Season of LENT
LIVING THE CATHOLIC FAITH IN THE 3RD MILLENIUM
A LAYMAN'S LOOK AT THE JOURNEY OF FAITH

Resources for Lent

THIS YEAR’S LENT COULD BE JUST WHAT STRUGGLING CHURCH NEEDS 
This set-aside time for prayer and reflection - after all the Church has been through in recent months - could provide both a healing balm and a needed boost forward.
RETURN TO ME: LENTEN REFLECTIONS FROM HOLY CROSS 
Offered as a daily digital reflection series. Those who subscribe will be sent an email each morning containing a reflection, and the listing of sacred texts from Scripture for each day.
WHAT CATHOLIC LEADERS SHOULD GIVE UP FOR LENT THIS YEAR 
Concealment, secrecy, corruption, denial, abuse of power: a disheartening litany, especially because of its pervasiveness in a body that calls itself holy and is supposed to speak and act in God’s name.
PRAYING LENT 
An Online Ministry of Creighton University: resources here to assist our entry into this wonderful season, from our preparing to begin Lent to our preparing to celebrate the holy three days following Lent.
THE DEATH OF DEATH 
Easter isn’t celebrating a one-time miracle as if it only happened in the body of Jesus and we’re all here to cheer for Jesus.
FINDING GOD IN THE MESS 
Join in a special Lenten read-along with Loyola Press. We’ll be reading Finding God in the Mess: Meditations for Mindful Living at a relaxed pace that will give us time to savor what we read during the weeks of Lent.
MAKE LENT 2020 YOUR BEST EVER 
A Lot Can Happen in 40 Days‎... A totally free and totally awesome daily Lenten video program sent straight to your email!
THE SEASON OF LENT 
From Ken Collins: Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Lent 
On these pages, you will find a variety of suggestions and resources to help you raise up, sacrifice, and offer during this Lent and to embrace your baptismal commitment
RADICAL HOPE - LENT 2020 
Join the Ignatian family each day during Lent 2020 at the hope-filled intersection of faith and justice.
5 PRAYERS FOR THE LENT SEASON 
The Lent season is all about focusing our heart on the true source of joy - Jesus Christ. Use these Lenten Prayers to remember what Easter is all about.
RESOURCES FOR LENT 
Ignatian contemplation and reflective prayer encourage us in the season of Lent. Below we highlight Ignatian resources for Lent.
LENT & EASTER - FRANCISCAN MEDIA 
Lent is upon us, a time of prayer, reflection, and unity with God. But sometimes we miss important aspects of this holy season while we are in the midst of it.
FIVE APPS FOR LENT 
As well as using the app for prayer requests, you can also use it as a prayer journal that records your own spiritual journey through Lent...
SEVEN KEY WORDS FOR LENT 
Seven key terms from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that help us to revisit and delve more deeply into the gift of Lent.
THE HOPE OF LENT 
While the Lenten season is indeed preparation for our Easter celebration, the hope of this season is that we will find our lives transformed by the many ways we encounter God’s Word...
8 WAYS TO PRAY DURING LENT 
There are as many ways to pray as there are pray-ers in this world, but a few prayer methods can help us in particular to spiritually prepare ourselves during Lent.
40 WAYS TO GET MORE OUT OF LENT 
Lent is supposed to be a season of a successful journey through the desert of penance to a new land and a new, deeper intimacy with God. But often, we find ourselves falling back on the same old pathways.
LENT, UNPLUGGED 
In a time of digital consumption, here’s how the church can lead the way on healthy media fasting.
GROWING IN FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD THIS LENT  
This Lent, grow in your friendship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with a special series by the dotMagis bloggers.
A BLESSING AND A CURSE 
Lent is a chance to grapple with the paradox of the cross as blessing and curse.
LETTING THIS LENT BE GOD’S  
What if this Lent we didn’t approach the practices of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting with an eye to what we can do to transform ourselves, but rather with an eye to what God wants to do in order to transform us?
40 LENTEN LESSONS ON THE MASS 
Receive a Lenten Lesson in your email inbox each day. Deepen your faith this Lent with these lessons on the Eucharist and the Holy Mass— the source and summit of our faith.
LENT WITH THE SAINTS 
Daily inspiration during this season of repentance, forgiveness, and hope. Connect and pray with the Church's most beloved saints and holy people
LENT AS A FAVORABLE TIME TO UNITE THE PARISH 
The time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is also an opportunity to get to know fellow parishioners better
LENT: WHY THE CHRISTIAN MUST DENY HIMSELF 
By fasting a person turns to God more intently. This is reflected in God’s words spoken through the Prophet Joel: “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
THERE IS MORE TO LENT THAN JUST ‘GIVING UP’ 
This Lent maybe you could pray not simply for the willingness to give up chocolate, but to become a more loving person, day by day, in your own way.
LENT: A TIME TO BUILD AND STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY 
What does Lent mean to you? Could it be a time to build and strengthen your communities this year?
EXODUS AND THE PASCHAL JOURNEY OF LENT 
Lent is about the people of God being on the march, out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. And this journey we make together is a matter of life and death
UNLEARNING WORLDLY LOVE WITH ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 
St John Henry Newman’s Lenten sermons are a helpful resource during Lent for a regimen of spiritual reading
NO NEED TO BE CROSS ABOUT LENT 
Catholics are trying to move from Lent as a penitential season to Lent as a baptismal season — that is, a season that focuses on a refreshment of the Christian commitment which is rooted in baptism.
FOR LENT, GIVE UP ANGER AND SEEK FORGIVENESS 
People... recognize that if they’re caught in the anger, they will not be able to find peace. They have learned there is no pathway to peace through anger.
THE ANIMA CHRISTI DURING HOLY WEEK 
Many of the lines of the “Soul of Christ” prayer resonate with Passion Week, as the poem reflects on Christ’s body and spirit.
ARTS & FAITH: LENT 
The visual prayer experience of Arts & Faith: Lent continues through Holy Week with videos for Palm Sunday and the Triduum.
CONNECTING WITH THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS 
Kerry Weber shares how she connected with the Stations of the Cross in this excerpt from her book, Mercy in the City.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE CROSS 
Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, explores the idea that Jesus’ Passion brings us to embrace the world as it really is.
HOW JESUS RESPONDS TO SUFFERING 
Gary Jansen suggests an Ignatian approach to the Stations of the Cross, considering how Jesus responds to suffering.
DESPITE UNCERTAINTIES, LENT IS A TIME FOR HOPE, FRANCIS SAYS  
Love is a gift that gives meaning to our lives. It enables us to view those in need as members of our own family, as friends, brothers or sisters...
LENT RESOURCES 
Lent is a season of repentance and renewal. We turn away from our sinfulness and recommit ourselves to following Jesus. Ignatian contemplation and reflective prayer encourage us in the season of Lent. Here you will find Ignatian resources for Lent.
WALKING THROUGH LENT WITH ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 
The season of Lent was one of sacrifice and introspection for St. Francis. As our guide through this holy season, he is inviting us to do the same. To receive daily Lenten meditations inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, sign up here.
LENT 2021: REFLECTIONS, PODCASTS AND MORE 
Journey with America’s editors as they reflect on Scripture, prayer, fasting and almsgiving both in written form and on “The Word” podcast.
SOUL SEEING FOR LENT  
Each column is a spiritual reflection on the beauty that hides behind appearances and the peace that is beyond all understanding.
LENTEN VULNERABILITY 
Some of us are in desperate need of receiving mercy and justice, some of us are in desperate need of experiencing want. Jesus was ministered by the angels in the desert - our Lenten journey needs both.
SLOW LENT 
In the Sunday Gospels throughout Lent, we find Jesus in a number of environments: deserts, mountaintops, temples and towns. Each place plays an important part in Jesus’ journey. These reflections invite people to spend contemplative time with Jesus in each of these places, not just on Sunday but for an entire week.
RECLAIM LENT AFTER A YEAR OF SUFFERING AND DEATH  
Lent is about self-care in a way that is less about diving more deeply into sacrifice and more about reorienting oneself to what matters.
THE SACRED SILENCE OF LENT 
Everything depends on our own dependence on God. And we cannot learn anything about that dependence by thinking and plotting and planning — by huffing and puffing. We need to open our hearts. We need to be quiet.
WHO IS SACRIFICED, AND WHO BENEFITS? 
The reality of health and economic disparity COVID has exposed “is worth pondering as Holy Week approaches...as Christians seek redemption in the short lifespan of a first-century man who lacked social or economic privilege.”
THE POLITICS OF THE PASSION 
It may be that the actions and words of Jesus in Holy Week in fact tell us something about the necessary—and salutary—tension between political life and religious identity.
LENT: RESOURCES FOR YOUR LENTEN JOURNEY 
From Loyola Press, here a source of different resources which can assist you to make reflective and prayerful preparation for the Season of Lent.
CELEBRATE LENT WITH PADRE PIO 
Join others this Lent with meditations, prayers, and words of comfort from Padre Pio himself, delivered right to your inbox. Begins on Ash Wednesday, March 2.
FINDING HOPE IN THE ASHES: TRANSFORMING OUR COMMUNITIES 
Can we transform these moments of return into milestones along the journey of faith? Excerpt from Hope from the Ashes by Paul E. Jarzembowski (Paulist Press, 2022)
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR LENT 2022 
Lent invites us to conversion, to a change in mindset, so that life’s truth and beauty may be found not so much in possessing as in giving, not so much in accumulating as in sowing and sharing goodness.
PERPETUAL LENT 
If Church leaders and institutions wish to lead us in our Lenten spiritual journey, it is imperative that they unequivocally acknowledge the seriousness of the times and the horrors the pandemic has wrought.
WELCOME, LENT 
For Catholics, Lent is a sure part of the rhythm of life. The sacred season comes around every year, like an old friend who visits, without fail. We are challenged to live each Lent with a true readiness to change, to embrace each Lent as precious and potentially exceptional.
YOUNG JESUITS OFFER ADVICE FOR LENT 
"What are you giving up for Lent this year?" It's a standard question, but maybe not the best one. We hope their insight will help you think deeply about your Lenten practices this year.
THE MEANING OF LENT TO THIS UNCHURCHED CHRISTIAN 
Ash Wednesday isn’t a day for rebellion. It’s a day for fasting, reflection and prayer... The longer this pandemic drags on, the clearer those words become.
30 WAYS TO SPIRITUALLY GROW THIS LENT — THAT AREN’T FASTING FROM FOOD 
After all, if the entire point of life is to give God glory, then, whatever you choose to do for Lent, should ultimately do just that.
LENTEN CONVERSIONS 
“Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.” These words remind the baptized that Christian conversion involves both an ongoing rejection of a sinful life and also a fuller embrace of the Gospel.
REMEMBER THE POWER OF PRAYER THIS LENT 
Prayer gives us solace and allows us to dream of victory in the face of that which seeks to harm.
MEDITATE ON ‘UBI CARITAS’ THIS LENT 
As we approach Holy Week and look forward to the promise of Easter joy, we may look back on the last month or so and reflect on how the Lord has been present to us this Lent.
HOW TO DO HOLY WEEK 
How can we maintain some realm of holy quiet? How to “do” Holy Week, especially if we will not be participating in all the special church liturgies at this time? Here are just a few suggestions.
A GUIDE TO A TRANSFORMATIVE HOLY WEEK  
The prayers and rituals of Holy Week are particularly formative and transformative if we allow them to be.Let the rituals of Holy Week guide your heart toward God.
HOLY THURSDAY IS A CHRISTIAN PASSOVER, WHEN WE REMEMBER WHO WE ARE 
Christians cannot understand the Eucharist unless they understand the Jewish Passover.
A HOLY WEEK MEDITATION WITH LEAL’S PIETÀ 
Face-to-face with the historical life and death of Jesus, who died a common criminal, whose life terminated in a crumpled heap indistinguishable from so many broken bodies before and after his.
FINDING GOD IN THE CHAOS 
Daily email reflections throughout the Lenten season dealing with the story of hope, of justice, of God’s presence in a chaotic, broken world.
PRAYER, FASTING, AND ALMSGIVING CREATE A STANDARD OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY 
The light that Jesus shows the disciples is an anticipation of Easter glory, and that must be the goal of our own journey, as we follow ‘him alone.
SYNODAL AND LENTEN JOURNEYS REQUIRE EFFORT, SACRIFICE, FOCUSING ON GOD  
The pope's message focused on seeing Lenten penance and the synodal experience both as arduous journeys that lead to the wondrous experience of Christ's divine light and splendor.
Why Catholics need Ash Wednesday 
Lent is not about "doing something positive," We need to practice the self-emptying that Jesus modeled. We Catholic Christians love Lent because we need it.
LET'S DO MERCY FOR LENT THIS YEAR  
It is not enough to just receive mercy from God. We must be transformed by God's mercy and become "witnesses of mercy.
LET'S MAKE THE BEATITUDES OUR GUIDE FOR LENT 
American Catholics all deeply hunger for unifying, sacramental, even mystical experiences that can reveal the sweetness of the Gospel, the Word that makes a difference in our lives.
VIRTUAL SIT MEDITATIONS FOR LENT 
Join the Center for Action and Contemplation online contemplative community for a free series of Virtual Sit Meditations broadcast every Friday during Lent.
LENT IS HERE – REMIND ME WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT? 
If Easter is associated with celebration and triumphal joy, Lent is more a season of soul-searching and spiritual discipline.
SPACE, TIME, CHANGE, REFLECTION: LENT AS IT SHOULD BE  
Lent is about being honest with ourselves, changing what needs to change in our lives, making our world a better place and growing into the Light.
LET YOUR INNER SHAKESPEARE GUIDE YOU THIS HOLY WEEK 
For a fresh appreciation of the Holy Week scripture readings, embrace your inner actor.
JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR ALL 
We must realize the grace of God is for all, and Jesus, the great high priest, sacrificed himself for all of us so that no one needs be left wanting God’s grace.
THE IGNATIAN WORKOUT FOR LENT RETREAT: HOLY WEEK 
Tim Muldoon invites us to reflect on trial and suffering.
STAY HERE WITH ME 
Rebecca Ruiz places herself in the Scripture passage the night Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.
ARTS & FAITH: LENT — GOOD FRIDAY IMAGINATIVE PRAYER EXERCISE 
Vinita Hampton Wright shares a prayer exercise inspired by Andrea Mantegna’s The Dead Christ (Lamentation of Christ).
LENT AT THE VATICAN MUSEUMS 
Every Friday during Lent, the Pope's Museums offer a unique, thematic itinerary, ranging from sarcophagi to the art of Caravaggio and Michelangelo, to meditate...
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