This Lent journey with your Family of Faith at the Church of St. Peter
The season of Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday invites each of us to journey with Jesus as he makes his way to Jerusalem.
Journey is a good metaphor for the spiritual life and for the six weeks of Lent. This season offers us an opportunity to refresh and renew our spirits. Lent is short for lengthen, an old English word that reminds us that the days are getting longer, and the earth will soon be bursting with the new life of spring. The church offers us three paths to help make this journey toward Easter meaningful: fasting, almsgiving and prayer. The purpose of these Lenten practices is to soften our hearts and draw us closer to Jesus, to each other and to our sisters and brothers throughout the world.
Please consider the following opportunities to journey with other members of our parish family during this holy season:
Prayer: Beginning the first week of Lent consider joining a small group to listen to God’s word in the Sunday Scriptures for Lent and reflect on how that word speaks to you. These scripture sharing sessions will last about one hour beginning on the week of March 6 and continue for five weeks. We hope to offer Scripture sharing in person during the daylight hours as well as during the evenings. Times and exact dates will be set once all who are interested respond. Contact the parish office by phone or by email if you are interested in participating in a Lenten scripture sharing group and indicate whether you are interested in a daytime or evening meeting and if you would prefer an in person meeting or a ZOOM meeting.
Lent with Dorothy Day, Daily Reflections. Take a copy of this booklet and spend a few minutes each day of Lent reading, reflecting and praying on the words and life of this saintly woman.
Fasting: There are many ways to fast. The lenten prayer on fasting on feasting offers some creative ways to change during this holy season.
Almsgiving: There will be opportunities to share our abundance with the poor and vulnerable in our area by making a meal, purchasing needed household items as well as other projects which will be announced in the bulletin and on our website.
Our monthly collection of food and personal care items is another way to share our abundance with those who struggle to just get by.
The CRS rice bow collection also offers us an opportunity to eat more simply during Lent and donate the money we save on groceries to the poor of our world.
Fasting and Feasting- A lenten prayer
Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on trust.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on nonviolence.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal Truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.
Gentle God, during this season of fasting and feasting, gift us with your presence, so we can be a gift to others in carrying out your work. Amen. – William Arthur Ward
LENTEN ALMSGIVING/WORK OF MERCY OPPORTUNITY
Needed volunteers to make dinner for women and their children who are in a safe shelter. We will make a complete dinner including dessert and bring it to Wellspring. We will make arrangements to pick up the meal or let you know how you can drop it off at the parish office. If you are interested in being part of a team for this meal ministry contact Mike Coccoma at mcoccoma@gmail.com or leave a message for Deacon Ed at the parish office.
Needed volunteers to make dinner for women and their children who are in a safe shelter. We will make a complete dinner including dessert and bring it to Wellspring. We will make arrangements to pick up the meal or let you know how you can drop it off at the parish office. If you are interested in being part of a team for this meal ministry contact Mike Coccoma at mcoccoma@gmail.com or leave a message for Deacon Ed at the parish office.
Pray with Dorothy Day, Servant of God, this Lent
When Pope Francis addressed the US Congress in 2015 he offered his own praise for Dorothy Day. He said: "In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.”
Born in 1897 Dorothy Day did not grow up particularly religious, but she always felt an attraction to the divine. She wrote that in childhood she had been “haunted by God.” That haunting led her, as her eulogist Geoffrey Gneuhs said at her funeral, “to a life of simplicity and poverty with the poor, to solidarity with the outcasts.
During Lent we invite every family in the parish to take a copy of Lent with Dorothy Day, Daily Reflections. For each day of Lent, the booklet includes a short quote from Dorothy’s writings, brief background on her life and the life of the Catholic Worker movement which she founded with Peter Maurin, and a psalm prayer.
We hope that this journey with Dorothy Day may inspire and nourish us as pray, fast and offer works of mercy during this holy season of Lent.
When Pope Francis addressed the US Congress in 2015 he offered his own praise for Dorothy Day. He said: "In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.”
Born in 1897 Dorothy Day did not grow up particularly religious, but she always felt an attraction to the divine. She wrote that in childhood she had been “haunted by God.” That haunting led her, as her eulogist Geoffrey Gneuhs said at her funeral, “to a life of simplicity and poverty with the poor, to solidarity with the outcasts.
During Lent we invite every family in the parish to take a copy of Lent with Dorothy Day, Daily Reflections. For each day of Lent, the booklet includes a short quote from Dorothy’s writings, brief background on her life and the life of the Catholic Worker movement which she founded with Peter Maurin, and a psalm prayer.
We hope that this journey with Dorothy Day may inspire and nourish us as pray, fast and offer works of mercy during this holy season of Lent.