"Do you feel like you're confessing the same sins each time you go to Confession?" Father Josh Johnson, a well-known priest, podcaster, and author of the new Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins asks in a short video, featured below, describing his first ever Lenten video series, "Set Free," which debuts on Ash Wednesday in the Ascension App. There's also a free "Action Plan" following these themes that anyone can download at Ascension.
The 40-day journey starts on March 5 (Ash Wednesday) and is designed to help Catholics delve deeper into experiencing God's mercy, specifically by focusing on the Father's love and the obstacles that keep us from having a personal relationship with Jesus.
Each day, Fr. Josh's short video reflections help you explore one of the seven deadly sins: wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, greed, envy, and pride.
While examining each sin, Fr. Josh shares prayers, small fasts, and practical habits each one of us can use to conquer sin and root it out of our lives at its source.
I caught up recently on the phone with the 37-year-old Director of Vocations and Pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to talk about this exciting project.
Robsdottir: Why focus on the seven deadly sins? Some might think such language is a bit outdated.
Fr. Josh: I can see how some people might feel that way, but it's not outdated at all. Actually, the Church has always taught that the seven deadly sins, or capital sins, are the most serious sins because they are the fountainheads from which all sin flows.
Nothing could be more relevant than reading Sacred Scripture and engaging in the meditative practice of Lectio Divina in order to find biblical remedies to purge the seven deadly sins from our lives once and for all.
Robsdottir: Wow! 'Once and for all?' Is it really possible to be 'set free' from the seven deadly sins, and how would you go about that?
Fr. Josh: It's definitely possible to be set free from sin, and it's something to get really excited about. Our Blessed Mother didn't sin and neither did her Son. Furthermore, Jesus has called us all to be saints, to 'be perfect as [he] is perfect' (Matthew 5:48). So, it certainly must be possible. And if we want to do this, to share in his divine life, we have to get serious about decreasing in vice and increasing in virtue.
This is why in the pocket guide and in the SET FREE 'Action Plan' we utilize the “3R's” system that I've cultivated in my own spiritual life:
Robsdottir: That sounds amazing. Are the 3R's the biggest takeaway from the book and Action Plan? Or do you hope folks will gain something else?
Fr. Josh: The “3R's” are just the beginning. The prayer book and 'Action Plan' are not intended to be a silver bullet by any means. Rather, it’s a bridge that we will walk across together again and again, in order to be best friends with the Bridegroom, to better seek his face and hear his voice.
I hope the prayer book and the Action Plan will get people in the habit of turning to Scriptures for comfort instead of social media or countless other distractions, because God's Word is one of the most powerful remedies for overcoming sin and growing close to God -- and that's exactly what Lent is all about.
So, check it out! Fr. Josh's Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins is a worthwhile follow-up to the popular prayer book he co-authored with Fr. Mike Schmitz, The Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
And the Set Free series in the Ascension app, accompanied by the SET FREE Action Plan -- which is a free download from Ascension Press -- is only a click away!
