AWAKE FROM YOUR SLUMBER – JUMP INTO LENT! 

We here in campus ministry would love to accompany you and/or simply share resources to enrich your Lenten Journey!  Peruse the resources below, explore whatever seems lifegiving, and leave the rest.  As always, reach out if we can be of assistance/accompaniment

Prayer

• Receive weekly prayers and reflections from Rockhurst University
• Visit the Jesuit Midwest Lenten Resource page.
• Join Deacon David Kiblinger, S.J., for The Vine and Branches, an online Lenten retreat sponsored by The Jesuit Post
• Receive daily messages from Fr. Joe Tetlow, S.J., in Living Lent Daily series inspired by Fr. Tetlow's book of prayers, You Have Called Me By Name
• Pray the Stations of the Cross using the Jesuit Refugee Service's 2022 Prayer Guide focusing on the impact of climate change on forced displacement. The guide is available in both English and Spanish.
• Subscribe to the University of Scranton's Lenten Daily Devotional and receive daily messages, scripture readings, and prayers written by a member of the University community.
• Subscribe to the Ignatian Solidarity Network's daily devotional, Harden Not Your Hearts: A Lenten Journey in Holy Frustration, with daily reflections written from writers across the Ignatian network
• Order A Sacred Space, a daily Lenten devotional a joint apostolate between the Irish Jesuits and Loyola Press

Lent Services and Events

• Join us for Ash Wednesday Mass on campus in Kansas City at the following times:
  • St. Francis Xavier - 7:30 a.m., Noon, 7 p.m.
  • Mabee Chapel - 4:30 p.m., 9 p.m.
• Lenten Ignatian Morning (VIRTUAL EVENT)
  • Saturday, March 5, 7:30 a.m. CT
• Denver Jesuit Alumni Network Annual Fish Fry
  • Friday, March 25, 6-8 p.m.
  • Arrupe Jesuit High School
• Palm Sunday Mass in St. Louis with the Rev. Thomas B. Curran, S.J..
  • Sunday, April 10, 10 a.m.
  • Saint Louis University High School

Guide to Fasting

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards. Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church (from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops).

In addition, Pope Francis has called for a global day of fasting and prayer for the people of Ukraine on Ash Wednesday, March 2nd. For thousands of years, prayer and fasting have been used "to remain" with people who are poor, suffering, or in peril.

Ideas for Giving Up Something For Lent

We often hear this question around this time of year, and many of us are still pondering what we should give up for Lent. Why do we give up something for Lent, and what's so wrong with meat that we are commanded to abstain from it? The answers are found in the ancient fasting practices of the Church, which have become more lenient through recent generations.

Technically, there is a difference between fasting, which pertains to the amount of food, and abstinence, which pertains to the type of food. Fasting, going without a meal or more, was an ancient practice of the Church, dating back to the time of Christ who said, "When the Bridegroom (Jesus) is taken away, then you shall fast." Early Christians applied this to Good Friday, when Christ died. An ancient Christian catechetical manual called the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", which may date to the first century, stipulates that Christians should fast every Friday, since it was the day on which Christ died, and catechumens who were preparing for baptism should fast a few days before they received that sacrament. Ancient Christians fasted on every Friday throughout the year and then as Lent originated as the final period of preparation for catechumens, they would fast throughout the forty days of Lent. These strict rules were gradually adapted, so that today we only fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Abstinence is not eating a particular type of food -- in this case meat. Why meat? Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with meat, but abstinence from meat was based on a play on words. "Flesh" (sarx in Biblical Greek) is the word St. Paul often used to describe our sensual nature that is prone to sin, our concupiscence. In Galatians, St. Paul says that the works of the flesh include things like: immorality, impurity, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, acts of selfishness, and drinking bouts. For ancient Christians, abstaining from "flesh" (meat) was symbolic of attempting to abstain from the works of the "flesh". Some theologians also gave another, perhaps more readily understood to modern Christians, reason for abstaining from meat: people and animals were created on the same "day" in the creation account. By not eating meat, we respect the lives of our fellow creatures and return to the diet of our first parents, who according to Genesis, did not eat meat. Abstaining from meat is thus a return to the original harmony in the world and a reminder to curb our own sinful desires. Until several generations ago, all Catholics were to abstain from meat through the forty days of Lent just as they did on every Friday! As these rules changed throughout the years, people began to choose what they would like to abstain from ("give up") during Lent.

So what does this mean for us today? The main value of fasting and abstinence is the meaning and reasons. Lent is not a diet. Giving up something for Lent also must be in conjunction with the two other disciplines of Lent: prayer and alms-giving (literally "works of mercy"). As we fast and abstain on Ash Wednesday, let us remember Christ's death and ask for God's grace so that were may deny the works of "the flesh". Let us live in harmony and respect our fellow creatures as we long to return to paradise, through Christ's death and resurrection. If you haven't chosen something to give up for Lent, here are some suggestions:

• Things that could be dangerous to your physical health: alcohol, junk food, sweets
• Things that take time away from your relationship with God and others: social media, binging on Netflix, gaming
• Things that harm Creation: using disposable items, wasting water or food, littering
• Things that are superfluous, the expense of which could be donated to the poor: going out to eat, "clubbing", going to the movies or concerts

The main thing to remember is that whatever you chose to give up for Lent, it should have a meaning, even if it is just symbolic of remembering Christ's ultimate sacrifice and trying to curb you own desires. When you combine this with prayer and helping the poor, you will have a "good" Lent (by John Paul Sala)