The phrase “Lenten journey” has become ubiquitous in contemporary Catholicism, but for once, AmChurchSpeak makes an important point: Lent is a journey—a journey to Calvary with the Lord and an opportunity to reflect on how well we’ve each picked up the cross daily (as instructed in Luke 9: 23) and followed him.
The day-by-day quality of the 40 Days hit home during the best Lent I ever spent: Lent 2011, when I made the Lenten station church pilgrimage in Rome with the Pontifical North American College. Every morning, I’d be up at 5:15 a.m. and off in the dawn’s early light to participate in Mass at the “station” appointed for that Lenten day—a tradition dating back to the mid-first millennium, when the Bishop of Rome led a daily procession through the city and celebrated Mass at a particular “station” church honoring the city’s martyrs.
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