Observing Lent in the Eternal City

Posted

The following is written by a seminarian for the Diocese of Jefferson City, who is studying in Rome:

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

We often use these categories to describe the disciplines of Lent, by which we prepare for the celebrations of Easter — and that’s no different for us here at the North American College in Rome.

Each seminarian takes up his own personal Lenten observances in consultation with his spiritual director, but we also have certain practices as a whole community that bring us together during Lent in the spirit of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

The most well-known of our Lenten practices is probably keeping the traditional “station churches” of Rome.

We begin on Ash Wednesday at the Basilica of Santa Sabina — where even the Holy Father himself begins Lent! — and continue for the rest of Lent, making a kind of day-by-day pilgrimage to some of the oldest and most significant churches in the Eternal City.

We also spend the First Sunday of Lent in a “Day of Recollection,” a 24-hour period of silence from Vespers on Saturday to Vespers on Sunday.

This time is devoted to prayer, Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and spiritual conferences given by an invited speaker.

On Fridays of Lent, we take the first 15 to 20 minutes of our lunch in silence, while we listen to the reading of a book on the spiritual life.

This year, we’ve been reading Father Jacques Philippe’s Time for God, which I would highly recommend.

In the evenings of these Fridays, we also have a communal celebration of the Stations of the Cross after dinner.

Finally, we as a community partner with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) through their Rice Bowl program.

Each seminarian receives the traditional cardboard “rice bowl” at the beginning of Lent, and his offerings are sent to CRS at the end of Holy Week.

These are the ways that we as a community prepare ourselves for the celebration of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection and the joy of the Easter season.

Comments