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Ash Wednesday is just around the corner, ushering in the holy season of Lent 2025 on March 5. Another 40 days of fasting and abstinence, another six weeks of trying to die to self so as to rise with Christ on Easter Sunday, are almost here.
How do you feel, knowing that Lent is quickly approaching? Are you filled with hope and resolution, determined to draw the most out of these days of reflection and penance? Or does the thought of Lent inspire a feeling of unease - a belief that, no matter what you do during these weeks, you’ll still end up being pretty much the same on the other side, anyway?
We want to follow Christ. We want to become, as St. Catherine of Siena reminds us, the people God created us to be, and to go out and make a difference in the world in the time we’ve been given. But it would also be helpful to have a bit of guidance on how to do that. That’s why Ascension Press has just released a new prayer book from Fr. Josh Johnson, called a Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins.
The guide starts off with a personal recollection of an incident in Fr. Josh's own life, an incident that, combined with good spiritual direction, inspired him to write this book to offer some guidance in overcoming sin, especially those sins we tend to commit over and over.
In the guide, Fr. Josh lays out a few steps to help us on our journey. The first step is to realize that frequent mediation on the Word of God, on Scripture, is necessary to grow in the spiritual life. Praying with Scripture helps us to discern what’s really underneath those particular sins that we struggle with. It’s those vices hidden underneath that connect us to the Big Seven - the vices of wrath, acedia, gluttony, lust, greed, envy and pride. It’s these seven capital sins that drive the lesser inequities we commit. To discover how these seven vices are operating in our lives, Fr. Josh proposes that our bad habits “are more likely to be revealed when we engage in a deeper relationship with God’s work in the Bible. “
Through the practice of a guided lectio divina, of prayerfully interacting with the Bible, the Pocket Guide leads us through a framework of the “Three Rs” - Resolve, Renounce and Remember. Resolve to spend time with Scripture. Renounce the lie that we cannot overcome the vices in our lives. Remember that God dearly wants to be in a relationship with us right now, not just when we have been made perfect. The Pocket Guide walks the pray-er through seven daily practices that oppose sin. This daily practice can be applied to confronting each of the Capital Sins.
After the introduction to the framework is explained, the Pocket Guide devotes a chapter to each of the seven deadly sins separately, guiding the reader through a week-long journey of identifying where that particular sin is in his or her own life. The reader is invited to spend a week praying with Scripture, renouncing each vice on its own, while remembering God’s love, guidance and protection.
an inside view of a day of prayer
For example, the chapter on Wrath invites the reader to spend a week growing in Gentleness. The chapter on Sloth helps the reader to cultivate Diligence, while the chapter on Gluttony assists in turning the reader towards Temperance. Each day of the week has a different Scripture passage to use in lectio divina, as well as a short reflection on that Scripture, written by Fr. Josh. After reflecting on Scripture, the reader prays the prayer renouncing that vice, before finishing the day with a short meditation on how to remember God’s love.
The Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins ends with a final chapter that asks the question “What If I Keep Committing the Same Sin?” It includes a daily Examination of Conscience, as well as a series of questions to help the reader get to the root cause of why he or she continues to be tripped up by the same sin.
As Fr. Josh writes, “The purpose of this Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins is to be a resource for both priests and penitents to identify remedies to the ongoing struggle many of us have with the major and minor vices in our lives.” Hopefully, no one is completely ruled by all seven of the capital sins, but even if that’s the case, this Pocket Guide lays out a simple and steady path of leaving them all behind. The Pocket Guide helps us to “become familiar with the seven deadly sins against which many struggle in their walk toward eternity, and to consider how these vices are operative in our lives today and strategies for overcoming them.”
The Pocket Guide coordinates with Ascension's new program for Lent called "Set Free: Daily Lenten Reflections to Overcome the Seven Deadly Sins." You can sign up for this program, hosted by Fr. Josh, through the Ascension app (there's a 7 day free trial to sample the program). You can also download a free Lent Action Plan that empowers and inspires you to do a deep dive on the patterns of sin in your own life each day during Lent, and gives ways to change them.
There’s still time to order this handy little guide before Lent starts. It’s available at Ascension Press or on Amazon, as a book (with a leatherlike cover) for $24.99 or as an ebook for $9.99. Order this short but powerful book to have on hand and start noticing the patterns you would like to break, while you strengthen your relationship with God.
A life-long Catholic, Sarah has worked for the Catholic church for close to 20 years, helping parents, grandparents, godparents and children of all ages learn about and live their Catholic faith. A big believer in integrating reason with imagination, she especially loves using stories, particularly the stories of C.S.Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings, as well as symbols and physical "stuff" to catechize and ponder over.
She earned her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Dallas, then went on to complete a Master's in Language and Literature at St. Mary's University and years later, while living on a farm in rural Indiana with kids, dogs, chickens and ducks, she earned a Master's degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Stuebenville. She is getting close to finishing a doctoral degree in Romantic Theology, and would love for you to follow her writing on Substack, as well as here at Catholic365.
