News Category: Daily Reflections for Lent

Eucharistic Reflections

Collect for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper

O God, who have called us to participate
in this most sacred Supper
in which your Only Begotten Son,
when about to hand himself over to death,
entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity,
the banquet of his love,
grant, we pray,
that we may draw from so great a mystery,
the fullness of charity and of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
National Eucharistic Renewal

Lent Reflections

Let’s Walk Together This Holy Week!

What did Jesus do during His final week leading up to His Passion? Holy Week is the sacred time in which we remember and reflect on the final days of Christ’s life.

This Holy Week, walk as a family alongside Jesus during the final and most important moments in His life.

A Guide Through Holy Week

As a family, take a few minutes each day this Holy Week to read the summary of that day below. Click the day to read the entire Bible story. Then, use the color to complete the activity below.

Palm Sunday

The day Jesus enters Jerusalem and the crowds joyfully sing: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” while waving palm branches.

Color green for the palm branches

Holy Monday

The day that Jesus cursed a fig tree outside the Jerusalem Temple. He then cleanses the Temple, overturning the money tables and exclaiming, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” 

Color brown for the tables

Holy Tuesday

The next day, the apostles see that the fig tree Jesus had cursed has withered and died. Jesus then explains what this means.  

Color purple for the figs

Holy Wednesday

Also known as Spy Wednesday, this is the day in which Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

Color gray for the thirty pieces of silver Judas was given

Holy Thursday

The day of the Last Supper, when Jesus eats the Passover with His apostles and washes their feet.

Color blue for the washing of the feet

Good Friday

The day in which Jesus is condemned to death. He carries the Cross all the way to Calvary where He is crucified and dies for our sins.

Color red for the blood of Christ

Holy Saturday

The day in which Jesus’ body lays within the tomb and His soul descended into the realm of the dead, to bring the Gospel to all the righteous men and women who died before Him.

Color black for the darkness within the tomb

Download and print out this coloring sheet to celebrate each day of Holy Week! After reading the Bible story, color in the step and discuss as a family what happened that day. On Easter Sunday, hang it up and see the beautiful journey you took as a family!

Lent Reflections

Palm Sunday: Setting Captives Free

THE GRACE I SEEK: to believe that Jesus will grant me true freedom.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus, the Lord of Life, has given himself to you in the Eucharist. He is gazing upon you, his beloved child, with great love at this very moment. Pause for a few moments and wonder at his gift for you. Allow yourself to rest in his loving gaze.

Thank Jesus for the gift of himself in the Eucharist. 


ASK FOR THE GRACE: Jesus, help me to trust you to envelop me daily with your light and grace.


SCRIPTURE MEDITATION — Read slowly, 3-4 times. Allow the words of Scripture to wash over your mind and heart. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through this passage.

“The LORD God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”

Isaiah 50:7

REFLECTION QUESTION — Allow yourself to sit with these questions for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.


How have you felt misunderstood and judged—even by those closest to you, your own family? How have you been imprisoned by the words and deeds of others–and even your own words and deeds? How has sin played a role in this unfreedom? Speak to Jesus about this sin, suffering, and pain. Be honest about your experience with him, especially feelings of anger, shame, resentment and abandonment.


SCRIPTURE MEDITATION — Read slowly, 3-4 times. Again, allow the words of Scripture to wash over your mind and heart. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you through this passage.

“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’ But he said, ‘Why? What evil has he done?’ They only shouted the louder, ‘Let him be crucified!’”

Matthew 27:22-23

REFLECTION QUESTION

Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, takes on the burden of our sin. Imagine how he felt as he heard the crowds shout mercilessly, “Let him be crucified!” Gazing upon Jesus in the Eucharist, allow yourself to enter into Jesus’ experience of rejection and sorrow that he bore for your sin. Ask him to help you experience sorrow for your own sins and seek forgiveness, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Remain in silence with the Lord. Allow him to speak in the silence, in your heart. Receive his presence. If it helps, write down what you sense the Lord communicating to you during this time of prayer.

CLOSING PRAYER

Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Collect, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion)