Ready, Set ... Lent

We begin Lent this Wednesday with the celebration of the Eucharist and the Imposition of Ashes. Once again we will be reminded of the three pillars of the Lenten journey: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Most of us will set some spiritual goals for the season with the hope of arriving at Easter with a better understanding of the central mystery of Christ’s death and rising.

Prayer is at the core of our Lenten journey and we have in the parish community a very effective school of prayer. The long tradition of the Church offers Lent as a time when the community prays together. Of special importance is the celebration of Sunday Eucharist during the season. As we celebrate we learn how to pray at the same time. The penitential purple, the rituals, the music, the proclamation of the Word of God, and the sharing in the death-rising of the Lord around the Lord’s Table invite us to a deeper experience of God’s presence with us.

Once again this Lent, as in seasons past, the parish community here at Christ the Redeemer will be invited to celebrate, to pray, to meditate at the beginning of each Sunday Eucharist. Within this time of guided meditation, we have the opportunity to learn the ways and methods of prayerful meditation.

Before We Start...
A good question as we engage in these meditations before Mass is “why?” Traditionally, we have learned that prayer is the raising of our minds and hearts to God. This time before Mass is to assist us to do just that – to come into God’s presence with greater awareness and intensity. This reflection time prepares our hearts to better hear, receive, and celebrate God’s Word among us.

A second reason, and one no less important, is to school us in the ways of prayer for our Lenten journey. Often we are invited to prayer, but often enough, we are unaware of the ways of prayer and techniques which could help us. Like the disciples in the gospel, we often ask the Lord: “Teach us to pray." Hopefully, what we learn in the liturgical Assembly can be taken home with us for personal and family prayer and meditation.

The Invitation
God invites us to prayer and meditation. It is a gift. As the words of a Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer expresses so well, prayer is a gift. The Preface prays: “O God, you have no need of our prayer, but our desire to praise you is itself a gift to us.” Prayer is God speaking and showing himself to us. Primarily, the invitation to prayer comes in God’s Word within the faith community. Ultimately, the definitive Word of God is Christ himself who makes himself known to us in meditative and contemplative prayer.

The meditations before the Eucharist are centered on the Word of God for that particular Sunday. What is the Word? What is God saying to us? Within that context, what is God saying to us personally? Parts of the Word are shared and then we wait in silence for God to speak further to us and to be nourished by God's Word.

Silence
Our experience of the scriptures is very often that we hear the Word with our own agenda. Not infrequently, we hear the Word as we would have God speak to us. Silence offers the opportunity to stop our talking, our prayers, and our concerns and wait and listen. In the stillness, God will direct our understanding and our hearing. The Word fashions us, rather than our fashioning of the Word to our hearing.

Before We Arrive at Church
We need to prepare for this community prayer experience. Before coming to Mass, read and pray over the assigned scriptures of the Sunday. One source of these citations is our parish bulletin. Check the citations, find them in the Bible, and then set out to read and pray them at home.

When We Get Here
Plan on arriving early (not just on time, and certainly not late). Gather yourself and your family both physically and spiritually. Remember the presence of God within the Church. The prelude music will assist you in this centering and focusing.

1. Before the music begins, invite the action of God in your heart and mind. Seated or kneeling,be aware of your surroundings – the people, the sounds, and motion.

2. During the music, close your eyes, sit or kneel erect, and be mindful of your body, your breathing. Begin to enter within yourself.

3. As the meditation is read, listen to the words and note the rhythm of the thematic. Pause and be silent as those moments come.

4. Silence takes practice. Let it happen. It is more than the absence of words. With time, it becomes a presence, actually the presence of the Lord with us. The Father is with us in Christ. We are within the mystery of God.

5. Slowly as directed, re-enter the community and celebrate the presence that has been God’s gift to each one within the community.

The Context of Prayer
If you should arrive late, respect the prayer that is happening. Reflect that this is a special time of relationship with God. On a practical level:

1. Do not be seated, but pray where you are.

2. Respect the intensity of the experience. Do not take your seat, do not disturb other praying people. Do not climb or bump people already in their seats.

3. As the meditation period concludes and the celebration begins, take your seat.

Lent is a prayerful season. Prayer takes attention and work. Within prayer and meditation, we patiently await the action of the Father. Prayer is a gift. The community is a gift. Each person is a gift. In all of them we find Christ with us.

CDH