Lent 2024
Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine’s Day fall on the same day
Sometimes the Church Year runs up against other desires and needs. Every Lent we have the Feast of St. Patrick, which most of us know will not be a fast day or even a Day of Special Devotion (observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial). We’ve always been impressed by the wisdom of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York as he offers dispensation from the Lenten observation.
Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine’s Day fall on the same day this year. Of course, you can invite your love to attend Mass and receive the ashes before that special dinner.
Okay, all that was our weird sense of humor.
What do I do?
The point of this article is – what do I do if I don’t have a Lenten program lined up? Yes, that’s almost as bad as forgetting to arrange for a box of chocolates on the 14th.
So, to the rescue – regarding Lent not the chocolates – comes our latest book Nothing so Contagious as Holiness: Developmental Initiatives for Increased Parish Vitality Grounded in Spiritual Practice. The book has several “off the shelf” programs you could use. We’ll mention two.
A One-Session Spiritual Life Assessment
“This is a one-session spiritual reflection. You can facilitate a group as individuals explore how their current spiritual discipline is working? Does your practice need some adjustment? A change in the time for Morning Prayer? A way to combine walking or gardening with serious reflection? They’ll review their existing rule of life and make changes. This is an especially useful exercise to use pre-Lent.”
In Your Holy Spirit: Five Session Spiritual Assessment
“This can be used as a Lenten Program, a form of Newcomers’ Orientation, and a regular offering in the parish as an introduction to spiritual life. Each session is about 1.5 hours long. Designs assume participants have read the associated chapter from In Your Holy Spirit prior to attending the session.” Participants can get the book through Amazon rather quickly – Kindle or paperback.
Sister Michelle and Brother Robert
On the Feast of Lydia, Dorcas, Phoebe:
Co-Workers With The Apostles