Lent 2013: Pray - Study - Act
In This Issue
PRAY: On the Lenten Journey
STUDY: Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
ACT: Plan a Good Friday Way of the Cross
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Fourth Week of Lent, March 10-16, 2013
Greetings of peace!  
 

cross 2012 As we get deeper into this Lenten season, many Pax Christi USA local groups are busy planning "Way of the Cross" pubic prayer witnesses for Good Friday--connecting the sufferings of Christ during his passion with the suffering of our brothers and sisters at the hands of violence, greed, poverty, sickness, racism and war today (see "Action" in this e-bulletin for more information). If you have not planned one of these powerful witnesses before, we have provided some resources for your group to undertake one. You can visit our Lenten page by clicking here, then scroll down to the bottom of the page for more information, examples of different types of Way of the Cross actions which you can use as a template in planning yours (or use as-is if it fits!), and other resources. And please let us know if you have a Way of the Cross planned in your community. We will list the names of groups, with contact information, which will be staging a Way of the Cross this year on our website. Just send your information to me at [email protected].

    We hope that the peace of Christ dwells deeply in your hearts during this Lenten season.

 

In peace,

Johnny Zokovitch
Director of Communications, Pax Christi USA
PRAY: On the Lenten Journey  
by Jane Deren, for Education for Justice

 

We travel through 

deserts and despair

As we focus on 

How Christ was crucified,

And is crucified

In the world today.

 

We agree to make

This journey, this pilgrimage,

And to leave life as usual,

Business as usual,

To pay attention,

To be present

To pain and suffering.

 

The journey to the

Light of Easter

Can only go this way.

We choose to learn

This hard truth,

To accept the ashes,

To witness the darkness,

To walk the way of the Cross

As it happens in our world.

 

Let us journey together,

Open to the world

So we may be renewed

And help bring to all

The renewal of Resurrection.

 

* Pax Christi USA highly recommends the Education for Justice website for resources for prayer and study.

STUDY: 
Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

By Tom Cordaro, Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace

  

Joshua 5:9-12 | 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 | Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

 

"This brother of yours was lost but now is found." Reflecting on immigration reform and reconciliation...

 

The readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent remind us that reconciliation is at the core of our call to discipleship. St. Paul calls us to be ambassadors of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation and the story of the Prodigal Son reminds us that the desire for reconciliation is at the very heart of God.

    It is hard to think of many other areas of social policy that are more in need of the practice of reconciliation than the debate on fixing our broken immigration system. The hateful language often used to describe undocumented immigrants, the attempts to sow fear and suspicion towards them and the scapegoating of immigrants for everything from terrorism to high unemployment has created divisions in the Body of Christ.

    Reconciliation is needed to heal the divide between citizen and undocumented immigrant members of our Church....

  

ACT: Plan a Good Friday Way of the Cross

Traditionally, many Pax Christi USA local groups plan and stage a "Way of the Cross" event on Good Friday, connecting the sufferings of Christ during his passion with the suffering of our brothers and sisters at the hands of violence, greed, poverty, sickness, racism and war. Last year, over 30 Pax Christi groups hosted these events in their community. On the website, we have posted numerous resources for groups interested in undertaking a Way of the Cross in their community on Good Friday. The guides featured on the site can be used as-is or function as a template for you to plan your own action and witness. 

 

Click here (then scroll to the bottom of the page) to see resources for designing a Way of the Cross action.

 

Also please let us know if you have a Way of the Cross planned in your community. We will list on the website the names of groups, with contact information, which will be staging a Way of the Cross this year. Please send your information to me at [email protected]