A Good Solid Lent

By a Member of the CMA

"Lent is a powerful time of year, but in a busy house surrounded by children and with a hundred things to do I have always struggled to know how to enter into the silence of waiting that is so spiritually fruitful. It's hard to know how to pray when you're constantly being interrupted.

The answer proposed by Good Solid Lent is to make your whole life a prayer, offering many small sacrifices throughout the day and with an eye on the overall journey towards Easter.

The GSL program was devised to encourage a genuine spiritual journey from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, taking the traditional practices of the Church and codifying them. It also gave a community of support and accountability which was very helpful.

Along with most Members of the CMA (and, I suspect, of the whole Church), I did not stick to every discipline every day. There were times when Lent Lent-ed so hard that I was simply unable to maintain all of the disciplines. In the past I would have found this very discouraging, however, with the GSL commitment and community I found that my orientation was towards spiritual growth, so I could offer up whatever was happening in lieu. This was very helpful and it helped to stop Lent being about "giving up chocolate" and made it more about "turning all sacrifices into prayers". Despite the chaos of my household it was indeed an internally quiet, reflective time. I look forward to trying again next year."

Good Solid Lent is a program which was trialed this year, and which the CMA intends to make an annual event. If you would like to join us next year, or have any suggestions for how to improve the program, please do get in touch.