A Journey through Lent

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WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

ASH WEDNESDAY

Set out to grow in the faith that God loves you. Several times today use your thumb to make a cross on your forehead.

Pray about God’s words from Isaiah 49: 

“Look, I have written your name on the palm of my hands. I will never forget you.”

Name and pray for five people who have been a good influence in your life, and also five people on whom you have been a good influence.

Several times today pray for someone you know who is ill or feeling low.

Week

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

1

Use your fingers  to touch and sense everything about each hand. Do this to remind yourself that Jesus, God the Son, our Brother, lived fully as a human being.

Think about and pray for three people who have made you smile in the last 24 hours.

Think today about what holds you captive, and ask Jesus to set you free.

Pray about these words, that God “casts our sins to the bottom of the sea”

(Micah 7:19), and

“Come back to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12).

Thank God for his workmanship: it is with greatness and wonder that you have been made.   Could use Psalm 139 (138):

http://unbound.biola.edu 

Think of a street in your town, and pray for all who live there. 

Use a candle or electric light to think about Jesus’ words: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark.”

(John 8:12)

2

Spend time today thinking that, as the Father was heard to speak to Jesus, he also says to you: “You, (name), are my well-loved son/daughter.”

Pray and think positively about someone who has hurt you in the past.

As you meet people today, ask the Lord to bless each one.

Pray about these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)

Set out today to help people around you be happy. 

Leave a meal today at least a little hungry, and think about and pray for – and do something about – those who are less fortunate than you. 

Read and pray Psalm 23 (22): ‘The Lord is my shepherd’:

http://unbound.biola.edu 

3

When making use of water today, reflect on how water is life-giving and can cleanse. This day set out to promote life and to cleanse and heal.

Water can promote life or can kill. Ask forgiveness today for when you have brought death – and not life – to people and situations.

Set out to comment to others about some of the positive things around you today.

Use this prayer:

‘Inspire me, Lord, and empower me with your Spirit, so that I may reflect

your image and likeness

a little more clearly each day.’

Reflect on and pray about the words:

 “Act justly,

love tenderly and

walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

Mark Twain wrote:

“I can live for six months on a compliment”.

In conversation today, express appreciation, thanks, praise and encouragement.

Set out to wake up a few minutes earlier or to go to sleep a little later, and use that time to pray. It will remind you that, though sleep is essential, so is prayer.

4

Look at a shoe or slipper, a sandal or trainer, to reflect that Jesus calls you by name to follow him personally.

Pray about these words of Jesus: “Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.” (John 15:4)

Look for the good in someone you do not particularly like.

Set out to make something better today of the physical environment around you.

Write or create something today that reflects God’s goodness in your life.

Set out today to do an ordinary thing extraordinarily well.

Spend time today thanking God for the many blessings in your life.

5

Pray that those who choose evil may be touched and turned by the plight of those who suffer.

Think of a time that seemed like ‘failure’ in your life. How did you discover God to be present? In the same way, think of a time of ‘success’.

Several times today, pause to remind yourself that God is with you.

If you cannot see God in the person next to you, you are not likely to discover him anywhere else. How can you change for the better the way you see and respect individuals?

Spend a few minutes looking in detail at a single flower, leaf or blade of grass, and then pray.

Could use Psalm 8:

http://unbound.biola.edu 

Look at a map or atlas or globe and choose a country. What do you know of the people of that land? Pray for them and seek to find out more today.

Repeatedly breathe slowly and, as you do, keep your eyes closed and pray: “Holy Spirit, come into my heart and my mind.”

6

PALM SUNDAY

Pray these words of

St Richard of Chichester: “Lord, may I see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day”.

Before taking some food today, pause to pray. It will remind you that, though food is essential, so is prayer. 

Take time today to say the ‘Our Father’ as though it was for the last time.

Pray about these words of Jesus: “I call you friends”. (John 15:15)

HOLY THURSDAY

(Maundy Thursday)

Pray for those in prison and for their loved ones.

GOOD FRIDAY

Touch some wood today and reflect that Jesus lay in the wood of a manger (cot/crib), used wood as a carpenter, and was tortured on a wooden cross.

HOLY SATURDAY

Pray today for someone who is waiting with difficulty or pain: waiting for a job, for things to grow better at home, for patience in illness, for a loved one who is dying.