Lent Is A Time Of Prayer, Fasting And Almsgiving
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and OPENS the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Rev. 3:20
This year’s theme is Open
I invite you to Open your hearts, your hands, yourselves to God in Prayer. God is a God of love who comes to our table as a companion, a compassionate lover. Take time to be with God through Jesus Christ and his mother, Mary.
This Ash Wednesday and during this time of the 40 days of Lent,
we will focus on PRAYER
“What is prayer?” I like to quote St. Teresa of Avila, who described prayer as “a loving conversation with the one who I know loves me.” It’s a love-talk with God. Each week, you can focus your prayer on one of the following themes which will lead you to fasting and almsgiving.
1. Hope: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”—Romans 12:12
2. Life: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
3. Love: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”—John 15:12
4. Joy: “Happy are they who make the Lord their trust.” Psalm 40:4
5. Faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”—Hebrews 11:1
6. Perseverance: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”—Philippians 4:13
7. Resurrection: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
I offer you the following Litanies taken from Dan Schutte’s Lenten Retreat
FASTING AND FEASTING
Let us fast from judging others and feast on the Christ that dwells in them.
Let us fast from anger and feast on patience.
Let us fast from resentment and feast on forgiveness.
Let us fast from discouragement and feast on hope.
Let us fast from lies and feast on God’s truth.
Let us fast from wasting time and feast on the holiness of work.
Let us fast from gossip and feast on holy silence.
Let us fast from shame and feast on the mercy of God.
Let us fast from prejudice and feast on our kinship in Christ.
Let us fast from selfishness and feast on generosity.
Let us fast from worry and feast on the story of God’s care.
Let us fast from gloom and feast on the beauty that surrounds us.
Let us fast from busyness and feast on cherishing every moment.
(Dan Schutte, Lenten Retreat)
A Lenten Devotional on the Theme of OPEN can be found at
“Tearfund.ca Lenten Devotional 2023.”