🚫 Lenten Shortcuts are Spiritual Failure: Finish What You Started (Fr. Mark Beard)

Father Mark Beard delivers a challenging homily on the vital necessity of perseverance during the Lenten season. He warns against the spiritual danger of trying to take "shortcuts" or quitting your fast/discipline early, emphasizing that Christ's victory requires the full 40-day commitment from us.

The Message of Commitment:
The Full 40 Days: Father Beard insists that Lent is not about temporary sacrifice; it's about following Christ's journey entirely. You must finish what you started—if you gave up something or took on a practice, it must last until the moment of the Resurrection.

No Half-Measures: He challenges the "angel finished it" fallacy (the idea that your guardian angel finishes your prayers if you fall asleep), stressing that spiritual accountability rests solely on the individual.

Resilience: The test of Lent builds spiritual resilience—the capacity to take a hit, fall down, and immediately get back up and continue the struggle for holiness.

Lent requires your absolute commitment. Stop making excuses and finish the spiritual race Christ set before you.