Lenten Mission at Home

This Lent is the one-year mark of the pandemic and we’re inviting parishioners to reflect more deeply on how the pandemic has affected each of us and our community, and how God might invite us during Lent into a deeper life with Christ. Each Monday morning during Lent, we will share on our website and social media a short video, reflection questions, and an action item meant to help us bring our experience during the pandemic to God in light of each Sunday’s Gospel.

Check this page every Monday to find each week's "mission." Fill out the form below if you have any questions or comments, or would like to speak or pray with someone about your experience during the pandemic.

Week 6 - Palm Sunday and Holy Week

Deacon Felipe speaks to us about Palm Sunday and the upcoming Easter Triduum. In this video he explains how Jesus is calling us to actively participate in the events leading up to His burial. We are invited to sit with and contemplate how we are active participants in Christ’s death on the cross but then allow ourselves to be surprised by God’s greater love and mercy.

Questions

Sit down, pray and reflect with these questions. Write in a journal, talk with a loved one, or be in quiet on your own.

• What am I afraid that Jesus might be asking me this week this Holy Week? What is it in me that's still afraid of a change that Jesus is asking me to make in my own life? What is the thing I still need to reflect on that wants to reject Jesus?
• What sin, what death, what darkness am I dealing with that I need to hand over to Jesus to let it die on the cross with him? Do I have confidence that Jesus will take away that darkness from my life and put it to death on his cross?
• What resurrection am I waiting for? What is dead in my life that needs to be transformed?

Actions

• What can I do each day this Holy Week to show my own submission to Christ? To show that Jesus is the King of my heart and the King of my day?
• Sit in silence in prayer and imagine what it would have been like to sit with the two Marys as they saw the tomb close. Sit with them and talk about what you just experienced, what just happened, in the drama and trauma of what happened. What is God telling you?

Week 5 - The Raising of Lazarus

Fr. Karl talks about how death can lead to new life through Christ. Drawing on the story of Lazarus, we reflect on how God wants us to experience the new life of the Resurrection here and now.

Questions

Sit down, pray and reflect with these questions. Write in a journal, talk with a loved one, or be in quiet on your own.

• What sorts of death have you experienced in this last year?  Has God brought new life out of those losses, or are you still waiting?
• Do you believe, like Martha, that God’s glory can be manifest even in the midst of tragedy and loss?
• What in your life is Jesus asking you to lay down so that you might experience the newness of the Resurrection?

Actions

• Give up something this week that does not correspond to God’s life.
• Reach out to us with a comment: As you envision the future, where do you need new life, and how can your parish help?  Where does our parish need new life, and is there a way you can help? Fill out this form to tell St. Ignatius about it, or email us, call the office, or write us a letter. We want and need to hear from you.

Week 4 - The Man Born Blind

As we reach the half-way point of Lent (and hopefully the pandemic), we look to the future with the Man Born Blind. By giving him sight, Jesus gives him a new outlook on life, opening him up to new possibilities, to a new future. How has the pandemic opened our eyes up to new possibilities?

Questions

Sit down, pray and reflect with these questions. Write in a journal, talk with a loved one, or be in quiet on your own.

• How are you like the man born blind? How are you like the Pharisees?
• What are your “blind spots”? Where might you still live in darkness that you need to invite Jesus, the light of the world?
• What were you blind to before but now you see because of the pandemic?
• How has the pandemic opened up your eyes to what the future should be like for you, your family, and our St. Ignatius parish community? How might you be personally involved?

Action

Take a walk outside and keep your senses tuned for anything new. Try to notice whatever newness you see, and name it as something new. When you return to your home, write down a list of new possibilities for yourself, your immediate community of friends or family, and your St. Ignatius parish community. Talk to someone about it. Fill out this form to tell St. Ignatius about it, or email us, call the office, or write us a letter. We want and need to hear from you.

Week 3 - The Woman at the Well

This third week of Lent, we begin a series of Gospel passages focused on conversion. Called the Scrutinies, these stories are chosen specifically for people in RCIA who are preparing for baptism. This week, we hear the story of the Woman at the Well. In the back-and-forth between the Samaritan woman and Jesus, she goes along her own journey of faith and finds out that the things she thirsts for will never satisfy. For what do we thirst? How might we thirst for the wrong water? How might Jesus be seeking us and inviting us into a fuller life with Christ?

Questions

Sit down, pray and reflect with these questions. Write in a journal, talk with a loved one, or be in quiet on your own.

• Why did you come to St. Ignatius? Why did/have you stayed?
• The woman at the well had a thirst. What do you thirst for on your Lenten journey? What do you thirst for in your life after Lent is over?
• How do you feel when someone confronts you about your life or sinfulness as Jesus did the woman? How can you grow from this?
• Have you ever used or practiced an Examination of Conscience? (If not take a look at one - see examples below.) What was that experience like? Does it move you to make a Confession?

Action

Pray with an examination of conscience (see links below). If possible, find a time to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent. At St. Ignatius, we offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation every Wednesday from 6-7 p.m., and Saturday mornings after 8 a.m. Mass (approximately 8:35 a.m.).

Examinations of Conscience Examples

• Based on the Scrutiny Gospels during Lent
• A Variety of Examinations from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
• A video examination of conscience from Ascension Press

Week 2 - The Transfiguration

In the second video of St. Ignatius Lenten Mission at Home, we look at The Transfiguration. The apostles were terrified but Peter also said, "It is good that we are here!" After they leave the mountain, they're different somehow. Have we experienced anything similar during the pandemic? How have we changed during the past year? What needs to be brought to Jesus for transformation or healing?

Questions

Sit down, pray and reflect with these questions. Write in a journal, talk with a loved one, or be in quiet on your own.

• Have you considered that this past year might be an invitation to encounter Jesus? Or do you feel like you have encountered Jesus in a different way throughout this last year?
• What ways do you feel changed following this past year personally and spiritually?
• Have you expressed gratitude for the past year? Take some time to thank God for the ways you have seen His hand in these experiences you have identified and acknowledge the hope that lies within them.

Action

Bring the list of wounds that you wrote down last week to the foot of the cross. There's a secure box in the back of the narthex of the church next to a cross. As you place your list of wounds into the box, you may pray using your own words or the words below.

You can perform this action at your house. Using a cross at your home, place a cup or bowl underneath the cross, or beside the cross if it is on or near a table. Place your list of wounds in the vessel and pray using your own words or the words of a simple two sentence prayer:

Jesus, I unite my suffering during the pandemic to your suffering on the Cross. Allow me the grace to carry my cross and my wounds with love so I may always become more like you.

OR

O Jesus, I surrender myself to You. Take care of everything!

Week 1 - "Angels Ministered to Jesus"

In this first video of St. Ignatius Lenten Mission at Home, we focus on a line from Sunday's Gospel, "Angels ministered to Jesus." After 40 days in the desert, Jesus emerged needing to be ministered to. By sharing his wounds with the angels, Jesus received healing and comfort. What are our wounds from the past year of the pandemic?

Questions

Sit down, pray and reflect with these questions. Write in a journal, talk with a loved one, or sit in quiet on your own.

• Nearly a year into the pandemic, where are my wounds? My stress fractures? My callouses? My scars? My scabs? My blisters?
• How might I need to be ministered to? What would give me rest, healing, or comfort?
• How has my time “in the desert” of the pandemic hurt me? What pain have I endured? How have I suffered?

Action

This week, take a piece of paper, a writing tablet, or a journal and list your wounds or your hurts from the past year in the pandemic. Save this list and we’ll use it next week.