Month / February 2023

cross and crown of thorns
by Karen Twinem

Fridays in Lent

Adding the Stations of the Cross to your Lent routine allows God to vividly display what Jesus endured for us. During Lent, I add this to my lunchtime routine on Fridays. The prayer “Look Down Upon Me, Good and Gentle Jesus” is another good addition.

The Stations of the Cross developed out of a desire for Christians to walk “The Via Dolorosa” in Jerusalem, the route from Pontius Pilate’s praetorium to the cross. It’s popular in Western Christian traditions, including Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist.

In churches, 14 pictures or plaques are on the walls or on an outdoor walk that allow Christ followers to go from station to station. We stop at each station to pray and reflect.

This free PDF from the Diocese of Manchester takes you through the stations so you can do them at your desk or your kitchen table. The Archdiocese of Portland offers this PDF of the stations, with some preliminary prayers.

Stations of the Cross are available on YouTube. I particularly like this one, which is less than 15 minutes long.

When you only have a few seconds to yourself on Friday at noon, you can pray this:

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Your face I humbly kneel and with burning soul, pray and beseech You to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity your five most precious wounds, pondering over them within me and calling to mind the words that David, your prophet, said of you , my Jesus, “They have pierced My hands and feet, They have numbered all my bones.”

by Karen Twinem

Celebrate Ash Wednesday at Home

If you can’t attend church today, here’s an Ash Wednesday service you can do at home.

Write down a list of your sins. Burn the paper in a bowl or ashtray. Then pray: 

Let us ask our Heavenly Father to bless these ashes, which we will use as a mark of our repentance. Lord, bless these ashes. Wearing them reminds us that we are from the dust of the earth. Pardon our sins and keep us faithful to the resolutions that we have made for Lent. Help us to prepare well for the celebration of your Son's glorious resurrection.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Mark each person’s forehead in the sign of the cross saying, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”

Close with this prayer: 

Loving Father, today we start Lent. From today, we make a new start to be more loving and kind. Help us to show more concern for the less fortunate, the hungry and the poor. Help us to love you more and speak to you more often. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
by Karen Twinem

How Do You Want to Spend Lent?

Ash Wednesday is this week, so today is a good time to prepare our Lenten resolutions. I’ve used Lent to give up bad habits, but more often I take this time to create positive habits.

Think about how we can improve our prayer life, fasting and giving. Some families pick a charity and put their change into a bowl each day. Others give up eating out and give away the money they saved. My church took a recent pledge to not have cell phones at the dinner table. We can find many things to improve if we think and pray about it.

I also always have a Lenten reading program. In the past, I read a biography of a Christian I admired, a devotional and a general book about faith each Lent. Today it’s a lot more random. I just look at the bookshelves to see what I think would be helpful and inspiring.

Take some time today to figure out how you want to spend Lent. Your resolutions can be positive and prayerful. May you have a blessed Lent.

by Karen Twinem

Try Scripture as a Breath Prayer

Breath prayer is an important part of my Christian mindfulness practice. That’s common. The Christian breath prayer is a supercharged mantrum: the repetition of a word or phrase repeated in conjunction with a breath to center the mind on the presence of God.

I have used the phrase “Come, Holy Spirit” frequently during the day for more than 20 years. I inhale on the word “Come” and exhale on “Holy Spirit.” I plan to continue that practice for the rest of my life, but there are times when I could use another phrase.

Some Christians use short pieces of Scripture in breath prayer, and I see an advantage to this. I’ve found several ideas on Christian websites. For example, a piece written by Joe Iovino for the United Methodist Church website nicely summarizes various ways to expand our prayer lives, including using breath prayer. As he says,”The Holy Spirit is as near as the air we breathe.”

The mennoniteusa.org website offers a pdf on breath prayers with good ideas for using breath prayer. Two are different from anything I’ve seen before:

  • Confessional Breath Prayers: Exhaling, you breathe out a confession of a personal failing or worry. Inhaling, you breathe in an assurance of God’s love. An example that they give is: (exhaling) I breathe out worry. (inhaling): Grant me your peace.
  • Breath Prayers for the World: In this style, we exhale as we live up the sins of the world. We inhale as we breathe out corrections, such as “I am the hands and feet of God in the world.” The corrections are about love and justice. One example from me: (exhaling) I lift up all the suffering in Ukraine. (inhaling) May you bring peace and justice.

Finding Answers

Finally, the website Soul Shepherding talks about breath prayers as a way to “deal with stress, overcome anxiety and be more effective in ministry to others.” The author, Bill Gaultiere, offers more information in his book “Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke.” He recommends using Bible verses in breath prayers.

One of Gaultiere’s suggestions that I love is asking God a question first. Then do a breath prayer to “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

You can find Bible verses that meet your needs in “The Bible Promise Book,” which has verses organized by topic. Any other source that presents Bible verses for various situations could work as well.

The breath prayer is an important tool in Christian mindfulness. Using the Lord’s own words can expand its use.