Lent comes around every year as an invitation to take a break. It's a time to get back to basics, a time to refocus. But sometimes we don't quite know how to live it. We feel overwhelmed, tired, and the idea of doing "more" seems discouraging. Yet Lent doesn't call us to do complicated things, but to do the real thing. To open our hearts a little more to God, to draw closer to him, one step at a time. Here are a few simple guidelines for living this important season in depth and with gentleness.
Relaxing to listen better
Lent begins with an invitation to the desert. An inner place, where everything slows down, where we listen differently. To live Lent is to agree to get away from the noise, the rush, even just a little. Turning off the screens. To be silent during the day, if only for five minutes. Reading a verse and letting it resonate. Listen to God in the little things. It's not spectacular, but that's when the heart opens up.
Denying to taste better
Fasting is not about hurting yourself, but about rediscovering the flavour of things. Depriving yourself of a food, a habit, a comfort means making room for something else. It's not so much the gesture that counts, but the intention: to tell God that he is more important than anything else. We can choose to eat more simply, to consume less, to live more lightly. And in this sobriety, we often rediscover a peaceful joy, a true freedom.
Sharing to open our hearts
Lent is also a call to charity. Not just to give money, but above all to give of ourselves. To be more attentive. To call someone we forget. To forgive. Offering time, a smile, a kind word. It's in these very simple gestures that we live the Gospel. And often, it's there that the heart expands, that we feel true peace being born.
Pray to reconnect
It's not about praying for a long time, but praying truly. Telling God what's on your mind. Talk to him simply. Recite an Our Father slowly. Meditate on a psalm. Write a prayer in a notebook. This time of prayer, however short, becomes a breath of fresh air in the day. A time to breathe with God. Lent is the right time to rediscover that intimacy, in simplicity.
Letting yourself be gently transformed
Lent is not a challenge to be met, but a path to be welcomed. The important thing is not to do everything perfectly, but to let God work in us. It's not about doing more, but about opening up more. Little by little. Day by day. And it's often in the most discreet things that grace works. What God is looking for is an available heart, not a performance.
Conclusion
To live Lent simply is to choose to come back to God with who we are. Without masks, without pressure, but with sincerity. It's about slowing down, praying, loving, stripping away a little, to refocus on what's essential. It's a precious time, not to prove anything to yourself, but to let yourself be loved more. And in this very simple path, a new joy can be born: the joy of walking a little closer to God.
