Don't wait for Ash Wednesday (February 17) to plan a spiritual renewal for Lent. Our parish will host many opportunities for prayer and reflection and the Diocese will be announcing others. Watch our bulletin and this blog for specifics.
Of course the primary focus of our prayer should be Sunday worship, and if you are not consistent with faithful attendance at mass, no doubt about it, that should be a priority during Lent.
Wednesdays at Holy Cross offer another rich opportunity for communal worship. Morning mass with chanted morning prayer is followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until noon at which time the Blessed Sacrament is reposed and mass in the Extraordinary form is prayed. After mass, the Blessed Sacrament is again exposed for veneration until Evening Prayer at 5 PM. During Lent, there will be Adult Faith Formation sessions at 7 PM, this year using the Pope's reflections on the Church Fathers as a focal point for discussing theology, prayer and church history.
Remember that our church is open for prayer and visitation 24 hours / 7 days. Stopping for prayer on the way to work or on the way home, even for a few minutes or a quick visit during the day is a simple, but concrete way to enhance our prayerfulness during Lent. So many of us drive by the Church one or more times a day, if a brief stop is not possible, it is surely feasible to pray a short prayer or nod our head in reverence each time we pass the church.
