Lent in 2025 begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5 and ends on Holy Thursday, April 17. This period covers 40 days of prayer, fasting, and reflection, excluding Sundays.  (Except for three Year A Sundays that some Parishes may require.)

 This page is updated weekly with brief Reflections and Provisions by Elaine Ireland, Author of our Come and See page, for each day of the Lenten season.

Ash Wednesday, March 5: “Rend your hearts, not your garments” (Jl 2:12-18).

Kriah, Hebrew for “tearing,” is the ancient ritual of tearing one’s garments to show grief. It is first recorded in Genesis when Jacob (Israel) tears his clothes upon hearing of Joseph’s assumed death (37:34). It is used as a sign of grief, a reaction to blasphemy, atonement for sin, or as a sign of rejection of another. Modern Jews still pin a small piece of torn fabric to their clothes when grieving a loved one; some still tear their clothes but do so while standing as a sign of strength and trust in God. God asks us here to rend our hearts but is not asking us to take on more pain. Instead, rending our hearts is about opening ourselves up to God’s grace and mercy.

Provision: PRAY to rend your heart this Lent. This is something we don’t like to do. We don’t want to be vulnerable, especially now when people in power are preying on those who are seen as weak. Consider though, these words from Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol: “And every human heart that breaks, in prison-cell or yard ▪ Is as that broken box that gave its treasure to the Lord ▪ And filled the unclean leper's house with the scent of costliest nard. ▪▪ Ah! Happy they whose hearts can break and peace of pardon win! ▪ How else may man make straight his plan and cleanse his soul from sin? ▪ How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in? ▪  Allow the Lord Christ to enter in.

Thursday, March 6: “Choose life, then…by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him”
(Dt 30:15-20).

“Holding fast” to something suggests an anxious or important situation. (I remember fishing with my dad. He would say, “hold fast” to the fishing rod! I don’t recall ever losing one, but that might have more to do with me not hooking many fish!) In Sanskrit, “satyagraha,” a word coined by Gandhi for his peaceful resistance movement, translates loosely into insistence on or holding firmly to TRUTH. I think this is what Moses says to the Israelites. Hold fast to your faith, to God’s commandments. It was essential to their happiness; it is essential to ours. But we need not do so with anxiety. Although at times, we might feel we are holding onto God for dear life, it is in the letting go of our dear life (both metaphorically and someday, literally) we can experience the peace and happiness found in heeding God’s voice.

Provision: Holding FAST to Faith. Ok, so it’s not the same definition of “fast” …or then again, maybe it is. In the gospel, Jesus talks about losing our lives (or souls, in Greek) so as to save ourselves. We fast from relying solely on ourselves and our own will. We deny ourselves, accept what is given to us each day, and follow Jesus in his path of peaceful resistance. Hold fast to faith today, and fast from following the typical path of least resistance.
 

Friday, March 7: “Is not this the fast I choose—to unlock the shackles of wickedness, and loosen the bonds of the yoke, to set the downtrodden free?...Yes, to offer your bread to the hungry and bring the wretched poor into your house…and [your fellow human being] do not ignore” (Is 58:1-9, Hebrew translation).

“These lines against social injustice may reflect…the dire state of Judahite society in the early fifth century, B.C. E... [but] exploitation of the poor and indifference to suffering are prevalent in virtually all societies, including affluent twenty-first century America. That is precisely what imparts a sense of timeless relevance to this prophecy” (The Hebrew Bible, Vol 2, by Robert Alter, pp.816-817).

Provision: PRAY with the Book of Isaiah. It’s a lot to read. Sixty-six chapters, so two a day would take you almost to Holy Week. There is some whiplash involved, so quickly does the prophet move from the people’s abject sinfulness to God’s unconditional love. Read it reflectively, not as history, but as how it applies to us today.
 

Saturday, March 8: “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, "restorer of ruined homesteads” (Is 58:9-14).

I can’t think of another descriptor that we would want to strive for than “repairer of the breach.” But what is the breach to which Isaiah refers? Given the context, I can see the argument that the breach is between the people and God, but I can also see that it could as easily be the breach within the community. When the people extend help to their neighbors in need, they mend the breach with God.

Provision: ACT to repair and restore. One of the challenges of repairing breaches, building bridges, and restoring homesteads is you need two sides to work together. Often, there can be more than two sides which really complicates things, and these varying sides can be at odds. This happens between nations and within communities and families. Identify a breach that is causing you pain or a ruined “homestead” that might be rebuilt. See if you can FAST from any resentment or anger you feel. PRAY for courage. GIVE it a go and ACT. Take the first step to extend a hand and begin the work. (As I write this, we pray for Pope Francis and his full recovery. May God grant him strength and healing.)