Girl Scouts always come in Lent

By Katharine E. Harmon, April 1, 2026

Here we are—days—minutes—away from the annual celebration of the Paschal Mystery.  Lent is almost over.  Are we going to make it?

It’s in these last moments —right before we’ve completed the race—that temptation leans in.  In my case, said “temptation” often comes in a brightly colored box, often green or purple, full of delights which just beg to be eaten in their small, neatly cut shapes. 

Oh yes, we’re talking about Girl Scout cookies.

Why, oh why do they always sell coconut or chocolate-covered delights in the last two weeks of Lent?  Are they trying to take us all down?  To remind us of human frailty?  Why do they say the serving size is two?  Shouldn’t it be, like, a whole sleeve (which may have happened at some point in my life)?

Now, let us not take my own struggles with thin mints as a critique of this historic organization supporting girls.  It is not the organization, or its fundraiser, which is the challenge.  I’m pretty sure the point of challenge lies in myself.

Do I succeed in staying consistent with my desire to pray, to fast, to give alms?  Am I constant in my claims of loving others?  My family?  Co-workers? The people I encounter in the grocery store? Do I do what I say and say what I do with honesty?  Do I live out the promises I made in my own baptism?

Lent is a long stretch of preparation during which we give up a thing—or take up a practice—to help train us—and perhaps help remind us—of who we are as Christians.  Lent is not just about giving something up to see if we can do it.  Lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are meant to cultivate a disposition: a strengthening.  If we can choose to say no (or yes) to small things, this trains our soul, our will, and our heart to say yes (or no) to big things.  Like love of God.  Love of neighbor.  Love of self.

So what about those Girl Scout cookies? 

You or I may or may not have given up chocolate (or cookies) for Lent.  But perhaps those cookies show up in this last week of Lent to ask us:

• Are you prepared to choose what you eat with care, and eat healthful foods along with said cookies? 
• Will you share said cookies with your spouse, your children, your siblings, your friends? 
• Will you eat two cookies, as you stated you would, and not proceed to absentmindedly consume the whole sleeve? 
• Will you give thanks for the freedom you have to support organizations (even beyond those that sell cookies!)? 
• Will you continue to support the common good, giving out of your abundance to support justice, goodness, and care for creation?

So have a Girl Scout cookie.  Maybe two.  Not on Good Friday, please.  And when you eat, give thanks to God.  Remember those in need.  And let’s pray that we might all pass through this Paschal Mystery to find greater strength, love, unity, and peace in Christ Jesus.

A blessed entrance into the Triduum.