Walking Together Through Lent
- Notre Dame of Jerusalem
- 17 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Samantha Rivera
March 5th - Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center
We are currently living the liturgical season of Lent, the forty days of preparation that lead us to Holy Week and the celebration of the Resurrection. During this Lenten season, the Church encourages us to live almsgiving, fasting, and prayer more intensively.
There are many meaningful ways to live Lent in the Holy Land. We began Lent on Ash Wednesday with the imposition of ashes, together with our employees and the local Notre Dame community, followed by a visit to the Shroud Exhibit, a meaningful way to immerse ourselves in the mystery of these sacred days. For the past three years, the Shroud Exhibit has also hosted Lenten talks that help us deepen our prayer during this season. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem makes a traditional and solemn entrance into the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher on the first Saturday of Lent to mark the beginning of the season, and he celebrates a solemn Mass there on the Sundays of Lent. From the first Sunday of Lent through Palm Sunday, the Franciscans also hold a special vigil between Saturday night and Sunday morning, featuring a procession three times around the Edicule (the Tomb of Jesus). The Franciscans also pray the Way of the Cross every Friday at 3:00 PM along the Via Dolorosa. In the very places where the mysteries of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection took place, the Lenten journey acquires a particularly profound meaning. Religious communities organize talks, moments of prayer, and activities to make this a special time for reflection and for receiving the graces that come from living our faith together.
One of our Consecrated Women had the initiative of creating an activity to encourage the Notre Dame community to practice these virtues. At the back of the church, you will now find a wooden cross covered with ribbons: green, white, and purple, each corresponding to prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.
The main objective of this campaign is not to externally show that we are practicing these virtues, but rather to remind us that we are a community walking together in faith, and that every action inspired by God can help bring others closer to Him.
It has been beautiful to see how the cross gathers more and more ribbons each day. And now, during these times when fewer people are around us, every time I see this cross I pray for our local community, that these virtuous acts may become an offering to God for peace in the world.
May this cross continue to remind us throughout this Lenten season that our small acts of prayer, fasting, and charity, united to Christ, can become offerings of hope for our community and for the whole world, and help us look forward with hope to the joy of the Resurrection.
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