Lent – 2023
We enter Lent this year with what seems like a train moving at warp speed. We are in a state of whiplash, confusion, and sadness. Yet, Jesus invites us into this season with one hand held out to reach ours, walking on the foundation of His sacrificial love and the joy only life with Him can provide.
The beauty and dignity of our faith are under attack. Violence against churches, Catholic organizations, our fellow brothers and sisters, and the murder of one of our bishops. Yet, we move forward with the Love for Jesus, who as Bishop Dave said in his last homily, “Jesus is still in the world.” So, let us enter this Lent, resting in His healing Love, giving Christ our suffering, pain, and fear about the state of the Church today. In this year of the Eucharistic Revival, Let us rush towards the Eucharist this Lent. We cannot walk this Lent alone, let us walk together accepting Christ’s invitation to draw closer to Him, trusting in His goodness, knowing that He has overcome the darkness.
Check back each week to read a Sunday reflection on Christ’s invitations to us during this season.
Exploring the Pillars of Lent
Prayer
Each Lent, 3 things are asked of us. To pray, to fast, and to give alms. These three pillars aid us in walking the 40 days towards Easter, keeping us close to Christ.
Prayer: The raising of the heart and mind to God
This Lent, accept the invitation into greater prayer. This can be by adding a daily rosary or going to adoration once a week, or finding a minute every hour to say a quick prayer of Thanksgiving, for a need, and for someone you love. Dementia does not take away your ability to pray, in fact through your suffering and trials, you are united with Christ in a special way. Use those moments of struggle as a form of prayer by remembering Christ on the Cross, each time you feel you are in your darkest moment.
Resources for Prayer:
Hallow App @hallowapp
The Peace with Dementia Rosary by Matthew Estrade @dementiarosary – Book
Restore by Fr. John Burns – @avemariapress
Rediscover Lent by Matthew Kelly @dynamiccatholic – Book
Alms
Each Lent, we are guided by three pillars to draw us closer to Christ during these 40 days towards Easter.
Alms: Any material favor done to assist the needy, and prompted by charity
This Lent, accept the invitation into greater almsgiving. When we think of giving alms, our minds often focus on money. While giving of finances is of great importance, it is not only of money but of time and treasure as well that we are called to give. When we hear of the widow’s mite, we focus on the two coins given from need, not excess. It is equal in gift to give of your time and talent when you feel you have nothing left to give, when you don’t know what more you can do during your day. Our giving of alms can be an extra minute or two spent with a loved one. It can be doing the dishes for the household when you still have a long list of tasks to accomplish before your head can hit the pillow. It is taking a fellow parishioner’s Holy Hour because they cannot make it this week. It is donating a billable hour to someone in need of the services you provide. Think about areas where you can give alms this Lent from your finances, time, and talent. All are beautiful gifts. Give from your need, give from your excess, but make sure you are giving for the Glory of God.
Ideas to give of financial alms:
Your local diocese
Word on Fire – @wordonfire_catholicministries
GIVEN – @giveninstitute
For the building of the new SOLT – (@soltsisters) Motherhouse
Your parish
Loaves and Fishes – @loavesandfishesfv (or a similar food program)
Only you can determine your gifts of time and talent this Lent.
Fast
Each Lent, Christ extends His invitation to draw closer to Him throughout these 40 days by following 3 specific actions.
Fasting: Abstinence from food or drink.
This Lent, may we accept the invitation to fast. As Catholics, we are called to fast from meat on Ash Wednesday, Fridays, and Good Friday, and follow a general fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This is the simplest of fasting, and the Church does allow individuals due to age or other circumstances dispensation. If one can still follow these calls from the Church, it is a simple way to fast that is still worthy of recognizing. Depending on where we are in life and health, we may choose something else to fast from or select a more intense form of fasting. Do so with great discernment. It may not always be wise to fast from food, but how can you find other ways to fast this Lent?
Week by Week Reflections
In this first week of Lent, we hear about the devil tempting Jesus in the desert. In hearing this Gospel, we are reminded of the simple fact that when we are on the right path, heading toward the Father, that is when the enemy will attack. So we should take the temptations in our life as a sign that we are keeping our gaze towards heaven.
When we are living with dementia, our suffering can, from time to time, outweigh our strength. As people of faith, the enemy may use these moments, when you are feeling the greatest suffering to tempt you to let go of your faith, to cease prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. He may tell you that, “because of your dementia you don’t need to think about God.” This is a great lie used to pull you from the Father, one that we must call out and cast away not just in Lent, but always.
Christ’s invitation for greater holiness is not only extended to those who are without pain and suffering. In fact, through our suffering, we find holiness, and the greatest love we could ever know.
Accept Christ’s invitation this week and understand that the temptations of the enemy are not rooted in love or even kindness. For the evil one only cares about you when on the good and righteous path.
This Sunday’s gospel was about the Transfiguration. If there ever was a Gospel reading for us to hear right now, it is this one.
Jesus brings Peter, James, and John up to the mountain, where they are given the glory of the Transfiguration. The beauty of what is to come in the fullness of all God created. Peter wants to stay in this place, but Jesus reminds us that we must first go through the suffering of the cross before we can get to that glory. This is something we may not want to hear. That there will be suffering along this journey to the ultimate glory of eternal life in Heaven. When living with dementia, this disease can become a cross to carry. We feel the weight of it, and long for it to be taken away, longing for that glory promised to us. This is where Jesus also reveals himself to us. He shows us that we are sons and daughters of the Father, and that we can call upon Christ to walk with us in times of suffering. He reminds us that we are not alone on this journey towards the never-ending glory of eternal life.
During this season of Lent, let us remember to call upon Christ in times when the cross becomes unbearable, and let us see, in our family, friends, and the little joys of life the glory that is to come. Let us accept the Father’s invitation to carry our cross. Let us not see it as punishment but as a key to Heaven.
This Sunday’s Gospel is about the woman at the well. A woman who, because of her shame and an outcast in society, went to the well at an inconvenient time. Jesus, knowing this, approached her, spoke with her, and saw her.
In hearing this reading, I can’t help but make a comparison to those living with dementia in today’s world. For many, the reality is to live as an outcast in our society. In locked memory wings, or hidden away in care communities, living at home isolated from the rest of the world. As care partners, we find ourselves in our own version of life as an outcast on the receiving end of diminishing social invitations and pity statements of how hard our life must be.
We cannot change the reaction of others, if only we could. But, in moments of societally shame, stigma, fear, and misunderstanding, in times when we are reduced to a medical chart and a task list, Jesus sees us. He longs to engage in conversation with us. He knows us not as dementia, but by our name. Our role is to accept Christ’s invitation to see us as He sees us. To remember our worth, our beauty, and the goodness and joy that our life brings to those we love, and more importantly, to God.
This Sunday we celebrated Laetare Sunday. In the midst of Lent, we are reminded that we are an Easter People, that we are made for joy, and that we must rejoice for the goodness that is the Paschal Mystery. We are now on the downside of this season, and as I mentioned last week, there is still time to make this a great season, growing closer to Christ, through your “yes” to Christ’s invitation.
Just as the Church this Sunday has reminded us that we can find joy in darkness, so too can we find joy in the suffering of life with dementia. Speak to anyone who has been diagnosed and they will tell you that life is not 100% suffering. While yes there are moments of painful suffering, that life can still be filled with a joy that comes from life, which in turn has been given to us by God.
This week, woven into our Lenten practices, find moments where you can rejoice with extra light and Thanksgiving for God’s goodness, keeping your eyes towards Heaven. Just as Jesus cured the blind man this Sunday, He is right next to you, desiring for you to live in the fullness and beauty of this life, trusting in Him.
We are in the final week of Lent before Holy Week begins. While Lent remains until Holy Thursday, this past Sunday we get our first major sign that God is not only with us in death and grief, but He also is the victor over death.
This Sunday we hear about Jesus raising Lazarus from death after hearing he was sick and waiting 2 days before going to him. In a single Gospel reading, Jesus shows us how to live in friendship, sit with others in grief – even when we are also grieving, and that we are never abandoned in life or in death.
As we walk these final days, may we too accompany Jesus to his death on the cross, understanding that God is with us.
Yesterday, we celebrated Palm Sunday. On this day we see the full spectrum of how Jesus was welcomed and persecuted. We as Catholics can live this out in our day-to-day lives by how we live. We one moment can be praising Jesus, encouraged by His love, and the next we can be turning our backs on Him.
Let us live our lives in a way that represents that hymn we all sang, “All glory, laud and honor to you, Redeemer King.”
As we move through this Holy Week, let us take a moment each day to amplify the importance of Christ’s final days in our life. If Lent was not what you had hoped it would be, you still have time. If you want to shift how you are praying and fasting this week to better prepare your heart, do so. Christ’s Invitation to join Him on this Holy Week is there to help you love Him more.
Both a time of anticipation and quiet, we walk on this Tuesday of Holy Week, knowing that the Cross is near and with it suffering for our Lord greater than we could ever imagine. May we walk not in fear of the anticipation of that suffering. May we use this time wisely to pray with Jesus, to internalize the final lessons He has to share with us this Lent.
Referred to often as Spy Wednesday, we gain momentum towards the betrayal of Christ by Judas. We all know and have those Judas figures in our life, we at times may be that Judas for someone else. As we come to this final full day of Lent, may we ask for forgiveness when we have betrayed others, ourselves, and our Lord, and may we forgive those Judas figures in our life. May we enter the Triddum without the weight of unforgiven sins and betrayal.