This is what not to do during the season of Lent

Lent is a sacred time in the Church's calendar that calls us to renew our spiritual lives and dedicate ourselves to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Technically speaking the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church doesn't have many official rules about Lent. In the United States, there are two days of fasting (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) and several days for abstinence from meat (Fridays, in addition to the two days already mentioned).

Other than that, you are free to do whatever you want with the time God has given you.

Yet, it's important to note that what the Church prescribes is the bare minimum. While we are not obliged to do anything else, all the saints before us are cheering us on to do something more.

If you want a few hints on what not to do (a kind of "via negativa"), here are some things for you to keep in mind:

This might seem like common sense, but especially during Lent we should not overindulge in food. We may not understand how eating is connected to our spiritual lives, but its true. We are humans, meaning that we have a body and soul united to each other.

What we do with our bodies affects our souls. If we pig out during Lent, our soul is going to suffer.

Read the Pope's letter on Lent for some more ideas in this regard.

There is nothing inherently wrong with watching TV shows and movies during Lent, but again, Lent is a time for sacrifice, so we should use our time wisely and consider what might be a good line that we shouldn't cross.

This same principle could apply to music. Consider trying to increase the time of plain silence in these 40 days.

One of the key parts of Lent is to pray and if we don't have a habit of praying every day, we should create that habit.

It doesn't have to be a holy hour every day, but it could be as simple as 15 minutes a day.

We can all find 15 minutes.

Another option is not to set a specific amount of time, but promise God and yourself that you will sit with Scripture for a few minutes. Open your Bible and spend some amount of time with a section or even just one verse. Perhaps not worrying about the timer will make it easer to get you motivated to stay consistent.

While Easter Sunday is what Jesus' life was directed towards, he chose to get there through a grueling crucifixion. It is a fact that we can't deny. What this means for our spiritual life is that we need to think and meditate on Jesus' suffering and death and how we too must pass through a period of suffering before we reap the fruit of the resurrection.

Consider praying the Stations of the Cross each Friday of Lent. Check with your parish to see if there is a community prayer of this ancient devotion.