A self-guided Lenten practice

creating space for contemplation prepares us to give birth to compassion

Today is Ash Wednesday — a day many Christians set aside to consider their mortality, and the start to their Lenten journey. Today, many will choose to receive ashes on their forehead as a reminder — from dust you came and to dust you will return.

Over the last few weeks I hosted several Lenten mini-retreats. For the retreat, instead of the traditional pillars of Lent: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, I reimagined the pillars as simplifying, contemplation, and compassion. If you weren’t able to join me, today’s post is for you! Below you’ll find a shortened version of my retreat, designed to take you 15-20 minutes (though of course you can spend more or less time!).

I hope you’ll set aside a few minutes today to prayerfully consider how you’d like to enter the season of Lent as we make the journey toward new life.

Preparing for Renewal: A Lenten Mini-Retreat

Centering

You might begin by lighting a candle as a reminder that God is with you. Begin by reading Jan Richardson’s blessing: Will You Meet Us?. As you read it a second time, look for a few lines you might pull out and use as a breath prayer. A few examples:

Inhale: will you meet us
Exhale: in the ashes.

Inhale: in our aching
Exhale: you are breathing

Use this breath prayer throughout your retreat time and anytime you need to re-center during Lent. Now, hold a few minutes of silence, then take a few deep breaths praying your prayer silently as you inhale and exhale before moving on to Simplifying.

Simplifying

Read: Isaiah 58:6-9

Consider: As you consider how you plan to simplify over the next 40 days, remember: we are looking to carve out space to prioritize contemplation in order to build compassion. Our three pillars are interconnected, do not forget this!

Pray/Journal: How might you simplify over the next 40 days? (You might look to your morning commute, a silent walk, or the half hour before bed.)

Silence: Hold a few minutes of silence, then take a few deep breaths praying your breath prayer silently as you inhale and exhale before moving on to Contemplation.

Contemplation

Read: Praying by Mary Oliver

Consider: While a contemplative way of life rests in a yearning for the good of all creation, it focuses on interior transformation as an important element of care for others…without watering our roots in deep life-giving waters, awareness of radical suffering, injustice, and turmoil is likely to distort our capacities for care and responsibility. — Dr. Wendy Farley¹

Pray/Journal: What does your soul need? How will you use the space created by simplifying for contemplation? What contemplative practices will you engage with? How will you prepare yourself to give birth to compassion? (You can keep your practices simple: lighting a candle, praying your breath prayer, starting your day with a few minutes of silence - remember it doesn’t have to be the blue iris.)

Silence: Hold a few minutes of silence, then take a few deep breaths praying your breath prayer silently as you inhale and exhale before moving on to Compassion.

Compassion

Read: What does it mean that we don’t just talk about the ashes, or even reverently observe them, but that we physically smear them across our faces? Perhaps, in the marking, we approach solidarity. We remember that the same fate that haunts you, haunts me. The same beauty that birthed you, lives in me...We begin our Lenten journey together, reminding one another that we are those whose flesh grows back. We are those who remain. It is not easy, but we cling to this: God has always seen sacred potential in the dust. — Cole Arthur Riley²

Consider: In contemplation we water our roots in the life-giving waters, which makes us more aware of the suffering and injustices around us. In this pillar of Lent, which is traditionally called almsgiving, we give — we give our time, our energy, our resources. True compassion cannot be separated from action. It is in this pillar that we consider how we want to be in the world for the next 40 days.

Pray/Journal: As you grow in compassion, what tangible form do you hope it will take?

Silence: Hold a few minutes of silence, then take a few deep breaths praying your breath prayer silently as you inhale and exhale.

End by reading A Prayer to Learn to Love the World Again by Sarah Bessey. (If you lit a candle, blow it out.)

alongside you in your Lenten journey no matter what it looks like³ -

Holly

P.S. My official Lenten series begins soon, so please join me (and some friends!) as we ask the questions: How do you live and move and have your being? What is mine to do? and How will I remain in my body?

---

Spiritual Direction News & Updates

• If you want to stay up to date with my spiritual direction practice and upcoming events you can sign-up for my monthly newsletter for my spiritual direction community at hollyporterphillips.com (scroll to the bottom!).

• I currently have space available for new directees. If spiritual direction is something that you or someone you know might be interested in, please reach out — hollyporterphillips@gmail.com. I’ve written here a little about what spiritual direction is to me, if you’d like to know more.

• I’m excited to announce that I’ll be hosting an Eastertide Mini-Retreat! More details to come, but I’ll be offering it on Tuesday, May 6 from 7:30 - 9 pm CT and on Wednesday, May 7 from 12 - 1:30pm CT. I hope you’ll join me.

1. From Beguiled by Beauty by Wendy Farley

2. From Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley

3. Lent’s invitation to live and move and have our being