OK! It has been two full weeks since Ash Wednesday, we’ve celebrated two Sunday’s in Lent, and parishes are starting to seriously plan and get ready for Holy Week…that means the season of Lent is off and running!  This is a good time to take stock of our spiritual lives and see how we’re doing.  So…how are you doing?  

What have you decided to do this Lenten season?  If you decided to fast, how has that been going?  Has your fast helped you to grow in holiness?  If you decided to do something extra or complete some service work, how has that been going?  Have you grown in holiness?  I guess a really good question to ask is: how do you measure holiness?

Next time you pray, remember back to February 13, the day before Ash Wednesday.  What were your more typical sins at that time?  Gossip, impure thoughts, gluttony, not going to Mass on Sundays, using Gods name inappropriately, not obeying your parents?  Once you’ve identified your more consistent sins ask yourself if you still commit them as frequently now.  If you’re sinning less, that means you’re growing in holiness, OR, you may recognize that you have new sins.  For example, maybe before Lent you didn’t see your eating habits as gluttony; but, now that you have been praying more you realize that you eat a lot more than you should.  This is also a sign that you’re growing in holiness.

Another test to see if you’re growing in holiness is to see if you’re praying more now than you were before Lent.  If you didn’t pray at all before Lent, but now, you pray at least the Our Father once a day, then that is a major improvement.  If your prayer life was reciting the Our Father each day and now you’re more conversational with God, then that is also a major improvement.  No one expects you to walk on water, even Peter couldn’t do that for very long; however, we need to have some relationship with Jesus.  

Obviously, we measure holiness by how much we rely on the Sacraments.  Are you going to Mass every Sunday?  Have you gone to confession yet since Ash Wednesday?  Holy people know that they can’t do any of this alone.  We need Christ in the Sacraments to help us grow in holiness.  Now that we are 25% of the way through Lent, lets see where we are and where we need to improve.  There’s plenty of time left to make changes and get back on track so we’re ready to rise with Christ on Easter Sunday!