Preparing for Lent 2026 🙏 📚

2026 Preparing for Lent header banner.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” - Ephesians 2: 8-9

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Thoughtful considerations for Lent

Happy New Year everyone! You might be thinking, “How can we already be talking about Lent??? It’s only the end of January!”, but in reality, Lent begins on February 18th this year. That’s less than 3 weeks away now!

So we wanted to take time to provide some wise past words from Emily and additional resources that will hopefully help you in thoughtfully making your plans this year.

Emily’s scriptural reading for Good Friday in 2023.

Lent Resources from Emily

Emily’s book, Catholics 101 does an excellent job explaining the Three Pillars of Lent. It’s available for purchase on Gumroad and she also has a blog series for free as well.

We also want to share a collection of the 6 Lenten Practices posts Emily wrote 10 years ago back in 2016 that are still relevant today:

Lenten Practice 1 : Fasting and Abstinence

Lenten Practice 2: Confession

Lenten Practice 3: Prayer

Lenten Practice 4: Stations of the Cross

Lenten Practice 5: Almsgiving

Lenten Practice 6: The Liturgy of the Hours

A wooden cross hanging over a church stage with a spotlight on it.

Other Great Lenten Preparation Resources

Maybe it’s your first time participating in Lent or it’s been a long time and you feel overwhelmed about where to start. There are excellent resources from Hallow about the rules for Lent and different want to commit to the Three Pillars of Lent through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Hopefully, this brings clarity on the purposes and helps you with deciding on how to move forward in your expression of Lent.

Past readings Emily mentioned she recommended for Lent were “A Time for Renewal”, by Mother Mary Francis, PCC; “Death on a Friday Afternoon”, by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, and “On the Passion of the Christ” by Thomas a Kempis. She also mentioned her watch list included “Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Passion of the Christ”. 

Make a New Lenten Tradition

And finally, we just want to give a reminder that Emily’s book, Living Memento Mori, makes a great companion to this Lenten season and we hope you’ll pick up your copy to gain a new perspective as you walk through the Lent in 2026. Emily’s book also includes the Stations of the Cross and a study guide. If you already have a copy, thank you for your support, and we hope you will revisit Living Memento Mori this year!

Lent Week 4: The Mindset of Fasting

For the next 3 weeks, we wanted to dig a little deeper into the 3 Pillars of Lent: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. We hope you enjoy past writings from Emily that are good reminders for these pillars, as well as enjoy the additional thoughts to ponder.

So let’s talk about fasting. The image above was chosen because we know Emily would appreciate the fine English aesthetic. :) Now, if were were honest with ourselves, it’s the least “enjoyable” of the pillars for most. It’s giving up our everyday life schedules we are so used to and comfortable with in exchange for going without. It’s an interruption. It’s a disconnect from the familiar. But honestly, it can be downright irritating when we don’t have the right heart and mindset about it!

Emily gave a list of reasons for fasting in this great post from Lent 2016 here.

Here is the summary of her 4 points on why we fast during Lent:

1. It’s in Scripture (Matthew 4:1-2. 17:17-20)

2. It’ll show us where we need discipline in your lives.

3. It will make us grateful for what we have and remember those without.

4. It will help us recognize our sins.

Take this week to dig into what fasting up until now has taught or shown you about yourself and your mindset. Remember, you’re fasting because you get to focus time on your relationship WITH God, not for making others believe you are so much more righteous than they are or making them sympathize for your sacrifices during fasting. Give thanks to God for this time you get to dedicate to Him!

Matthew 6:16-18 - “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”’

May whatever you have planned to fast be a holy and pleasing offering to the Lord. May He fill you with strength and his protection as you grow closer to Him.