While it can sometimes be treated as a primarily mental or seasonal activity, the reality is that following Christ is a full-time, full-contact way of life. But effort alone does not make a disciple. Discipline only forms us when it is ordered toward relationship with Jesus Christ.

As Father Sergius Halvorsen points out, St. Paul often uses sports imagery when speaking about what it means to be a true disciple of Christ.

He says that he does not run aimlessly, nor does he "box as one beating the air." Rather, he "pommels" his body and subdues it. (1 Cor 9:24-7)...[he] encourages us to "run with perseverance the race that is set before us" (Heb 12:1) because our goal is a heavenly prize.

St. Paul points out that athletes exercise self-control in all things in order to be victorious (1Cor 9:25).  If athletic discipline was obvious in St. Paul’s day, then it should be even more obvious in our culture with its preoccupation with professional sports.  The athlete cannot pigeonhole his or her athletic life. 

St. Paul’s point is not intensity for its own sake, but intention. Discipline without direction does not lead to the prize.

Cardio Training: Prayer

Prayer does not begin with technique or duration. It begins with encounter – with the decision to turn toward Jesus and remain with Him.

If prayer feels confusing, performative, or hard to sustain, How Do You Pray? offers a starting point focused on encounter rather than output.

In the same way that cardio-vascular exercise strengthens our physical heart, prayer strengthens our spiritual hearts. To pray means taking time each day to turn our attention toward Jesus – to listen to Him in silence and Scripture, and to speak honestly in return. Over time, this kind of prayer deepens attentiveness and availability, not performance.

Prayer opens our hearts and minds to the love of God, and allows us to be filled with the grace which God abundantly pours out upon us.

These practices are not meant to compensate for a lack of clarity or relationship. They are invitations to deepen a response that has already begun.

Here are a few ways to add to your prayer life this Lent:

• Commit to a modest, sustainable increase in daily prayer
• Pray through the Stations of the Cross
• Spend 1 Hour in Eucharistic Adoration
• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
• Take our Prayer Survey to get help you notice patterns and next steps
• Reflect on how prayer itself can become an act of evangelization (see Evangelizing Prayer for Lent).
• If structure would help you remain faithful to prayer you’ve already begun, a Personal Prayer Plan can support consistency without turning prayer into a performance.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not just “Lenten disciplines.” They are essential to Christian life and are most fruitful when they flow from relationship with Christ and remain ordered toward love of neighbor.

Back to Lent Is Not a Reset Button

Adapted and with quotes from "Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving: They're Not Just For Lent Anymore" by Fr. Sergius Halvorsen.