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A Guide For Your Lenten Journey: Don’t Miss Out on Our Faith Formation Opportunities
Last year’s Lenten activities in our parish may have been hampered due to the pandemic, but this year we can experience our Lenten journey in-person and/or online at our parish.
Fr. John is looking forward to in-person Lenten events, as well as being able to celebrate the Easter Triduum in-person. However, there will be opportunities for those wishing to take part in the activities online, as well.
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The biggest challenge last year was that Lent had a different look. However, while we as a parish missed being together, the time spent at home enabled many of us to grow in our relationship with God.
“Lent is supposed to be a time to slow down and reflect, a time to prepare our hearts for the Paschal mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ so someday we can live with Him in eternity,” Fr. John says. “Even though we missed being together in many ways, we were forced to pull away from society. This allowed us to grow closer to God and be able to reflect on what is important in our lives. Many were grieving, and reflecting on that, we had an incredible time of intimacy with the Lord.”
Other changes came from this experience, especially for our Youth Group meeting time. It had been held on Sunday evening, but it became apparent that Sunday evening became “family night.”
“It became family night for so many and that’s what it’s supposed to be,” Fr. John says. “So we moved Youth Group to Wednesday night and it has continued. So there was a loss last year, a real loss, but it allowed us to grow in intimacy and relationship to God.”
This year, there will be a community penance service, March 16 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
“People are very responsive to it,” Fr. John says. “In Advent, we had four priests during a two-hour window. We had Adoration at the same time so everyone could pray before the Lord. It was a blessed time and so many got the sacrament and came to pray. This is our plan again for Lent.”
There also will be increased opportunities for confessions on Sundays and Wednesdays.
“The Sacrament of Reconciliation is important in Lent,” Fr. John says. “I hope our people will take advantage of the Grace received through it.”
Our parish will also be promoting FORMED.org, which is free for our parishioners, and will offer several activities for families to help in their Lenten journey. If you haven’t signed up for FORMED, call the office for the code designated for our parish”.
There also is a free three-day conference available online from Feb. 11-13, titled, The Word 2021 International Catholic Bible Summit. Speakers will include Fr. Mike Schmitz, Mark Hart, Scott Hahn, and Chris Stefanick, among others.
“We will be promoting this so those interested can sign up,” Fr. John says. “If someone wants to hear a particular topic or a speaker, they can do it.”
Other activities that families can do at home during Lent include writing cards to homebound parishioners, or choosing a homebound person for prayer.
“We worked with our school kids and the religious education classes last year, and they were writing cards to homebound parishioners,” Fr. John says.
The Stations of the Cross will take place in-person with social distancing each Friday during Lent, with Holy Hour from 6-7 p.m., and the Stations at 7 p.m. The Spanish Stations will be at 8 p.m.
Last year, Stations of the Cross were conducted online, and are still available to pray.
There also are plans for a Lenten retreat to be held online and in the church.
“It is so important to be able to gather as much as we can,” Fr. John says. “But we do have the technology to do it online, and do Facebook livestream and we plan to continue offering that.”
