Celebrating Lent – Living the Canticle

During this year’s Lent and Holy Week we will reflect on ways to respond to the cry of those who are poor. The Sisters of St. Francis have chosen Goal Two: Response to the Cry of the Poor as our congregational focus for Year Three of the Laudato Sí Action Platform. The Response to the Cry of the Poor is “a call to promote eco-justice, aware that we are called to defend human life from conception to death, and all forms of life on Earth. Actions could include projects to promote solidarity, with special attention given to vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities, refugees, migrants, and children at risk.” https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/ 

Using various resources and daily themes—Migrant Mondays (immigrants/migrants), Truth Tuesday (racism), Water Wednesday (water insecurity), Tranquil Thursday (non-violence), Food Friday (food insecurity), Shelter Saturday (homelessness), and Sacred Sunday (spiritual)—we will invite you to consider a suggested intention, action, or learning opportunity. As we journey together this Lenten season, may we make conscious choices to respond to the cry of those who are poor.

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Join us this Lent by downloading a copy of our Lenten calendar and following along.  Click here to download the PDF.

Environment:

Bible, crucifix, candle, dead twigs

Hymn Suggestions:

Again We Keep This Solemn Feast (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
Amazing Grace (NEW BRITAIN)
Attende Domine (Chant)
Be Not Afraid (Dufford)
Change Our Hearts (Cooney)
Hosea (Weston Priory)
Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days (ST. FLAVIAN)
On Eagle’s Wings (Joncas)
Praise to You, O Christ Our Savior (Farrell)
Loving and Forgiving (Soper)
Remember Your Love (Dameans)
Shelter Me, O God (Hurd)
The Glory of These Forty Days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (IN BABILONE)
You Are Near (Schutte)

Introduction:

Lent should bring us to stand before God on our own two feet. We meet God and we meet ourselves. The weeks of Lent are not a time for fluff, for shallow prayer or vague dreams of holiness. They are a time for change in the depths of one’s spirit. The task is so serious that when Lent has ended one’s life can never be the same again.

Excerpted from These Forty Days – Lenten Exercises. Rev. John P. Henry, © 1988 Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN. www.avemariapress.com. Used with permission.

Prayer:

Eternal Father, we gather to be united with you as we strive to share in the passion and death of your beloved Son, Jesus. In our weakness we ask you to strengthen and guide us to live these days of Lent with the universal church. We ask you this through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Hymn: Choose one from the list above or another Lenten hymn.

Reading: 2 Corinthians 4: 8-10

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be make visible in our bodies.

Reading 2: The acting out of love to the extent of dying on a cross is a mystery I have never been fully able to grasp. My limited ability to love stands embarrassed at such extravagance. My daily attempt to carry Jesus’ dying around in my body also falls short of my dreams. I carry my crosses carefully, trying to make sure they don’t take too much out of me.

Seasons of Your Heart. Macrina Wiederkedr, OSB. Copyright © 1991. Harper Collins Publisher, New York, NY.

(Pause for reflection.)

Psalm 51
Response: Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness,
in your great tenderness wipe away my faults;
wash me clean of my guilt,
purify me from my sin. — R/

For I am well aware of my faults,
I have my sin constantly in mind,
having sinned against none other than you,
having done what you regard as wrong. — R/

God, create a clean heart in me,
put into me a new and constant spirit,
do not banish me from your presence,
do not deprive me of your holy spirit. — R/

Be my savior again, renew my joy,
keep my spirit steady and willing;
and I shall teach transgressors the way to you,
and to you the sinners will return.. — R/

Psalm is reprinted from Psalms Anew by Nancy Schreck, OSF and Maureen Leach, OSF, © 1984 The Sisters of St. Francis, Dubuque, Iowa. Used with permission.

Intercessions:
Leader: We offer our prayers to our compassionate Father in Jesus’ name.

For all the members of the Church, called to fervent prayer and penance during this holy season, we pray…

For peace throughout the world, we pray…

For those who are poor and unemployed, we pray…

For those who need forgiveness and those who need to move toward reconciliation, we pray…

For all of us to fast from that which is keeping us from hearing God’s voice in our lives, we pray…

Leader: Compassionate God, we trust that you hear our prayers and that you will grant us your mercy..

Our Father

Closing Prayer:
Loving God, these weeks of Lent have caused us to reflect upon the passion and death of our Lord. May we also remember his victory over death. This we ask in his name. Amen.

Sign of Peace

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.