question of the day.  If you didn’t get a chance to pick up a journal yet, which I highly suggest you consider, you can find them on Amazon for under 12 dollars!!  What a deal!  If you don’t want to purchase a journal, simply jot down your notes from the day’s reflections in a journal.  This journal will become a visible reminder of any growth that you experience during this season.  Matthew talks highly of this journaling experience for this exact reason.

I am so thankful that Dynamic Catholic has put together this beautiful Lenten system.  Using it allows one to grow so close to Christ through this season.  It gives you a visible way to track your growth.  And it allows you to set reasonable goals every day.  What better way to ensure that you have the best Lent ever??

If you are currently following along with the Best Lent Ever, please let me know here or on Instagram!!  I’d love to hear what your journey has looked like so far.  God bless!!

Maddy