Spiritual Resources

Lenten Prayerful Resources

Lent comes providentially to awaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.

 – Pope Francis

Pope Francis said in his 2021 Lenten Message, Lent: A Time for Renewing Faith, Hope and Love, that “every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving. The call to experience Lent as a journey of conversion, prayer and sharing of our goods, helps us – as communities and as individuals – to revive the faith that comes from the living Christ, the hope inspired by the breath of the Holy Spirit and the love flowing from the merciful heart of the Father.”

The following are some online prayerful resources for your Lenten journey (Hyperlinks are bolded in purple) …

Looking for different ways to pray during Lent?  The Online Ministry of Creighton University offers both written and audio prayers and readings (as well as recipes for Ash Wednesday and Fridays) in Praying Lent.

Would you like a mediation sent to your inbox each day during Lent?  Consider  Steadfast – A Call to Love from Ignatian Solidarity Network, the Ignatian Guide to Lent from the Office of Ignatian Spirituality of Jesuits East, Lent Devotional from Georgetown University,  Return to Me from the College of the Holy Cross, and Living Lent Daily from Loyola Press.

If you would like a daily reflection sent to your inbox during Lent and throughout the year, consider Jesuit Prayer, a ministry of the Jesuit provinces, Sacred Space, a ministry of the Irish Jesuits, and  Pray As You Go, a ministry of the Jesuits of Britain.

From Ashes to Glory is a way of praying the Examen through Lent. Lunchtime Examen is a six-session series to review your day in the presence of God.

Here are several Lenten video reflections, including Almsgiving and Joy during Lent by Fr. Jim Martin,  Do a Little Life Laundry in Lent by Fr. Paul Brian Campbell,  Fasting and Abstinence During Lent by Fr. Richard Leonard, and Having a Friendship with God this Lent by Fr. William Barry.

Looking for something different to give up for Lent?  Consider joining in with Jesuit Refugee Services USA’s  400 Minutes 4 Refugees and give up ten minutes a day and dedicate it to standing in solidarity with refugees around the world.

 Would you like to pray the Stations of the Cross?  Pray with Jesuit Refugee Services’ Stations of the Cross to accompany Jesus on his journey and watch and pray over displaced people around the world.  The Way of the Cross features reflections being read aloud by the Jesuits of the Midwest Province.

Ignatian Spirituality is sponsoring a host of offerings that may be found here, including The Ignatian Guide to Forgiveness – Ten Steps for Healing, a Lenten read-along with Loyola Press, The Ignatian Prayer Adventure, an adaptive version of the Spiritual Exercises, and a series of articles including Discernment in Making Lenten Plans,  Where Have We Not Yet Surrendered our Lives to God, and  A Patient Lent.

Loyola Press also has a host of offerings for Lent that may be found here, including Living Lent Daily,  Online prayers and retreats, Arts and Faith for Lent, Perspectives on Lent,  Seven last words, and more.

The Office of Ignatian Spirituality, a ministry of the USA East Province of Jesuits, has compiled a list of Ignatian Resources for Lent, including a listing of both online and in-person retreats, the Ignatian Guide to Lent reflections sent to your inbox each morning, Stations of the Cross offered by the Jesuit Refugee Service, and the examen Ashes to Glory.

Heart to Heart is offering a free book for Lent, “Seeds of Hope – Stories for Lent.” You may sign up here to receive a daily video.

Provisions for the Journey to Jerusalem, by Elaine Ireland, IVC Baltimore Spiritual Director, offers daily Scripture reflections.

USCCB offers a Lenten 2021 Daily Calendar with Reflections

Best Lent Ever is being offered by The Dynamic Catholic Institute.

If you would like to attend a virtual retreat with others …

Ignatian Spirituality Denver is offering a five-week online retreat, Reconciliation: A Time for Hope and Healing beginning February 24.  Scroll down the calendar for registration details.

Jesuits of Central and Southwest Province will be offering a Lenten retreat, Encountering Jesus – Conversion of Heart from February 28 – March 6.  

St. John’s Church in Worcester, MA is having a Novena of Grace in Honor of St. Francis Xavier from March 4 – 12.

Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is offering Abide in His Heart, a Lenten retreat with talks on February 18, February 25 and March 4.

Sacred Space is offering a Lenten Retreat beginning Ash Wednesday.

The Office of Ignatian Spirituality has a list of in-person and online retreats.

The following is a list of resources that have been prepared that address the issues surrounding racism. Please feel free to share this list with others.

On Catholicism and Racism

• Pastoral Letter on Racism – Open Wide Our Hearts
• Study Guide for Open Wide Our Hearts
• Catholic Social Teaching and Racism
• Pope Francis and the US Bishops Respond to the Killing of George Floyd

Jesuit Resources

• Georgetown University – Dialogue with Archbishop Gregory on Racism in Our Streets and Structures
• Ignatian Solidarity Network – Faith in Action Responding to Racial Injustice, which includes links to information about webinars, recent articles, and reflections.
• Jesuit Social Research Institute – Racism, which includes links to information about recent articles and resources.

Prayerful Resources

• An Examen for Racism
• Discernment in Times of Injustice
• Prayers for Racial Justice and Reconciliation
• Pax Christi – Black Lives Matter: Pray, Study, Act
• Prayer Service for Racial Healing
• Prayer for the Elimination of Racism
• Prayer to Address the Sin of Racism

Books

• Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
• Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century, Dorothy Roberts
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander
• Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, Bryan N. Massingale
• When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-century America, Ira Katznelson
• The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America, Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, Robin DiAngelo
• Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty, Annelise Orleck
• America’s Original Sin, Jim Wallis

Here is a list of prayerful resources that have been prepared in response to the coronavirus. Please feel free to share this list with others.

If you are interested in prayerful resources related to Ignatian Spirituality ….

• Here is an Examen that was created in response to COVID-19.
• In addition to the Examen, the Ignatian Solidarity Network has created these Prayers and Resources in response to COVID-19.
• Here is a Meditation for the Anxious.
• Ignatian Spiritualty contains many prayerful resources, including Ignatian Wisdom for Troubled Times and, in addition to the Examen noted above, a Coronavirus response lesson for children in parishes and schools
• Pray As You Go has daily prayers by the Jesuits of Britain. Also now is Pray As You Stay, a weekly online retreat in response to COVID-19. There is also a library of Prayer Tools: the tool highlighted for this week is loneliness.
• Sacred Space is the prayer website for the Irish Jesuits, with a Reflection on the coronavirus.
• The Jesuit Prayer Team provides reflections on Scripture as well as short biographies on the “Blessed Among Us,” the ordinary people who led extraordinary lives who have gone before us
• God In All Things contains many prayerful resources, including an Audio Meditation on “Beloved.”
• Heart to Heart also contains a series of prayerful resources, including Practices for the Pandemic – The Sign of the Cross Mediation and Seeds of Hope Lenten Series.
• There is a Three Minute Retreat from Loyola Press.
• Do you like podcasts? Jesuit podcasts can be found at AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast and Jesuitical.
• Would you like to keep moving? Ignatian Yoga may be something for you.
• Here is a link to Practices for the Pandemic – Sign of the Cross presented by Fr. Michael Sparough, S.J.

Other prayerful resources

• Give Us This Day, a monthly publication of Scripture and reflections, is offering its digital version without charge.
• The Hallow app is a Catholic mediation app.
• Another podcast? Here is one from Inside the Vatican.
• Would you like to participating in liturgy electronically? Pope Francis’s Daily Mass from Casa Santa Marta and Bishop Barron’s Daily Mass are available, as well as Sunday Mass that are archived and livestreamed on Sunday in the Albany Diocese.
• Holy Week at Home prepared by Liturgical Press.

Would you prefer a prayer? Here are some.

• Prayer for Healing
• Prayer for Peace and Solidarity in a Time of the Pandemic.
• Pope’s Prayer to Mary
• Prayer for Conscience and Courage During Times of Public Struggle

Reflections about living during this time

• From Jim Martin, SJ, Faith in the Time of the Coronavirus
• From Simcha Fischer, Good and Beautiful Things I’ve Seen Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
• From Richard Rohr, OFM, Love Alone Overcomes Fear
• From Thomas Reese, Spirituality in a Time of Quarantine
• From Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Jesuits, What Part of the Path to God does COVID-19 show us?