How St. Michael’s Lent Works

St. Michael’s Lent offers us a summertime season of renewal under the guidance of God’s heavenly angels. Our daily reflections follow the Book of Tobit, an Israelite exiled in Ninevah in modern-day Iraq, who courageously engages in works of mercy and faithfully follows the Lord’s commands in a pagan culture. After he becomes blind, he sends his son, Tobias, on a journey with a guide, the Archangel Raphael in disguise. The angel directs the young man, keeping him safe from demonic attacks as he liberates his future bride and heals his father, bringing freedom and healing to his family through the power of God’s grace.

The Book of Tobit invites us to enter into works of charity to express God’s love and mercy to others. This opens us up to greater healing, as God’s love pulls us out of ourselves, overcoming individualism and isolation. God desires to bring us to the fullness of life, healing us from the wounds that have arisen from our sins and broken relationships. He gives us the courage to love, breaking free from the weight of our wounds in order to enter into greater communion with God and others. The devil seeks to exploit our weaknesses, but God’s holy angels surround us with their protection and draw us into their own perfect praise around the throne of God.

This year St. Michael’s Lent offers a very special swath of disciplines.

🙏 Prayer

Read Tobit Reading & Reflection
30 Minutes of Silent Prayer (learn more here)
Make a Morning Offering
Make a Nightly Examen
Make one Holy Hour each week
Celebrate the Lord’s Day on Sundays

Why?

Prayer is conversation with God.

The time you spend in prayer during St. Michael’s Lent is the most important part of the journey. Your daily Scripture passage and reflection from the Book of Tobit have been crafted to help you start your conversation with the Lord each day. We offer them for men like you every day of the year, not just during St. Michael’s Lent, and we hope that we become your trusted guide for spiritual formation throughout the year.

During St. Michael’s Lent, we will strive for half an hour of daily prayer, listening and sharing openly with the Lord. Amid the responsibilities of your life and vocation, a half hour may not be possible every day. Do not become discouraged, feel shame, or give up on prayer because you cannot hit the ideal. Do the best you can with the time that you have. If you need to start small with a few minutes and build up your time over the the first few weeks, we encourage you to do so. From experience, most men find it easier to pray early in the morning or late at night, and it is most likely to happen if we schedule our prayer time and make it a priority in our plan of life each day. The Disciplines Tab of the Exodus 90 app is designed to help you stay accountable to prayer.

As intimidated as you may be as you begin to pray, brother, you can do it. The more you practice prayer, the more familiar it will become for you and the more confidence you will gain, like so many other things in our lives. But, we must persevere no matter the challenges we face because, apart from a life of prayer, we quickly get lost and forget who we are, like a lost child without his mother and father. And how can we possibly lead our families and local communities if we are not led first by the Lord?

🚿 Asceticism

Get a Full Night’s Sleep (8 hours, learn more here)
Hold Vigil for 1 Hour at 2am on Friday Morning (learn more here)
Wake Up at the Same Time each day
No Snoozing the Alarm Clock
No Social Media / News
Fast on Wednesday & Friday
No Meat on Wednesday & Friday
Cold Shower on Wednesday & Friday

Why?

Asceticism means training. Though it is often underemphasized in our time, throughout Church history we see the importance of asceticism in the teachings and lives of the saints, our fathers in the faith.

Asceticism is about saying “no” to lesser things so that we are able to say “yes” when God asks greater things from us. Though we should strive to reject evil in every instance, we should also abstain from good things for periods of time so that we can remain focused on what matters most in our lives.

Asceticism is not about proving something to yourself, showing that you are strong enough to others, or earning God’s grace. St. Michael’s Lent is not a spiritual marathon or another secular men’s challenge. St. Michael’s Lent is a spiritual exercise crafted for you to become uncommonly free for the love that God has called you to. And these forty days are just the beginning of a new, more free way of life.

Acts of asceticism break us down in order to open us up to God. They should not lead to a puffed-up chest so much as a bowed-down head in prayer. Through the ascetic way, we are humbled. By denying ourselves, we learn to depend upon God for everything and to ask our brothers for prayerful accountability, support, and encouragement.

✌️ Fraternity

Daily Anchor Check-in (one of the men in your fraternity)
Weekly Fraternity Meeting (5-7 men)
If you need help building your brotherhood, check out the Community tab on the Exodus 90 app where you can see local fraternities near you, or you can join a remote fraternity on the app as well.
If you are starting a fraternity, you can find fraternity leader resources on our leadership platform called Mount Sinai.

Why?

So many men are isolated and alone today, and in that place we are susceptible to the whims, temptations, and empty show of the devil.

Many men have buddies with whom they can watch sports and drink beer, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But we also need to have brothers who know who we are, what we are going through, and to whom we can be accountable.

During St. Michael’s Lent, you will meet once a week with 5-7 men. One of the men in your fraternity will be your anchor, and you will check-in with him each day. Prioritizing Christian brotherhood, especially for married men in the hustle of work and family life, is challenging. But that time is essential. You’ll invite other men you know to form your Exodus fraternity. If you need help finding a fraternity, check out the Community tab on the Exodus 90 app where you can see local fraternities near you, or you can join a remote fraternity on the app as well.

Exodus fraternities are one of the few places in the entire world where men can be open and honest with each other. It’s not about who you know, what you have accomplished, or how you’ve got it all together. Exodus fraternities are meant to be the absolute opposite of this worldly perspective of masculinity, a place to be real about the struggles we all experience.

What do you talk about in your fraternity meeting? We have crafted a unique meeting guide to support your conversation each week of St. Michael’s Lent, and also for every week the rest of the year.

Please pray about who you should invite, and when the Holy Spirit prompts you to invite a man that surprises you, please do not say “no.” Exodus fraternities are not places for perfect Catholic or Christian men. Because none of us are. Invite the man that God places on your heart, whether he practices the faith or not. You will get “noes,” but you will be shocked by who says “yes.”

It is never too late to invite a man into your fraternity. As you start, there may be men who want to join, especially in the first few weeks of St. Michael’s Lent.

🚀 After St. Michael’s Lent

The 40 days of St. Michael’s Lent aren’t a finish line — they’re the beginning of a new, more free way of life.

The Exodus 90 app will support your formation throughout the entire calendar year — offering a practical, realistic, and effective path to growing in freedom not just for a month, but every day, year-round, 24/7/365.

👉 Lastly:

St. Michael’s Lent will be challenging, but do not be afraid. There’s no such thing as a perfect journey.

More than 100,000 Exodus men have come before you. And tens of thousands of men from all over the world are on the road right now, praying and sacrificing for you too.

May we, united together in prayer and sacrifice, and after the pattern of Jesus Christ and our Fathers in the Faith, become the renewal that we seek in the Church and in the world.