Lent Archives – Not Strictly Spiritual

You can’t fail Lent! Begin again.

Mary — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 18:33:52 +0000

We find ourselves now at the midway point of our Lenten desert experience. Ash Wednesday is far behind us, and Easter not yet in sight. Although we walk this Lenten path year after year, the reality is that no two Lenten journeys are alike. Whatever is going on in our lives, in the news, in the daily Scripture readings help shape every Lent into a unique experience, for better or worse. At some points along the way, we may feel as though we are in a spiritual groove, with everything going as planned. At other times, we may feel like spiritual failures with all our promises falling by the wayside. But you can’t fail Lent! This season is a journey not a test, and we can refocus and renew our commitment at any point along the way.

We can take our cues on how to do this from Jesus himself, who retreated in solitude to a quiet place — a desert, a mountain, a garden — when he needed to replenish his spirit and reconnect with his Father. Or we can look to the desert fathers and mothers, who sought out solitude and simplicity in order to better hear the voice of God.

Of course, we’re not likely to get to a desert anytime soon, so what does this look like for those of us living in the modern world? While it’s always good to take time away with God whenever we can, the Lenten desert journey is not about changing physical locations but interior attitudes. We can be surrounded by people in a bustling city or in the tropics lush with greenery and still experience a desert moment. Because we are not on a pilgrimage that requires walking great lengths but one that is perhaps even more difficult, a journey from the head to the heart.

Most of us on the spiritual path are seeking some sort of transformation, but often we want that transformation on our own terms. We ask for signs, but when something comes along that seems too challenging or outside our comfort zone, we think, “No, this is not my transformation moment. I’d like another, please.” Because transformation on God’s terms is almost never easy. But no transformation that is truly life-changing is going to come without a cost to us personally.

We give up chocolate or wine or social media for Lent and sit back and wait for transformation to arrive, but we know in our heart of hearts that it doesn’t work that way. It has to go much deeper than anything we pour into a glass or scroll by on a screen. And a big part of it starts with us simply becoming aware of this reality and opening our hearts in silence to what God puts in front of us, no matter how challenging or discomfiting. We are called to listen with “the ear of our heart” as St. Benedict taught, and to simply sit, as Jesus did, in the presence of the Father, who knows our hearts without us needing to speak a word.

That’s not an easy thing to do — sitting in silence with God. We tend to go to God with a laundry list of requests, apologies and thank-you prayers. But when we put all the asking aside and simply give our full attention to being rather than doing, we allow the Spirit to move into the open space we create.

As we begin the second half of Lent, can we put aside our big spiritual plans for just a few minutes each day and simply be with God in the silence of souls, where no words or actions are necessary? When we make the commitment to journey into the cave of the heart, we find deep within us a peace untouched by the chaos of the world around us, a peace that will sustain us through Lent and beyond.

This column originally appeared in the March 26, 2025 issue of The Evangelist.

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Lent podcast: New ways to approach old traditions

Mary — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:50:37 +0000

As we prepare to begin our Lenten journey, join me for a conversation about ways we can expand our experience of the traditional pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let’s reflect on what those look like for us in our world today and how we might create intentional community to serve as a support.

Link below, and don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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The One Who Rights All Wrongs

Mary — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 13:46:05 +0000

My reflection on today’s Scripture readings in the March issue of Give Us This Day:

At some point or another, most of us have been blamed for something we didn’t do. It doesn’t feel good, and sometimes it can be downright scary. Whenever I read a story of someone released from prison after having served decades for a crime they did not commit, I am astounded by their joy, their gratitude, and I often imagine how I might respond in a similarly horrific situation. I’m not sure I’d be quite so gracious.

To be able to withstand the unthinkable and maintain an unshakable trust in God, as we witness Susanna doing in today’s first reading, requires not blind faith but an abiding faith in the One who rights all wrongs, even when from an earthly standpoint, justice is not done. In our Gospel, we see a variation on the same theme. This time the woman in question appears to be guilty, and the laws of that time required justice of the harshest kind. Instead, Jesus offers mercy, compassion, tenderness.

Both women are spared—the innocent and the guilty. How does that make us feel? Is there a place in our lives where we expect mercy for a wrong we’ve committed, even when we will not offer the same to others? Is there a place where we have been wronged and hope for punishment to be meted out to satisfy our desire for justice? As it turns out, “justice” looks different through the lens of the Gospel. Are we willing to put on the dual lenses of trust and mercy?

From the March 2024 issue of Give Us This Day, www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2024). Used with permission.

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

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Listening with the ear of our heart this Lent

Mary — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 20:42:56 +0000

Each year, as Lent begins, I can’t help but remember a scene from Sunday Mass a few years back. A little boy sitting in the second pew with his grandmother pointed to the Stations of the Cross hanging nearby, specifically the ninth station, Jesus falls a third time. A look of confusion and concern came across his little face, and he furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what was going on in that scene. “He’s crying. He’s crying,” he said, looking up at his grandma. Although most of us were focused on how adorable this little boy was, I found myself looking over my shoulder to see what he saw: Jesus on the ground, the weight of the cross on his shoulder, a Roman soldier towering over him. This is where our path will lead us in the days and weeks ahead.

The road to Calvary over these 40 days will be marked by confusion and concern, sadness, and, yes, even moments of joy; not the passing happiness we think of when we hear that word but deep-seated internal joy, the kind that lives in our heart when we put our trust in Jesus. The stories that mark the path from here until Easter are powerful and familiar, sometimes so familiar they fail to move us, or, more accurately, we fail to be moved. We’ve heard it all before. There’s nothing new here. But God makes all things new, and the Scriptures are alive with the Spirit, who blows through the ancient texts to make a word, a phrase, a scene jump out at the exact moment we need it, if only we’d settle down and listen, as St. Benedict taught, with the “ear of our heart.”

We need reminders, someone or something to point out what we’re missing. Lent is that reminder, affording us the time and space to go deeper, to sit with stories and let them speak to us as if for the first time. What is calling you to transformation? What speaks to your heart?

On that Sunday morning in church years ago, an old man sat in the pew in front of the precocious little boy. Hunched with age, he was held up on one side by a younger man, his son, perhaps. The older man was dressed in a beautiful suit, his Sunday best. He stood for every prayer, even though he struggled to make even the slightest move, and his son patiently helped him up and down. It was a beautiful moment, this juxtaposition of young and old, boundless curiosity and fading youth, but with faith and grace swirling around both, around all. Taking in the scene that morning, I was moved by the reality of so many people from so many places with so many stories, all hungry for one thing: an encounter with the Divine. The same could be said of our Lenten journey.

We walk this journey together, even if we think we are walking alone. Faith and grace binds us to each other and to our God, and that is the stuff of which pure joy is made. Begin down the path today, and, if you get sidetracked, dust yourself off and begin again, knowing that you have companions, seen and unseen, lifting you up, a Communion of Saints, in which we all get to stake our claim. Stop, look, listen. Joy is hiding in plain sight, even on the road to Calvary, even on the cross, because joy is not fleeting, joy is not a feeling, joy is the knowledge that we have been saved by Jesus Christ, who invites us to join him on The Way today, every day.

This column appeared in the Feb. 15, 2024, issue of The Evangelist.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

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Prayer is a non-negotiable on the Lenten journey

Mary — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:38:27 +0000

As we move into the second half of the Lenten season, it’s a good time to take stock of our promises and practices. So often we give up sweets or alcohol or social media, or, conversely, we add in service and volunteer work. BUT, if we don’t thread prayer through the sacrifice and service, we are left with nothing more than a diet and philanthropy. Fasting and almsgiving only become such when they are grounded in prayer. Prayer is the air beneath the wings of the other two pillars of Lent.

Prayer is both our overarching theme and our underlying foundation during Lent (and during life!). Without it, nothing moves forward or expands outward. So today, even for just five minutes, sit with God in prayer. Don’t just move your lips; open the “ear of your heart,” as St. Benedict instructed. Prayer is not just talking; it is listening for the Spirit to speak to us, but that can only happen when we settle down in silence and pay attention with our very being.

If you’d like to continue this conversation on prayer, listen to the newest Life Lines podcast: “Living on a Prayer: Inspiration for Lent and Beyond” at the link below. And don’t forget to the subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any episodes!

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Can you have a “happy” Lent?

Mary — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 20:40:40 +0000

As I was wrapping up a Lenten retreat recently, someone in attendance approached me afterward and asked if it’s appropriate or even possible to wish someone “Happy Lent!” The funny thing is, I had said those exact words to Father Bob Longobucco as he walked into the church earlier that evening, even though it’s not something I would usually say seriously to anyone. But if you know Father Bob, you know a little levity is always allowed amid the spiritual seriousness.

But this person’s question made me take a closer look at the topic, and I promised I would ponder it and maybe even write about it. So here we are. What I said off the top of my head that Wednesday evening was that I think we hear “happy” with our secularized ears and what we really mean is “joyful.” But does “Have a joyful Lent” ring any truer in a season where sacrifice and the road to Calvary are in view?

I would offer a resounding YES! And here’s why. Look at some of the readings of this season so far. On Ash Wednesday, in the first reading from the Book of Joel, we were urged: “Return to me with your whole heart … return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, and slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” What could be more joyful than a God like that? So often we focus on what is wrong with us and how unworthy we think we are, but God reminds us that we are beloved exactly as we are right now. And that should make us both happy and joyful, no matter what the season.

Last week, one of the Gospel acclamations, quoted Psalm 51, saying: “A clean heart create for me, O God; give me back the joy of your salvation.” I used this exact line of Scripture as a breath prayer for my retreat group precisely because of the words “the joy of your salvation.” I wanted to remind people that ours is a faith of joy, even on the road to Calvary, because we know what lies beyond it.

Famed Trappist monk Thomas Merton, in his book “Seasons of Celebration: Meditations on the Cycle of the Liturgical Feasts,” wrote: “Even the darkest moments of the liturgy are filled with joy, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten fast, is a day of happiness, a Christian feast. It cannot be otherwise, as it forms part of the great Easter cycle.”

He goes on to say, “There is joy in the salutary fasting and abstinence of the Christian who eats and drinks less in order that his mind may be more clear and receptive to receive the sacred nourishment of God’s word, which the whole Church announces and meditates upon in each day’s liturgy throughout Lent.”

Notice the word he uses there: joy. For many of us, the word “happy” is where we get hung up, because happy in our secular world’s view is about those surface feelings we get when we go on vacation or get a promotion or eat a good meal. There is a big difference between happy and joyful, and we are called to be joyful in our faith, not just when things are going according to plan but even when they feel terribly off course, maybe especially in that case. No easy task, to be sure.

Even if you’re not comfortable wishing your neighbor at church a “happy” Lent, can you spend some time thinking about where the joy lives in this season? When we discover the joy bubbling up amid the sacrifices we’re making, like a purple crocus pushing up from beneath the snow in our yard, we begin to realize that there is far more to this season than what we see on the surface.

Happy, joyful, blessed Lent!

Mary DeTurris Poust will be offering a Lenten retreat at St. Patrick’s Church in Ravena on Saturday, March 11, at 10 a.m. and via Zoom on Wednesday, March 15, at 7 p.m. For more information, visit: https://notstrictlyspiritual.com/events.

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

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New podcast: The Head & the Heart (Lent, Week 1)

Mary — Sun, 26 Feb 2023 13:30:10 +0000

As we begin the first full week of Lent, I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about this 40-day journey and how we might best approach the challenge. Join me for a conversation about prayer, sacrifice, and packing light. Give it a listen at the link below. And don’t forget to subscribe to my podcast so you don’t miss any future episodes. It’s available on Apple, Spotify, Google and other platforms.

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This Lent, let God set the course

Mary — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 23:53:18 +0000

Back when I was younger, I would approach Ash Wednesday in spiritual attack mode. Armed with books and an overly ambitious plan, I entered the Lenten season like a tourist set on seeing every attraction in a city while missing out on the true charm of a place. By the second or third week of Lent, I’d find myself deflated and disappointed, wondering how I ended up so far from my original destination.

One of the benefits of aging, however, has been a softer and gentler approach to this challenging season. I’ve become more realistic about what I might accomplish during Lent, or any other day of my life. I know how easy it is to set overwhelming goals — spiritual or otherwise — and give up in frustration before any new habits have taken root. So, this year, as we prepare to begin our 40-day journey through the desert toward resurrection, I’m packing light. Yes, I still have plans but those lean more toward the possible, maybe even probable, rather than the impossible.

It’s good to remember as we begin this journey that it’s okay if it’s not always a direct route from Point A to Point B. We are human, after all, and although we sometimes don’t seem to grasp that, God does. There will be days when we feel as though we’re not making any spiritual “progress,” and other times when we seem to be slipping farther and farther from our goal. Fortunately for us, God is kind and merciful. And patient beyond measure.

So, take a deep breath and just begin. Right where you are. If you stumble along the way, dust yourself off and begin again. Transformation doesn’t come in an instant or all at once. It comes bit by bit and with daily effort. It also comes only with a willingness to let go of our need to control where this season will take us. We often want a transformation of our own making, rather than accepting the version God has planned for us. What if we loosened our grip on the reins and let God set the course?

Pope Francis says, “Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.” Let’s take a moment and contemplate what needs to be reawakened in us, what needs a little shaking up. To keep us steady and on track, we can stake out a dwelling place — even if only for a few minutes each day — in the heart of Scripture, where we will find guideposts and markers to move us along.

We start each Lent with the stark reminder that we are dust and to dust we will return. Even if we get the more contemporary refrain — Repent and believe in the Gospel — that smudge of ash from last year’s burned palms is reminder enough of our temporary status on this planet. It’s such a beautiful way to begin, stripping it all down to the basics. We are here, but not for long. What do we plan to do with the brief time we have? How will God figure into those plans?

The poet Mary Oliver, in her poem “When Death Comes,” writes:

“When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Perhaps we can take Oliver’s words to heart as we head into Lent, planning not to tackle an unrealistic list of things to do and sights to see but instead fostering a desire to slow down and make something “particular and real” of a season that offers us time apart to move closer to who and what God has called us to be.

I’ll be offering several Lenten retreats in the weeks ahead: Thursday, March 2, 6:30 p.m. at St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Niskayuna, NY; Saturday, March 11, 10 a.m. at St. Patrick’s in Ravena, NY; and Wednesday, March 15, 7 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, click HERE.

Photo by Ahna Ziegler on Unsplash

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You Can’t Fail Lent: A Morning Retreat

Mary — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0000

Lent is one of those seasons that begins with the best of intentions. We plan to pray more, eat less and find ways to make the season more sacred. But, too often we treat Lent as though it is one more goal to accomplish, a resolution 2.0 that puts the focus on us rather than on God. Lent is not a pass-fail test! During this free morning retreat, we’ll look at our Lenten practices through the prism of compassion, humor, and, of course, prayer. And we’ll set the course for the second half of this beautiful spiritual season. Join writer and retreat leader Mary DeTurris Poust for conversation, reflection, sharing, and some light refreshments.

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Halfway There: Inspiration for the Second Half of Lent

Mary — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 23:00:00 +0000

We’re just about at the midpoint of the Lenten season. For many of us, our Lenten plans and practices may be falling by the wayside. Maybe we’re getting down on ourselves or feeling like we’ve failed in our latest attempt to clean up our spiritual act before Easter. Never fear! Join writer and retreat leader Mary DeTurris Poust for a Zoom evening retreat that will include honest talk, plenty of humor, insights from spiritual saints and sages, and practical tips to see you through to Holy Week and beyond.

Cost: $15. Register via Venmo (@Mary-DeTurrisPoust) or Paypal (marypoust@gmail.com). Please be sure to include your name, email address, and the word “Lent” with your payment. A link will be sent after payment has been received. If you are unable to use those methods, email me at the address in the sidebar for further instructions. (This event is scheduled for Eastern time.)

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