I am challenged by the TITLE of our Lenten theme. Admittedly, I am terrible at time. I am terrible with time. I cannot remember when I was ever able to” make” time. I am just so much “in the moment”, ALL the time, even measuring it is impossible. “Mea Culpa…” Ok, that said, let me begin by sharing just a few recent tools for this beautiful space in time the church calls Lent.

This season, from the edge of winter to the edge of spring is indeed a time of heightened awareness for all of us. Lent is a season! Its special practices nurture our growth; they fertilize a heightened awareness of God’s Grace in our lives. Yet In many ways Lent 2021 seems as though we’ve been in it forever. The desert dryness in our ability to move freely in the world, and the solitude that COVID-19 has required have already provided us with the opportunity to deeply search our hearts and hopes, our strengths and our weaknesses, and our many temptations. The Daily news has opened our eyes to witness the extreme poverty, and suffering of all of God’s creation, not just matters here at home. All these realities evoke our response to temptation especially in the Lenten season. Fr. Michael calls our temptations “The Three P’s: Power, Pleasure, Possessions” He calls their antidotes, Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving, which are the particular practices of the Lent. For me, those practices this year have included setting aside a place to just be present to God, and to listen to the invitations each new day brings. Even with the scourge of COVID-19, there have been many opportunities to embrace new ways to practice all three. I’d like to share with you three.

First:   Attending Mass via ZOOM. I can go anytime anywhere – and that is a delight. To be candid, I have not been to Mass at my parish in person since the first Sunday of March, 2020. I’m so thankful that ZOOM makes MASS possible - everywhere from Blessed Sacrament, to Crozet Baptist Church, to Fr. Jim Curran’s parish in Norfolk, or with Fr. Rush at Holy Cross in Lynchburg, and some weekdays I’ve even been with Fr. Dan at Church of the Incarnation. It is beautiful to be able able to attend Mass with pastors I have worked for and with. My personal prayer is deeply enriched with the dancing fingers of Jean DePiro in Crozet - and in her return to ministry in the Catholic Church. My heart rejoices ecumenically in thanksgiving for that Baptist Church who so generously makes their space available for the emerging Catholic Community to gather each Sunday afternoon. What a gift they offer – and not just for Lent. Even though I’m not able to receive bread or wine, blessed and consecrated therein, I have each time received Eucharist! You might find that surprising, yet each time, every time I am present to that community of believers, each time my ears hear the Word proclaimed, see the bread blessed, and hear the words of institution, I am enabled by God’s Grace to receive. So many beautiful moments have occurred during Communion, for my body and my soul, I could write a book..(Ask me later and I’ll share, maybeJ). I am incredibly thankful to have the opportunity for Liturgy even via flat screen. I hope even when we are able to attend in person, sharing Word and Sacrament, songs of praise and signs of peacethat the streaming tradition continues- especially for those who are homebound, unable to be present. I haven’t yet been cleared to attend Mass in person with others, but I have been in the church, mostly by myself, walking in quiet, doing the stations, making up my own prayers as I go to each one. I always pause in gratitude at station #8, that this ancient devotion in all our churches contains one whole station dedicated to Jesus’ encounter with women. I think of being there in that scene, especially thankful for his gaze. (Note: for the last few decades every Catholic Church I’ve entered in America, and in Europe if I had my camera or cell phone, I take a picture of Station #8 – AND the Paschal Candle).

Second:  Attending Fr. Jim Martin’s weekly scripture study has been a life saver for this whole time of COVID. He began a daily scripture sharing via his Facebook page last March. It was a wonderful time to hear and discuss the daily Gospel texts, at 2pm each day. I began to actually mark time, the 2 o’clock hour, even when I didn’t know the day of the week. For months the 2pm time frame found me listening, and engaging in chats with that community and Fr. Jim. In the fall he was only able to offer the Faith Sharing on Fridays, and still it was such a positive part of the whole week. More recently Fr. Jim has offered a chapter-by-chapter review of his new book, Learning to Pray, and he has changed the time to 4PM. I mention this because all of these resources are still available on his Facebook page, and are well worth the time. His book, Learning to Pray, is my favorite new resource. I highly recommend it for all. Every chapter has new insights of the gifts prayer brings to our lives and the depths of relationship with God that personal intentional prayer builds. Much of Fr. Michael’s, Prayer and Temperament, I have recalled as I read. All of the chapters I will read again. And again, each has its own gentle grace. Learning to Pray is my number One recommendation, not just for Lent, but for the next 3 months! It has 18 Chapters, and each one is priceless. “Everything I’ve ever learned about Prayer”, this wonderful Jesuit Priest has poured forth on its pages. Each chapter is a perfect way to spend an hour – growing in faith and love; experiencing God’s love in return. It is not about Mass - or communal prayer - rather, its chapters only look at “personal or private prayer….the time you spend on your own with God” (p11). Learning to Pray describes many different types of prayer, traditional to contemporary, personal practices, stories, and exercises, but always with the reader’s intention to develop a deeper one on one relationship with God. This book might be the best investment in intentional prayer ever, one that will bring you back to its pages again and again. Like Fr. Michael’s mantra, “an hour a day, a day a month, a week a year” comes to mind. Ok, on to tool number three.

Third:    My most favorite prayer to ponder this Lenten season is by Pope Francis (Fratelli Tutti, Oct 2020).

An Ecumenical Christian Prayer - Pope Francis

    O God, Trinity of love, from the profound communion of your divine life, pour out upon us a torrent of fraternal love. (brother and sisterly love) Grant us the love reflected in the actions of Jesus, in his family of Nazareth, and in the early Christian community.

    Grant that we Christians may live the Gospel, discovering Christ in each human being, recognizing him crucified in the sufferings of the abandoned and forgotten of our world, and risen in each brother or sister who makes a new start.

    Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty, reflected in all the peoples of the earth, so that we may discover anew that all are important and all are necessary, different faces of the one humanity that God so loves. Amen.

Isn’t that beautiful? Everybody is included. As we draw ever closer to the blessings of Holy Week and Easter, I hope that this beautiful prayer finds its way into your daily prayer; that the footsteps of Jesus come to mind, as he encountered people wherever they were, and offered each his response. One of the treasures Fr. Michael most often shared with me on retreat was his avid encouragement to spend time with God’s Word. “Soak yourself in the Gospels; Let them come to Life in your life.” He often taught the process of Lectio Divina calling this ancient prayer form, “The 4 R’s: Read, Reflect, Respond, Rest”. Fr. Jim Martin has a wonderful set of 4 questions describing the same process in Learning to Pray. Applying these 4R’s is equally applicable, I think, to Pope Francis’ prayer above.

I love the prayer, and I hope it inspires you too, and that our Prayermay rise to include all people, and that our Fasting be from things that really matter, and that our Almsgiving be for those who have need of all we are able to share. Amen.

And De Colores, In Christ, Jesus! – Patty Huffman