First Weekend of Lent
Traditional Lenten Practices
Prayer
Fasting
Almsgiving (Charitable Giving)
These have been staples of Lent for many years. By emphasizing prayer, many of us recommit to a certain type of prayer during the reflective season of Lent. Perhaps you make a regular commitment to pray more during these forty days. Fasting is an ancient practice designed to use the physical feeling of hunger to fuel a spiritual hunger, mostly for God. Almsgiving is a way to support a ministry, parish, community or cause with financial assistance.
Be More Lenten Practices
Silence with Direction
Space for God
Serve a Need
I encourage you to drench these traditional practices in Ignatian Spirituality. Silence is a key component of the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola. Please research the Spiritual Exercises and learn how to pray using silence. So many report that they are intimidated or even ignorant of how silence can help one pray. I have qualified Silence by the word Directed. I am not suggesting random silence; rather using it as a tool for prayer. Choose something to focus on or guide you. I suggest that this Lent you take extra time to quiet yourself. Take a deep breath in and intentionally push your stomach out. Now exhale and intentionally draw your stomach in so it accentuates the bellows action of your lungs. Take another deep breath, and another. Now read a passage of scripture and let the silence help you to focus on a word or phrase. Let the silence help you to feel any emotion that comes to your heart.
I regularly encourage people to not only pray more during Lent, but learn, even experiment with forms of prayer that you don’t normally do.
The purpose of fasting is an ancient one. I don’t know about you, but I was brought up to give something up for Lent, but I was never fully aware of WHY I was giving something up. Please consider creating a new and bigger space for God in your life. If you do that by fasting or abstaining from certain foods or activities, great. But, please be aware of the space that it will create, the void, if you will, that is to be filled by God or another profound spiritual movement.
Serve a Need. Again, we are all familiar with supporting a cause by our charitable, monetary giving. I am sure that many of you have reflected on and researched various causes to support with your stewardship of treasure or money. Each year we as a parish community provide a cause that we can all support. Every other Lent we seek the help of Catholic Extension Society to put us in touch with Catholic communities serving some of the poorest people in the country. We are so fortunate to be able to tell the story and explain the need because of our innovative digital marketing and AV staff. Eric Kramp, Sue Geegan and I visited Montana in December along with members of the Catholic Extension Society staff. Here is an introduction:
Lenten Social Justice Project
Our financial support this year will benefit:
St. John Berchmans Mission, Sacred Heart Mission and St. Ignatius Mission Churches in the town of St. Ignatius in the Diocese of Helena, which covers the entire eastern half of the state. The town was named because Jesuit priests first arrived there in 1854.
Angela’s Piazza in Billings and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Poplar, in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings – the entire western half of the state. This ministry serves women and families on the margins for various reasons including poverty, substance abuse and domestic violence and a parish that has a weekly collection that averages $480 per week.
The two dioceses cover 145,000 square miles. Poverty and isolation make accessibility to the bare basics of life very difficult. This beautiful yet rugged terrain includes the Crow, Flathead and Fort Peck Indian Reservations. You will notice the word Mission used to describe these communities. This indicates that they are not stand-alone parishes. A priest travels hundreds of miles to serve them so they are Missions or outposts if you will.
These communities beautifully meld the best of Catholicism, sacramental ritual and teaching, Catholic Social Teaching and Native American spirituality.
You will hear much more about these communities as Lent continues.