Tag / Lent

demonstrates inner peace
by Karen Twinem

Living Today Quietly, Easily

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

"Lord, help me to live this day, quietly, easily.
To lean upon Thy great strength, trustfully, restfully.
To wait for the unfolding of Thy will, patiently, serenely.
To meet others, peacefully, joyously.
To face tomorrow, confidently, courageously." 

- Francis of Assisi





This beautiful prayer from Francis of Assisi pairs well with advice from another of my favorite saints, Francis de Sales.

He urges us to not look forward in fear to what life is bringing. Rather, he suggests we look forward in hope, living as quietly and easily as Francis of Assisi suggested.

Francis de Sales points out that we belong to God. He will lead us safely through all things. When we cannot go on, God will pick us up and carry us through.

He cautions us not to fear what will happen. Worrying is useless, as Jesus often points out. God loves us. He will take care of us today and tomorrow.

Suffering is a natural part of life on Earth. Jesus told us we will have trouble on this Earth. But in life with him, we will have joy and peace.

That means that God will either shield us from suffering. Or he will give us “unfailing strength,” as Francis de Sales says, to bear it.

The end result is that we make the decision to be at peace. We decide to put aside anxious thoughts and imaginations, as Francis de Sales says.

When we love God with all our mind, we focus on him as the day and night go by.

This can be simple. Perhaps you recall the last Bible story you read. Or you think about a challenging point from last week’s sermon. Or you sing a worship song and really mean it.

I have Bible verses and perpetual calendars with inspirational sayings throughout my house. There are never far away. I read one when I reheat my coffee in the microwave, for example.

I also read the Bible as often as I have food. And I practice fixed hour prayer, stopping to pray at daybreak, 10 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and bedtime. Just these short breaks … often only five minutes … keep me close to God.

We cannot live today, quietly, easily, without God’s help. Lift your spirit up to Him on a continual basis. You will be shocked as how easy He can make your day.

displays likes and hearts from social media
by Karen Twinem

Be a Force for Good on Social Media During Lent

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Giving up social media for Lent? While that can be helpful, there’s a more positive goal: Resolve to be a force for good online. After all, the biggest problems on social media are the participants.

Yes, social media is problematic. Studies continue to determine social media’s impact on children and teenagers. Yet the level of usage continues to grow as this 2025 Pew Research Center report shows.

Still, 71% of adults use Facebook alone. That’s because, for adults, social media has benefits, including global connectivity. You interact with people you would not otherwise know. Even more commonly, social media connects you to far-flung family, friends and former co-workers. If you are intentional on social media for Lent, you are a force for good with all these people. How? By offering support, compassion, inspiration and laughter.

Your content and the ways you connect make all the difference. A book on habits, “Your Fully Charged Life” by Meaghan B. Murphy, suggests a strategy I find every interesting. She believes the best approach for positive use of social media is to behave as you do in real life.

That means to connect, just as you do when you talk in person or on the phone. Comment on the posts of your friends and family. Compliment a parent on their kids. Be intentional about what you post. This allows you to bring a laugh or an inspirational thought to others. And to thank those who inspire you.

To do that, you have to remember what Mother said: Be careful who your friends are. You can use mute features to stop getting posts from people who are habitually negative or offensive. The most selective you are about who you follow, the more likely it is that you will find fellowship.

The same goes for businesses, not-for-profits and organization. Keep it as local as you can. Give positive feedback when you can. If you have a podcast that has made your life better, support it on Patreon.

Think it Through

Be good to yourself (and others) by thinking about what you are writing online. This is also a “real-life” behavior. Too many people feel that the relative anonymity gives them license to be obnoxious and cruel. Before I speak, I want to ask myself: Is this true? Is this kind? That is how I act at a conference table. It should be how I act on my phone.

It’s also good to have a purpose for your social media accounts. The purposes for mine are:

  • Facebook and Instagram: I use these platforms to connect with family, friends and former colleagues. I try to respect the privacy of my adult children and grandchild. I also use the platforms to talk about caregiving, helping people with mental illness and practicing Christian mindfulness. Finally, I use it to make people laugh.
  • X, BlueSky and LinkedIn: I use these platforms to promote mental health advocacy, Christian mindfulness and laughter.
  • Goodreads: I use this to record and review the books I read. I also share book info with friends.
  • Pinterest: I do put some material from this blog and from other sources on my “From God’s Lips” board. The other boards contain information, recipes and pictures I want to keep.

Every post must meet these criteria. There’s no room for unsubstantiated or iffy information, political fights, vulgarity or hate speech on my social media. That is, when I do it right.

Try creating your own purposes for social media. It’s what the pros … which I used to be … do.

You also have to think about what time limits you set on your social media use. I personally do not look at social media during the day, only after dinner. This gives me more peace of mind. (Remember: Your grandparents and parents waited for the evening news to find out what was happening in the world. And they did fine. If your neighborhood is on fire, you will hear the sirens.)

Being more intentional about your presence on line can bring more faith, hope and love into your life. If you try it, I’d love to hear your results.

picture of Jesus
by Karen Twinem

Abiding in Jesus Eliminates Anxiety

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4-5 New International Version (NIV)

Abiding in Jesus ends worry. So how can we remain in Jesus, as other translations say?

Brian Hedges on Christianity.com wrote:  “I believe three things are implied: connection, dependence, and continuance. Don’t think of these as three successive steps, but as three interwoven aspects of abiding.” 

1. Connection

A branch is connected to the vine, and a vine to the branch. This is what theologians call “union with Christ.” This union (or connection) is mutual.

2. Dependence

While the branch and vine are connected, the branch is depends on the vine. The vine is not dependent on the branch. The branch derives its life and power from the vine. As John 15:4-5 says, we are dependent on Jesus for everything that counts as spiritual fruit. Apart from him, we can do nothing.

3. Continuance

Abiding also involves continuance. “Abide” in Greek (meno) means remain, stay, or continue.

How Can This Become Reality Rather Than a DREAM?

I believe the first step is to practice the presence of God.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to You.

James 4:8

Become increasingly aware of God’s presence. This requires developing habits that allow you to feel more connected, dependent and constant in Him. The Bible calls this abiding or walking in the Spirit.

This is something that I have been working on for about 20 years.  At first, it takes trust in God’s power and discipline on my part.  Eventually it becomes easier and easier. God worked with me (even an anxious mess like me!!) to develop an increasingly undivided heart toward Him.

And, as it says in Psalm 16:11, “In your presence, there is fullness of joy.” Joy in the presence of pain and suffering is, indeed, a gift from God.

Do you want more of God in your life? Or does that thought frighten you? We are all in different places. If you’re scared, that’s OK. God loves you. Let me introduce you to a person who abided in God so completely that we still talk about it 400 years later.

Meet Brother Lawrence

Nicholas Herman, born around 1610 in Lorraine, was one of the best-known Christians who practiced the presence of God. Lorraine was then a Duchy of France. A parish priest named Lawrence educated Nicholas, who became well read and very interested in a life with God.

Nicholas fought as a soldier in the Thirty Years War. He sustained a near-fatal injury that left him disabled. He was in chronic pain for the rest of his life.

At mid-life, he entered a newly established monastery in Paris. There, he took the name Brother Lawrence and became the cook for the community. The community grew to over 100 members. After 15 years, his duties changed. He worked in the sandal repair shop. Even then, he often returned to the busy kitchen to help out.

While repairing sandals or working in the kitchen, Brother Lawrence discovered and then followed a pure, uncomplicated way to walk continually in God’s presence. For some 40 years, he lived and walked with God at his side.

After his death, some of his letters were collected. Joseph de Beaufort, representative and counsel to the local archbishop, first published the letters in a small pamphlet. The following year, de Beaufort released a second publication. He titled it ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’. In this work, he included the content of four conversations he had with Brother Lawrence as introductory material.

In this small book, Brother Lawrence explains how to continually walk with God. His direct approach to living in God’s presence is as practical today as it was 400 years ago.

Start With Continual Conversation

De Beaufort wrote:

Brother Lawrence related that we should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s Presence by continually conversing with Him. It was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries. We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God, which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.

He said we ought to quicken and enliven our faith. It was lamentable we had so little. Instead of taking faith for the rule of their conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions which changed daily. He said that faith was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of perfection. We ought to give ourselves up to God with regard both to things temporal and spiritual and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will. Whether God led us by suffering or by consolation all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.

So do you have any “trivial devotions that change daily?” Do you think about “trifles and fooleries?” Yes. Me, too.

Brother Lawrence’s life also reflects the Benedictine tradition of ora et labora … work while praying and pray while working.

We have a disadvantage over Brother Lawrence in that we live in a loud time.  Many Christians, we try to combat that through quiet in the morning and perhaps quiet time at night.  But the world often wins during the day. 

The Holy Spirit Works Through Habits

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 New International Version (NIV)

When we become Christians, we receive the Holy Spirit who is with us all the time.  We can trust God to help us build habits that make us more aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit. These habits keep us connected to God.  This is not just for the extremely devout, but can be accomplished by all of us.  What we do need is faith.

There are many ways to draw near God.  Each individual can find the best way for them among many different habits. You might be drawn to one or more of these things.  The goal is not the habit, but to commune with God on a more consistent basis.

Walking in God’s presence has been absolutely essential for me to live with joy and peace under the difficult circumstances of having loved ones with mental illness and all that comes from this. I put my habits into a routine called a Rule of Life. I call this Christian mindfulness.

Kenneth Boa wrote a book called “Life in the Presence of God: Practices for Living in Light of Eternity.”   He also has created a free PDF with many exercises and habits to help you. You can find it here.

Boa notes that we must trust God’s work through the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. No book or training guide can get us there, only God.

Here are some of the exercises:

The name of Jesus

Repeat Jesus’ name or some other short phrase, such as “Come Holy Spirit,” to yourself when you are walking, standing in line, waiting and so on.  It also helps to say it when you are in bed going to sleep. 

The thank you walk

When you feel upset or stressed, go for a quick walk.  Thank God for the good things you see around you:  the sky, the clouds, the grass, the flowers. 

The gratitude journal

Record what you’re grateful for in the following categories:

The glory of God’s creation: ____________________________

A material blessing: __________________________________

A relational blessing (someone in your life): _______________

A spiritual blessing: __________________________________

Cards with a Bible verse

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This one is a good start.  As other verses speak to you about God’s presence, write them down on cards as well.  You can rotate, and hopefully, memorize these verses to use to connect to God.

Flash prayers

Select situations when you will do a flash prayer, such as:

  • Upon waking
  • While sitting down for a meal/eating
  • Before making or answering a phone call (at work or home)
  • While sitting in traffic at a red light
  • While waiting in a line
  • When lying in bed about to fall asleep
  • Other: _________________________________

Flash Prayer Examples:

  • May I love and serve you and others today.
  • This is the day the God has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.
  • I thank you in all things.
  • I love you, Lord.
  • By your grace, Lord
  • Where would I be without You, Lord?
  • Unite my heart to fear Your name.
  • Other: _________________________________

Seeing God in Encounters

For each person you meet:

  • Assume God is working in that person somehow.
  • Ask yourself, “Is there some way I can share the love or presence of Christ with this person?”

Practicing this with everyone you meet may feel too overwhelming. So start this exercise with category of people: family members, colleagues at work, those who serve you (e.g., waiters/waitresses, cashiers, salespeople, or postal workers), or anyone you meet for the first time.

Imagine how attractive Christianity would be if we were all joyful and at peace with God all the time. Jesus wants us to abide in Him. And we can.

Jesus can help this worried woman
by Karen Twinem

Living in the Present: Jesus’ Teachings on Worry

In Matthew 6:34, Jesus of Nazareth gives some strong commands about worrying. This verse impacts me in multiple versions of Scripture.

Revised Standard: “Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”

NIV: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The Message: “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

WORRY IS NOT FROM GOD

What situations cause you to obsess about the past or worry about the future? For me, seeing someone I love suffer from mental illness is extremely painful. The nature of the illness is that symptoms come and go unpredictably. I never know what today brings. I tend to obsess over the past with “what ifs” or “if onlys” as well as to dread the future.

No matter the cause of our worry, it is never from God.

Jesus commands us not to worry. To help that happen, he says we only need to think about one day: today. In reality, none of us knows what today will bring. But we know, from Jesus, that we can expect trouble in this life.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Allen Hill, in a 2009 commencement address to the seminary, said we actually can expect trouble every day. His rule: “Expect it. Accept it. Address it. Forget it.” Refusing to worry gives us additional strength to do this.

Give Your Entire Attention to what God is doing now

Therese of Lisieux said her sole concern was to carry out the will of God as it was revealed to her second to second. “I just keep concentrating on the present moment. I forget the past and preserve myself from worries about the future,” she wrote.

Two related spiritual disciplines cultivate this ability: recollection (meeting God within yourself) and the practice of the presence of God. These practices are what I mean by the term Christian mindfulness.

Recollection is also called centering down. Below is one simple method:

  • Sit still in a quiet place.
  • Hold your palms down on your lap.
  • Offer up all your thoughts and anxieties.
  • Turn your palms up once your mind is calmer.
  • Receive peace from God.

The practice of the presence of God cultivates alertness to God at all times. You relate to His constant presence through brief acts of recognition and prayer. This allows each activity in your life to be an opportunity to meet God. How?

  • Focus on one activity at a time.
  • Invite God into this activity.
  • Love the person in front of you.
  • Express gratitude to God when the activity is done.

Isn’t Mindfulness Buddhist?

Much talk about mindfulness comes from a Buddhist slant. It has a different philosophical foundation and a different goal from the Christian form. Some Buddhist techniques can be transferable to a Christian with the extremely important addition of focus on God.

Buddhists look at the moment. Christians look at God in the moment.

The present moment is the only place where you can meet God. So we must give up fantasies, impossible dreams, “what ifs” and “if onlys” in favor of living in the present.

Christian mindfulness sees every moment, every person and every activity as an opportunity to meet God. To do this, we must be “all there” in the moment, giving love to God and people.

My guardrails in this practice are a vibrant spiritual life and a commitment to God’s will. I am a structured person. So I keep lists of things I feel God wants me to do in my station in life. (Retired writer, wife, mother of an adult child with schizophrenia, mother and mother-in-law to my other kids, small group leader, and, best of all, Grandma!) Then I do the next right thing, as my husband says.

Christian Mindfulness Can Eliminate worry

“For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7 says.

Worry comes from a spirit of fear. It is often is a response to stress. Biomedical literature suggests that individuals are more likely to have a stress response if they:

  • Feel they have little control over stressors or are chronically disempowered.
  • Feels they do not have predictive information about how long or how intense the stressful situation will be.
  • Do not have many outlets to vent frustration.
  • Do not have adequate social support for any confinement caused by stressors.

Christian mindfulness reduces the stress response. Being fully present empowers people to take small steps and create real changes to their external environment. So the brain has less opportunity to build scenarios and forecast troubled times ahead.

Inviting God into every situation from brushing your teeth to having that tough conversation with your teenager changes everything. God helps you deal with whatever happens when the time comes.

PRaying the Scripture eases chronic worry

Praying the Scriptures is another spiritual discipline that eases worry. I often pray in the first person, reading the Scripture and saying “I” for “you” or “we.” Here are prayers from three Scriptures, for example.

  • Based on Philippians 4: 6-7: God, whatever today brings, help me not to worry about anything, but in all my prayers to ask You for what I need. Help me to always ask with a thankful heart. And please send your peace, which is far beyond my understanding, to keep my heart and mind safe in union with Jesus.
  • Based on Ephesians 3: 19-21: Help me to come to know your love, even though it can never be fully known. Help me to be completely filled with the Holy Spirit, your very nature. To You, who by means of Your power working in me, are able to do much more than I can ever ask for, or even think of. To You be the glory.
  • Based on Matthew 6:34: “Therefore I will not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

This keeps the mind busy translating the Scripture into prayer. And it brings peace. God will help you with whatever bad thing is stuck in your worried mind. Just concentrate on his presence.

by Karen Twinem

Grow in the Lord (and Dump Anxiety) During Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Today is a good time to think about how you would like Lent to change you this year. Many of us need help with anxiety, for example. We’d focus on ways to help with that on this blog during Lent.

Every Lent, I always do a reading program. You also can consider the ways you can make changes to your patterns of in prayer, fasting and generosity.

Once you, under God’s guidance (of course), develop your program, having an Ash Wednesday service is always useful. If your church does not celebrate Ash Wednesday, here’s a 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. 

Next time, some recommendations for releasing anxiety to the Lord.  We've talked about this during the election.
by Karen Twinem

Spend Good Friday With Jesus

Spend Good Friday with Jesus. He appreciates your company. You can spend the time doing these things:

Fast. Perhaps eat some soup for lunch.

Visit the Stations of Cross. This step-by-step remembrance of Jesus’ journey to death is found in most Catholic churches and in many others, too. If you can’t go visit one, you can watch one on YouTube.

Light a candle. Begin at noon.

Pray. Go before the Lord as you consider your own sins that He is carrying as He dies. Seek His forgiveness and His peace.

Read the story. “A Harmony of the Gospels” , available in a variety of translations and formats, aligns all four of Jesus’ eyewitness biographies to take you through the day … and through His life.

Meditate. Think about the sentences Jesus spoke from the cross.

  • Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
  • Today you shall be with me in paradise.
  • Woman, behold your son! Behold, your mother!
  • My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
  • I thirst.
  • It is finished.
  • Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

Blow out the candle at 3 p.m.

Attend a Good Friday service at your church of choice.

Your presence with Jesus makes Him happy. Just imagine that.

by Karen Twinem

Experience Awe This Lent

Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of Him.

Psalm 33:8

Experiencing awe while in the presence of God is in decline as a Christian practice. Some Christians address God as a friend, a buddy or even a sweetheart. Casual prayers dominate small group meetings. “Oh hi, God. How’s it going?” More liturgical churches quote the words, but have lost the meaning. So why not deliberately experience awe this Lent.

I define awe as “reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” Awe is similar to “fear of the Lord.” Scripture commands us to experience God with awe. And, no surprise, awe also is important for human emotional health.

According to a 2018 white paper that the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley prepared for the John Templeton Foundation, experiencing awe is, yes, awesome. The experience often puts people in a self-transcendent state where they focus less on themselves and feel more like a part of a larger whole.

The study found that the individualistic culture of the United States impacts how Americans experience awe. Research by Dr. Michael Amster (co-author of “The Power of Awe“) found Americans less likely than most cultures to have those experiences at all. And, when they do, they are more likely to experience awe over personal accomplishments, the white paper reports.

People who are extraverted, open to new experiences, and/or wise more likely experience awe. It can also come over us during threat-based experiences, such as the September 11th attacks or the eureka moments like the Earthrise photo taken by an astronaut in 1968 showing Earth from the moon’s perspective for the first time. Other awe-inspiring things:

  • Moral acts of courage and bravery
  • Beauty in art, music and nature
  • Collective experiences that become euphoric
  • Observation of birth or death

And, of course, awe comes from religious experiences.

A Famous Awe Experience

I recently read “Man’s Search for Meaning” by psychiatrist and Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl. I was struck by his description of an awe experience that took place shortly after he was liberated from a concentration camp. So were the authors of the white paper, who included it in their work.

Frankl wrote: “One day, a few days after the liberation, I walked through the country past flowering meadows, for miles and miles, toward the market town near the camp. Larks rose to the sky and I could hear their joyous song. There was no one to be seen for miles around; there was nothing but the wide earth and sky and the larks’ jubilation and freedom of space. I stopped, looked around and up to the sky – then I went down on my knees. At that moment there was very little I knew of myself or of the world – I had but one sentence in mind – always the same: ‘I called to the Lord from my narrow prison and He answered me in the freedom of space.’

“How long I knelt there and repeated this sentence memory can no longer recall. But I know that on that day, in that hour, my new life started.” (pg. 89, Beacon Press edition)

Dacher Keltner, PhD, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, developed more recent research, which he wrote about in a book “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder.” As reported in the September 2023 issue of Real Simple magazine, he and his colleagues found that awe is very good for you. It results in:

  • Improved concentration
  • More rigorous thinking
  • Better community connection
  • Relief of depression and anxiety
  • Less inflammation in our bodies

Transformative awe produces lasting changes in people. More than 20 percent said the experience changed their connection with God, the white paper said. Awe also created a small-self effect, humility and a sense of connection with other people. Studies also show an inverse relationship between awe and materialism.

Ways To Increase Awe in Your Life

I’ve found that increasing the level of awe in my life helps to build my relationship with God. I learn more about the reality of God, which changes my own reality.

Keltner had suggestions for increasing the level of awe in our lives. I’m amending those ideas for Christians who already practice the presence of God using mindfulness and contemplation. For us, God is everywhere … from nature to music, from wisdom to morality. We can incorporate any of these ideas into our rules of life to bring in more opportunities for awe.

  • Volunteer your time to help others.
  • Listen to praise music as you get ready each morning.
  • Explore the psalms and other Scripture glorifying God through fixed hour prayer.
  • Enjoy walking meditation or forest bathing (Keltner calls it an awe walk).

Keitner’s team also prescribed “microdosing mindfulness.” As many of us practice mindfulness on a near-continual basis, this should be easy. We just do as we always do.

  • Pay complete attention to what you see or do.
  • Invite God into the situation.
  • Love the people in front of you.
  • Praise God for His awesomeness in the situation.

Because awe is in decline in many church experiences, we can create our own moments of awe. With our help, we may be able to spread this attitude of reverence back to our Christian community.

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.