Prayer is one of the three pillars of Lent. This year, consider praying for the success of the Home Missions.
We Catholics are famous for our Lenten customs. We observe rules of fasting and abstinence, of course. But we also practice disciplines of our own, to keep us on track toward Easter renewal. In that spirit, we asked four Glenmarians to offer some Lenten suggestions by which you might join your observance to Glenmary’s mission.
1. Adopt a missioner. Father Dan Dorsey, Glenmary president, was quick to answer; “Celebrate Lent with Glenmary by adopting in prayer a Glenmary missioner. Commit to pray for him each day during Lent.”
2. Pray for the missions. Brother David Henley, vocations director, suggests, “Pray each day for a mission county we serve.”
3. Get in the car. Take a road-trip to one of our missions and join us for a Sunday Mass. The closest ones to the highway are northeast of Nashville, Tennessee, and there are some in Georgia that might not be too far. Missions in eastern North Carolina might be farthest out, but they’re not so hard to drive to from Richmond, Virginia.
4. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Father Wil Steinbacher, who recently moved to Glenmary’s headquarters residence after a long career in the missions, suggests, “Pray one Our Father each day for the people of Appalachia.”
5. Welcome newcomers. Pray for those new Catholics in the missions’ RCIA programs, who will be received into the Church at Easter.
6. Give. Set aside $1, $2 or $3 each day of Lent as a sacrificial offering to Glenmary at Easter. Of course, we know you may already be giving, so please don’t take this as some extra request on our part. Rather, if you wish, do it as a daily practice for yourself. Uniting in fasting, prayer and almsgiving, together with the Church, is what Lent is all about.
7. Encourage vocations. Choose a Glenmary student and pray for him each day during Lent. We currently have 15 men in various stages of formation!
Thank you for being our co-missioner and partner in prayer. We are working together to bring the fullness of Catholic faith to the missions!
—John Feister