Embracing Lent: Reflections and Prayers for Spiritual Renewal

2. Introduction Lent is not so much a season of punishment as one of healing. There is joy in the salutary fasting and abstinence of Christians who eat and drink less in order that their minds may be more clear and receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God's word, which the whole Church announces and meditates upon in each day's liturgy throughout Lent ... In laying upon us the light cross of ashes, the Church desires to take off our shoulders all other heavy burdens - the crushing load of worry and obsessive guilt, the dead weight of our own self-love.

3. We should not take upon ourselves a "burden" of penance and stagger into Lent as if we were Atlas carrying the whole world on his shoulders ... Penance is conceived of by the Church less as a burden than as a liberation. It is only a burden to those who take it up unwillingly. Love makes it light and happy. - Inspired by the 20th century Benedictine monk, Fr. Thomas Merton

4. Let us Pray God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [Jn 3:16-17]

5. Prayer O God the Father, creator of heaven and earth. Have mercy on us. O God the Son, redeemer of the world. Have mercy on us. O God the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide, Have mercy on us.

6. Loving God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to us who have gone astray from your ways, and bring us again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ

7. Matthew 6:1-6,16-18 Concerning Almsgiving ‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

8. Matthew 6:1-6,16-18 Concerning Prayer ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

9. Matthew 6:1-6,16-18 Concerning Fasting ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

10. Talk / Reflection

11. Invitation to Observe a Lenten Discipline Brothers in Christ: Every year at Easter we celebrate with joy our redemption and renewal through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The season of lent is a time to prepare for this celebration and to make room in our lives for the Spirit of God to renew us in this mystery. We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ.

12. I invite you, therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ, to observe a holy Lent: By self-examination and penitence, By prayer and fasting, By practicing works of love, and By reading and reflecting on God’s Word. Let us begin our Lenten journey by repenting for our sins and seeking the forgiveness and new life that is promised to us in Christ Jesus.

13. Psalm 51 Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.Have mercy on me, O God,   according to your steadfast love;according to your abundant mercy   blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,   and cleanse me from my sin.

14. For I know my transgressions,   and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgement. Indeed, I was born guilty,   a sinner when my mother conceived me.

15. You desire truth in the inward being;   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness;   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins,   and blot out all my iniquities.

16. Create in me a clean heart, O God,   and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

17. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,   O God of my salvation,   and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. O Lord, open my lips,   and my mouth will declare your praise.

18. For you have no delight in sacrifice;   if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;   a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.