Lent Resources for Small Faith Groups

As Lent approaches, many parishes and college campuses look to form small faith groups so that people can share the journey of Lent together. Here are some great resources for small faith groups from Loyola Press that I recommend:

Online Lenten Opportunities for Small Groups

• Arts & Faith: Lent – A visual prayer experience for Lent. Each week provides a video commentary about a work of art inspired by the Sunday Scriptures.
• The Ignatian Workout for Lent: An Online Retreat – Tim Muldoon’s audio reflections accompany suggestions for prayer and action each Monday during Lent and Easter week.
• Practicing Mercy: A Lenten Retreat – Vinita Hampton Wright’s annual blog-based retreat explores ways to practice the Works of Mercy. Includes videos with author Kerry Weber and special Friday reflections. (no longer available)
• An Ignatian Prayer Adventure  – This adapted version of the Spiritual Exercises has an eight-week schedule, making it perfectly timed as a Lent and Easter retreat.
• Living Lent Daily – 40 inspiring prayers, personal thoughts, and more to enrich the Lenten journey. Use as discussion topics in small faith groups.

Print and Other Lenten Resources for Small Groups

• Practice Makes Catholic: Moving from a Learned Faith to a Lived Faith (with downloadable Leader Guide) – Practice Makes Catholic addresses the all-important “why” of many Catholic practices by articulating five key characteristics that form our Catholic identity: a sense of sacramentality, a commitment to community, a respect for the dignity of human life and commitment to justice, a reverence for Tradition, and a disposition to faith and hope rather than despair. Under each of these categories, Joe Paprocki explores and explains multiple Catholic practices, then describes how following each one can make a profound difference in our faith and in our lives. The Leader Guide enables small groups to share together.
• A Well Built Faith (with downloadable Leader Guide) – A Well-Built Faith—creatively developed around a construction theme—makes it easy for Catholics to know what they believe and to feel confident in sharing those beliefs. The Leader Guide enables small groups to share together.
• The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action – Tim Muldoon applies the principles of discernment, reflection, and action to guide readers to grow in love and transform their Lenten experience. This bite-sized volume provides forty brief exercises—organized according to the four “weeks” of prayer from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius—and can be used by anyone during Lent to help readers become both hearers and doers of the Word of God.
• Meeting Christ in Prayer – a unique eight-week, guided-prayer experience for small groups—is modeled after the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This prayer program teaches and reinforces specific prayer practices such as Lectio Divina, imaginative prayer, meditation, the Examen, and more. No prior experience with prayer groups is needed, just a desire to renew one’s faith, enrich one’s prayer life, or become more aware of God’s presence in everyday life. Through Meeting Christ in Prayer, prayer group participants will meet Christ in a new, prayerful way while developing a profound sense of purpose in their own lives.
• Meaningful Conversations About Prayer – Use all four DVDs on prayer in combination with the Meaningful Conversations Leader Guide for a series of dynamic, interactive, adult faith formation events. Written by an experienced parish leader and spiritual director, this guide provides you with a ready-to-use program ideal for Lent.
• The Holy Way: Discussion Guide – In The Holy Way, Paula Huston examines a variety of spiritual practices in the Christian tradition that lead to a simpler life, ways that will lend themselves to sharing of experiences and renewed faith. Great for single or married adults of all ages, the discussion guide for The Holy Way provides material for one book group orientation and five discussion sessions. Each session is based on a theme and includes a short prayer, group discussion questions, and questions for individual reflection.
• Six Weeks with the Bible – For busy adults who want to study the Bible but don’t know where to begin, Six Weeks with the Bible provides an inviting starting point. Each guide is divided into six concise, 90-minute segments that introduce one book or theme of the Bible. All biblical text is printed in the guides, which means no additional study aids are required.

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