Lent is a yearly renewal program. A reminder to live out our baptismal call more fully. This is a time for introspective mediation. A time of letting go. A time of opening one’s heart in generosity. The hallmarks of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are opportunities to examine our thoughts and actions, and in doing so we are drawn together as people of faith. Even in today’s busy world and the uncertainty of life in a pandemic, Lent can call us to seek new ways of living and being.
Again we keep this solemn fast
A gift of faith from ages past,
This Lent which binds us lovingly
To faith and hope and charity.
More sparing, therefore, let us make
The words we speak, the food we take,
Our sleep, our laughter, every sense;
Learn peace through holy penitence.
We pray, O blessed Three in One,
Our God while endless ages run,
That this, our Lent of forty days,
May bring us growth and give you praise.
Text: Ex more docti mystico; attributed to Gregory the Great, c. 540–604, translated by Peter J. Scagnelli, ©1975, WLP. All rights reserved. Reprinted under One License A-703698.
Lynn Lemberger
Director of Worship & Music