Volume XXX, Number 3
February 12, 2026
Your Best Lent Ever (2026 Edition)
Beloved Blessed Baptized,
I'm especially excited if you're a new reader. But no matter how much tread has worn off your Catholic tires, the world needs each of us to maximize the grace God has prepared to shower upon you this year.
There is No Time Like Right NowLots of people are coming to the Catholic churches near you on Ash Wednesday and beyond, and only you can reach them.
Despite the big storm, there is still time to have our life-changing materials arrive at your door by next week if you order online today:
Don't Waste Another Lent!
Note: Most of you have less than a week left to get ready for Lent, but the following will help you even if Ash Wednesday has already passed. (After all, late is on time compared to never, and God is not a bureaucrat.)
For new readers, what follows is a Lenten Exhortation I composed a quarter century ago. It includes the super-helpful and comprehensive Ultimate Lent List containing a kazillion things to give up or take up, so click the button at the end to read the whole thing:
An Organizing Principle
My only goal is to help your Lent get off to an excellent start this year. Let us begin with...a conceit. Huh? A what?
As some of us may recall from English class in the olden days, a conceit, according to the fourth definition of the third meaning of the noun in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, is (drumroll please): "an organizing principle."
A Lent well-lived needs an organizing principle. May we suggest that your conceit for this Lent be: Go for it!
Your Time is Running OutWe only have so many years on this earth and to waste another Lent (you know who you are—and I'm just as guilty, too) is just plain subpar for a believing Catholic.
Challenge yourself spiritually this year.
Choose difficult mortifications.
Give up your most favorite things.
Fast more often than ever before.
Give alms until you "feel" it.
Commit to prayer or daily Mass or Good Friday devotions like never before.
Pray the Daily Prayers to Save America to implore God to deliver our nation from evil.
Ignore Liberal ClaptrapBy the way, all the lazy, ridiculous modernist propaganda to not give up anything for Lent in recent decades and instead "just be nice and help people" is lazy, ridiculous modernist propaganda designed to rationalize not doing anything for Lent...
I sure hope you finish Your Best Lent Ever because it includes:
• What to give up
• Why you should give up multiple things
• Why you should be more Catholic than the pope
• Our Super-helpful Ultimate Lent List
• How to guide your kids and grandkids
• A strange belly-button reference
Let us prepare for Ash Wednesday with folks from all over the world in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
Oh Jesus, sometimes You feel far away.
Sometimes You feel close enough
to put your hand on my shoulder.
Show me how and give me the grace
to give you everything this Lent.
Please help me to do my best,
and by leadership or by example,
to help my family and friends do their best.
Because I love you
and I want to love you more.
Teach me that your grace
is the only wealth I need.
Please, dear Jesus,
you healed so many people
during your time on earth,
and during the ensuing centuries,
through the intercession
of your Immaculate Mother,
all the saints, all the angels,
all the relatives in heaven,
all the holy Masses offered,
and the prayers of all
Mary Foundation benefactors—
please give me the courage
to allow my Cross to carry me,
and to sanctify and heal me,
and everyone I love,
in mind, body, and soul.
Amen.
Lenten Quotations
"Fasting is better than prayer and almsgiving is better than both."
- Pope Saint Clement I
"Some demons can only be driven out through prayer and fasting."
- Jesus
"It is only by sacrificing and suffering, offered as penance, that you will be able, by the grace of God, to convert sinners."
- Saint John Vianney
"My Lord has suffered as much for me."
- Savonarola, final words on his deathbed
"I'm never surprised when I screw up—only when I don't. That makes me a Catholic."
- Joseph Wood
"As water extinguishes a raging fire, almsgiving atones for sin."
Sirach 3:30
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."
- Jesus' final words on the Holy Cross
Laugh Then Mortify
This year I'm giving up maple cream donuts again (the only kind I actually like), sleeping in, television after a certain hour, reading my phone in bed, and all music or entertainment-related podcasts during my long walks. I'm adding more daily Mass, more Rosaries, more Adoration.
I'm also going to stock several nearby parishes with Mary Foundation materials (especially How to Pray, Going Back to Confession, and Father Rip's Three Angelus Cure cards).
I'm giving extra donations to my favorite Catholic apostolates—including the Mary Foundation. See you on the other side of the ashes, my friend!
Now: wait for it...wait for it. Not yet. Okay! Let's go:
Suffering in union with Christ is never wasted.
Trust your Guardian Angel.
Join me spiritually on my long walks.
No matter how long ago or how recent, get yourself to Confession. Whisper into the ear of Christ.
In prayer, imagine kneeling next to Our Lady of Sorrows at the foot of the Cross—take her arm. Look up. Hold each other up.
Write a note to yourself: every morning, thank God for one thing, important or seemingly small.
Everything is going to be all right!
It's easy to evangelize.
The only security is courage.
A huge wave of conversion is coming.
When you fall, get back up.
Make something. Do something. But first:
Pray. Think. Act.
Thank a priest for being a priest.
Stay frosty. Stay the course.
Our Lord's best friends climb up onto the True Cross to be with Him.
With Our Lady of Lourdes,
Bud Macfarlane
Man of Sorrows
Five riveting true stories by people who have experienced supernatural Warnings. order »
Join the movement! Pray 12 minutes a day to help God save America. order »
Find friends in the world's largest directory of Catholic young adult groups. Learn More »
Our supporters have distributed tens of millions of life-changing Catholic gifts since 1991, making us America's largest producer of high-quality, super-affordable tools for evangelization. Join our work today!
See All Our Catholic Materials
Meet Bud Macfarlane, Our Founder
