SEU Lenten Challenge

"Sooner or later, good works speak a far more advantageous language than whatever is done for ostentation and display."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Tell a friend about the Lenten challenge and commit to complete it together.

"Am I in full Charity with all?"
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Choose good cause you would like to support. Find an empty jar and during Lent put your change in. At the end of Lent, donate the money to your chosen cause.

"We must strive to soften our hearts and make them sensitive to the suffering and worries of the neighbor."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Prepare and eat a no-meat meal.

"We should read good and useful books."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Read the scriptures before attending church on Sunday: Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; and Luke 4:1-13

"God is satisfied with a soul of good will."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Say a prayer for first responders and all those who put their lives at risk in service to the community.

"God accepts the undertakings of one who presents things frankly just as they are."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Fast from insensitive, cruel comments about others. So, no gossiping (this includes social media)!

"Give me a person of prayer, and they will be capable of doing all things."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Pray with the intention for others.

"Those whom you serve should feel the efforts of your kind-heartedness."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Everyone likes to be included and invited, so extend a warm invitation to someone who doesn't usually make your guest list.

"Blessed are they who wear themselves out for Charity."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Donate books, clothing, or household items to a charity.

"How liable we are to err in our judgments respecting others unless we thoroughly know the motives of their actions."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Listen without judgment to another's story.

"Let us accustom ourselves to entreat rather than command; to instruct more by example than by precept."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Cook a meal for your friends/family using only $1. Pray for those who live on less than $1.00/day.

"Faith lifts the soul, hope supports it, experience says it must, and love says let it be."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Be grateful! Send a note or a small gift to someone you want to say thank you to.

"We must always do things with the greatest possible simplicity."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: One in 10 people lack access to safe water. Conserve water today, and make it a habit.

"You will help other more by the peace and tranquility of your heart than by any eagerness or care you can bestow on them."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Unplug from your phone and turn off your phone and music on your commute.

"There is no charity without justice, nor does it permit us to do more than we reasonably can."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Write a letter, make a phone call, or send an email to your senators and tell them about a social justice issue you care about.

"Charity is not charity if unaccompanied by justice or if it suffers us to do more than we can reasonably perform."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Before you eat, take five minutes to pray for the hungry and thirsty of the world. Take one minute for each inhabited continent, Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia/Oceania

"We should be faithful in little things, keep ourselves in the presence of God, and have a great desire to please him."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Attend a Parish fish-fry or simple soup meal.

"No matter how much we exert ourselves, people will never have faith in us unless we show charity and compassion to those whom we wish to believe in us."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Perform one anonymous simple act of kindness.

"Kindness is the key to hearts."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Surprise at least three people you care about with a phone call today.

"God is everywhere. In the very air I breathe."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Do 'Lenten Cleaning' in your community - help pick up litter around your neighborhood.

"Have the courage to own up to one's omissions and blunders."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Seek reconciliation. Apologize and ask for forgiveness today.

"Continue to view the affairs and doings of the neighbor in a spirit of charity; should his actions have a hundred sides, always look at the best."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Strike up a conversation with someone you don't know in the hallway or at lunch.

"We should watch over the interests of others as well as we do our own, and be careful to act on every occasion with uprightness and fidelity."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Be mindful of your words and social media posts/comments - that they all be in a spirit of love.

"Be at peace and continue working as you have always done; the trouble you have already taken will not be lost. You know that after the rain comes the sunshine."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Slow down, take a "mindful moment" and be fully present and intentional in all your activities.

"God makes the interests of the afflicted his own."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Donate at least three non-perishable food items to a food bank.

"Rejoice in hope; hope shall never be confounded."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Pay three people a genuine compliment.

"The reward of sacrifice is peace."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Sometime this week plan to fast from the afternoon onwards. Take time to pray in your fasting for things that concern you.

"Though truth and sincerity should ever guard our words, yet we should be careful never to offend others."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Respond to anger or angry words with kindness today.

"As I myself am a great sinner, I cannot reject those who have sinned if they have good will."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Let go of an old grudge. Forgive someone today and let them know that they are forgiven.

"Begin again today; what is lost must not cause dejection; what is gained will be lost if you do not begin afresh as if nothing had been done."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Put aside your preconceived ideas about a person or a situation and be more open-minded.

"It is an obligation for us to inconvenience ourselves for the service of the poor."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Help someone who needs it today, whether you know them or not.

"Come now, let us engage ourselves with renewed love to serve the poor, and let us even seek out the poorest and most abandoned of all."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Participate in the Habitat for Humanity Student Service Day. Or, volunteer time at a non-profit agency of your choosing.

"If we had even a tiny hint of this love, would we remain with our arms folded? Would we allow to perish those whom we could assist? Oh no, charity cannot remain inert and inactive."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Take time to visit, call, or send a card or an email to someone who is sick.

"To enjoy we must love; and to love we must sacrifice."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Fast from negativity.

"Cheerfulness prepares a glorious mind for all the noblest acts."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Today, thank someone who helped you become better.

"We should assist the poor in every way and do it both by ourselves and by enlisting the help of others."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Ask someone for help with a project or situation that's overwhelming you.

"Bitterness never served any purpose than to embitter."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Be patient when you're faced with an annoying person or situation today.

"In order to acquire a solid habit of any virtue, it is necessary to form good resolutions on the particular acts of this virtue and be faithful in executing them."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Change or quit an unhealthy habit or behavior.

"Today's efforts will make tomorrow's easier."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Learn something new today - read an article about something you know little to nothing about.

"I beg of you to show all great affection."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Smile at every person you see today.

"Be particularly on your guard not to give pain to anyone but be a consolation to all."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Be there for someone who is hurting.

"One of the first rules of my happiness is to be satisfied with good in whatever degree I can attain it."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Set a timer for five minutes and write down all of the blessings in your life until the timer goes off.

"Without prayer, I should be of little service."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Challenge: Pray for someone you don't know today. As you're walking the hallways, driving to school, or sitting at your desk in class, pick out a person and say a silent prayer for them.

"When we meet with things very pleasing, before yielding to the joy they elicit, let us raise our hearts to God and thank his loving mercy which sends us the consolation."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Write a prayer of Thanksgiving today (for example, "God thank you for ...") and pray it before you go to bed.

"It is in silence that we can hear God speak to our hearts."
St. Vincent de Paul

Challenge: Spend at least five minutes in silent meditation.

"Wherever we may be, God is with us, so we must be always joyful."
St. Louise de Marillac

Challenge: Look for God's light in every person you meet.