Lenten Prayer Resources Shared by Jesuit Schools in the United States

I am delighted to share some lenten resources from our region of the world. First, a Lenten prayer, called “Lent-Fasting and Feasting” I received from a colleague at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, Janet Perucca-Kleinhofer, and which is now available on the Global Prayers page on Educate Magis. Below you will find a link to a Lenten retreat for racial equity grounded in the Spiritual Exercises, and a link to a list of recorded Examens for the Lenten season. 

In collaboration with several Jesuit ministries and two other Jesuit High Schools (Bellarmine San Jose and Bellarmine Tacoma) we created materials for a Lenten retreat for racial equity grounded in the Spiritual Exercises. This seven-week retreat has resources for daily prayer and reflection.

This program was created in response to the call from Jesuits West former Provincial, Fr. Scott Santarosa, SJ. Beginning in 2019 a number of new initiatives were launched to deepen the practice of discernment across Jesuit ministries. This discernment process led to the formation of the Collaborative Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE).

In the greater Los Angeles area, several members of that discernment process developed a program that examined the key themes of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius through the lens of racial equity. From September 2020 until May 2021, participants met in online sessions for shared prayer, faith-sharing, and discernment for those connected with Jesuit ministries across the greater Los Angeles region.

The planning team members for the original 2020-2021 Spiritual Exercises for Our Times program were Angel Mortel, Ann Holmquist, Fr. Brendan Busse, SJ, Fr. Ike Udoh, SJ, and Robert Stephan. They were assisted by Rosa Bonilla, who facilitated the Spanish language sharing group, Dr. Susana Funsten, who reviewed the Spanish translations and suggested Biblical resources, and Jorge Garcia and Oscar Torres, who translated at each session. This updated version was adapted with the help of Robert Stephan, Janet Perucca-Kleinhofer, and Debra Sauvage.

The materials for prayer are arranged by week here. You can find a description of the retreat at https://sites.google.com/view/spiritualexercisesforourtimes/home

Additionally, it is the practice at our school to pray the Examen after lunch during the Advent and Lenten seasons. During COVID we recorded these Examens and made them available online on our YouTube channel.  Although most do not explicitly mention Lent, most of them were recorded for Lent 2020. You can find the list of some of these Examens at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOfwVVCQT6YWyC-fJj4dQSwgrqhZ0EEoW