Embedded Files
The Lenten Season as a “School of Compassion” Praying the Invitations of Lent: Vulnerability, Solidarity, and Companionship
Suggested Scripture Passages:
Please read these passages slowly and prayerfully. You may also imagine the Gospel scene of Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
Ezekiel 36, 25-27: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Matthew 26, 36-41: 36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Invitation to Vulnerability
How are you invited to "show up" (being present, not avoiding or numbing out, doing what matters) amidst pain, hunger, fear, uncertainty? • How does “showing up” help you grow in empathy?
Invitation to Solidarity
Who were those who showed willingness to enter into your "chaos"? What did they impart? What can you learn from them? • What gestures of mercy are you invited to embody to those around you?
Invitation to Companionship
How are you experiencing God accompanying you at this time? • How do you sense the Lord's invitation to "stay with him" ?
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