#LivingLent 2022

Welcome to the #LivingLent feature of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference for the Season of Lent 2022.

In this feature you will find information on 

• The Meaning of Lent 
• Why we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday 
• Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2022
• Pope Francis’ call for Ash Wednesday to be a day of prayer and fasting for peace
• This year’s #LivingLent digital media initiative 
• Friday Penance during Lent 
• Details on Trócaire’s Lenten campaign for 2022
• A link to the Lent Facebook page for information on diocesan and parish events and daily thought for the day messages
• Mass Readings for Lent
• Homilies and Pastoral Messages for Lent 
• Prayers

The Meaning of Lent

The English word ‘Lent’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Lencten, meaning ‘Spring’. In other languages the word comes from the Latin, Quadragesima – a period of 40 days.  In the Christian tradition the forty days is understood to refer to a time of intense prayer and preparation; we remember the biblical stories of Noah and the flood of 40 days, the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness and Christ’s forty day fast in the desert in preparation for his earthly ministry.

Ash Wednesday – 2 March 2022

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. In the readings today there is a great consciousness of our sinfulness, we we pray ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have sinned’. There is also a sense that the time to repent and turn back is now. The Gospel tells us how to approach that renewal of our lives. It puts before us the remedy in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These three strands of Lenten observance are as ancient as Christianity itself. There is no substitute for them. ‘Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy if the lifeblood of fasting. If we have not all three together, we have nothing,’ says Saint Peter Chrysologus.

Why we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday 

“Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. The ashes are made from the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. The ashes are christened with Holy Water and are scented by exposure to incense. While the ashes symbolize penance and contrition, they are also a reminder that God is gracious and merciful to those who call on Him with repentant hearts. His Divine mercy is of utmost importance during the season of Lent, and the Church calls on us to seek that mercy during the entire Lenten season with reflection, prayer and penance.

Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2022

 In preparation for Lent 2022, Pope Francis has released his annual message, reflecting on St Paul’s epistle to the Galatians: ‘Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up’ (6:9-10). 

In his message the Holy Father invites the faithful to sown seeds of hope, to cultivate healthy communication and face-to-face encounters and to perhaps spend less time on smartphones and digital media citing this addiction to digital media as something which impoverishes human relationships.

“Let us not grow tired of doing good in active charity toward our neighbors” and of giving joyfully, he wrote.

“Lent is a favorable time to seek out—and not to avoid—those in need; to reach out—and not to ignore—those who need a sympathetic ear and a good word; to visit—and not to abandon—those who are lonely,” he wrote.

“Let us put into practice our call to do good to all,” he wrote, “and take time to love the poor and needy, those abandoned and rejected, those discriminated against and marginalized.”

See Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2022 here.

Pope Francis’ call for prayer and fasting on Ash Wednesday 

#LivingLent 2022 digital media initiative on Twitter and Instagram 

The #LivingLent initiative will take place on Twitter and Instagram and will involve short daily suggestions based on the themes of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, which are the three pillars of the Lenten season:

Prayer and scripture suggestions (prayer intentions including those of Pope Francis, prayers of intercession and Lenten prayers and a focus this year on Prayers for Peace)

Opportunities for penance and fasting in our daily lives (fasting from gossip, fasting from negativity online, giving up certain foods for Lent, availing of the Sacrament of Reconciliation)

Suggestions of charitable acts (donating to Trócaire and other charities; Donating your time by volunteering or helping out within your own family, school, parish; and behaving in a charitable way towards all those we meet)

People are invited to take part using the hashtag #LivingLent and are encouraged to share with their own followers how they are putting these suggestions into action in their daily lives.

Follow the #LivingLent initiative on the Bishops’ Instagram and Twitter accounts – @catholicbishops.