Franciscan Friday: Preparing for a Green Lent

As we approach the season of Lent, keep in mind these suggestions to add to your observance.

It’s hard to believe that Lent is just a few weeks away.  It feels like we just finished Christmas, a time of light and hope and new beginnings, and soon we’ll be immersed in a time we often associate with darkness and death.  The thought can sure bring us down.

But Lent is meant to be a time of change.  Yes, we can all use a little change in our lives – change to better ourselves and change to better our world, as in God’s creation!

For some of us it’s easier to think about getting through 40 days of sacrifice and fasting if we feel prepared for it.  Do you know what you are doing for Lent?  Do you have daily readings?  Seasonal meal prayers?  A special ritual?

We have a few suggestion that not only will exercise your muscle for prayer, but also your muscle for caring for the creation:

• Caring for Creation Calendar in the Year of Faith – This calendar provided by the Archdiocese of Washington offers a daily suggestion on how to incorporate an environmentally-conscious frame of mind into your life.  Small things like eating left-overs and not wasting food, planting a tree, and carpooling are just some ways in which you can help your physical environment while reflecting on what it means to be environmentally-conscious as a Catholic.

• The Stations of the Cross with John Paul II: On the path of ecological conversion – This guide from Holy Name Province and Franciscan Action Network provides each Station of the Cross with a reading and reflection surrounding the examination of one’s relationship with the earth.

• Lent 4.5 – This is a website with a seven-week formation program for groups dedicated to using the traditional Lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and alms giving as a way to educate and re-frame the mind around environmental issues.

Do you have any suggestions for Lenten practices?  Share with us here by commenting below.