As Christians worldwide prepare to mark the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday tomorrow, Catholic churches, charities and other organisations are offering a wide range of resources to help with prayer, meditation and charitable giving during the annual season of penitence and reflection.
Cafod is offering daily Lent emails of prayer and reflection which can be used individually or in a parish setting. Cafod is also inviting people to sign up to walk 200k throughout Lent to fight global poverty. Already, nearly £30,000 has been raised with more than 1,000 donations made to those who have committed to “the Big Lent Walk”.
Pax Christi has an interactive Lenten calendar with 40 days of reflection and renewal ending on 24 March with resources to inspire contemplation on themes such as peacebuilding, nonviolence and ecological justice. Tomorrow, Pax Christi will process through Liverpool city centre in a vigil of repentance for possession of nuclear weapons, and for peace. “We will pray to disarm our own hearts and we will also express our repentance for our collective responsibility in creating and accumulating weapons which have the capacity to destroy civilisation,” Pax Christi said.
Christian Aid has teamed up with other agencies and is offering an “Act on Poverty” Lent course.
Jesuits in Britain have several options to “journey through Lent” with daily meditations based on the writings of Pope Francis, with prayer material for each day of Lent including music, images and scripture. The prayer material for each day is available at the Ignatian Spirituality Centre, Glasgow. To follow as a group, the centre is offering online places as well as option to attend online prayer on Wednesday evenings. The London Jesuit Centre is also offering an online group for this retreat.
St Vincent de Paul Society (England and Wales) launched their school’s campaign for Lent 2024 called Make Poverty a Priority, alongside a group of Mini Vinnies from St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School in Watford.
The SVP Lenten campaign aims to get young people to think about those who have power or can influence change on the issues of poverty that the children care about. They are encouraged to think about examples of people, such as celebrities, MPs, the council, shop managers and others, who are either in a position to make changes, or can raise their awareness and use their voice for those living with any kind of poverty.
Mini Vinnies are the primary school age members of the SVP and currently, there are 443 active Mini Vinnie groups in England and Wales, as well as 121 youth SVP groups and SVP affiliated secondary schools.
Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund launch its annual “wee box, big change” appeal, which raises funds for its work in Africa, Asia and Latin America, focussing this year on the people of Rwanda.
Pact has prepared a Stations of the Cross liturgy that includes words from those who have lived experience of the criminal justice system and where former prisoners reflect on moments from their time in prison and their life afterward.
Missio, the Pope’s chosen charity for mission, has produced new Lenten resources for adults and children to help and encourage people to make space for God this Lent, including a Lenten planner and a Lenten guide. Missio’s weekly Mission Rosarywill focus on prayers for much-needed peace in areas torn apart by war and conflict. “Lent is the perfect time to deepen or reconnect with our faith and our church communities,” said Missio.
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