Lenten Series Episode #4 – Improvising

Hey guys! What’s up and welcome back to another episode of hear and now podcast! Today is the fourth episode of the Lenten podcast episode series and we are catching up and chatting on our lenten progress and talking about adapting and improvising. 

I hope you guys are all doing well. So much has happened since last week it’s crazy! I definitely think the biggest change that has happened was choosing to shut down the diocese and the churches. It’s strange, not having the option to go to church. I mean, a lot of us have improvised for sure. I’m so thankful for the gift of technology to be able to keep us connected. So many churches have given us the opportunity to stream mass and still keep things semi-normal I guess. Of all the times this had to happen in the calendar year, it just happened to fall during Lent. For me, Lent is my absolute favorite time in the liturgical calendar. And if you don’t know, the liturgical calendar is just the calendar the church follows, starting with Advent and goes through the year to highlight important feasts and such in the church! 

I’m going to have a ton of resources for you in the show notes in case you are curious about any of the topics I mention. But, that being said it just is weird because we like traditions and routines in my family. We usually go church and shrine hopping this time of year, which means we visit all the shrines and major churches in our area and tour them. It’s one of my favorite things to do this time of year. Another major event we participate in is the living stations of the cross in Philly, where they reenact the paschal mystery of Jesus, basically His walk to His death and all the stations leading up to it. 

But, it just feels weird not being able to do all those things. In Lent, we are striving to grow closer to God and prepare our hearts for the foundation of Christianity, Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascension. Not being able to go to church, visit the shrines, do the stations, go to confession, it just doesn’t feel the same. But one thing that reassured me was that, while yes it is important to do all of those things, God wants nothing more than you. He just wants you in the purest, most you state. We can still be with God right now, even if our means to seek Him and be with Him in a physical place are being restricted. My family is improvising. We are taking time to be with each other and with God. And the crazy thing is, in Acts of the Apostles, the early Christians had not yet established physical churches. They created community and the first church was the family. They broke bread together and prayed. 

Right now, my family is doing that again. We are eating dinner together again, rather than always being on the go. The world is on a huge pause right now and while its scary, confusing and unpredictable, we have a huge opportunity to just be. We’ve been praying more rosaries, doing stations of the cross, we’ve watched mass, read the bible, had theological discussions, and have just spent a lot of time being with each other. On Sunday night we had a zoom call with my dad’s entire family and it was so fun to still be able to connect with each other. Again, so thankful for technology. I’m going to link a lot of resources down below, including where to stream mass, how to pray the rosary, divine mercy chaplets, where to listen to the daily readings, etc. we have the world at our finger tips right now! There are so many greats app and instagram pages that are uplifting and can help strengthen your relationship with God. 

And while we feel so much has been taken away from us, just remind yourself that God just wants you to be with Him. If you are falling in your lenten promises and sacrifices, that is okay. Just strive to stay on top of it. It’s obviously easier said than done. You can go back to Lent Series Episode #1 and World Hearing Day to hear about my tips for staying on top of your lenten sacrifice. 

Just know that I am praying for all of you during this time. I hope you are staying safe and healthy and are enjoying this little time with a pause. If you are someone who thrives off of routines, I wanted to let you know that I have a blog post which I will link down below or you can just search sophialebano.com/tips for my tips and a sample block schedule! Also, I am participating in a 12 days of quarantine how to series with some of my friends! You can head to my stories to see the schedule, but on March 31 I will be posting my how to on block scheduling! It will be an IGTV so look for that. But in the meantime, every day I will post who is uploading that day so make sure you are following me on instagram!

Thank you guys so much for tuning into this short episode this week! See you next time!