Lent with the Saints

As I think about how I’m going to teach prayer, fasting, and almsgiving this year, I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach: I will share examples of three saints whose feast days fall during Lent this year. I hope that the examples of these saints will inspire young people to “to return to God ‘with all their hearts’ (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord.” (Pope Francis, Message for Lent 2017)

Praying with St. Patrick

I’ll begin with St. Patrick (A.D. 389–461), whose feast day falls on March 17.

While most of the young people will recognize the name of St. Patrick, few will know the details of his life. I will begin by telling his story, highlighting that he learned how to depend on God during his time in captivity. His total trust and dependence in God gave him the strength to spread the good news of Jesus Christ throughout Ireland.

I will then hand out copies of the prayer known as “St. Patrick’s Breastplate”:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

To help them take this prayer to heart, I will tell the young people that they can pray the words, “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,” every time they do one of the following:

do a kind deed for someone.
become the recipient of a kind deed.
take a moment to rest.
think of someone they love.
think of someone they dislike.
hear someone compliment another.
see someone in need of help.

This practice will remind the young people to see Christ in the people they encounter, which will help them grow in friendship with the Lord.

Lent is a time of spiritual renewal for all of us. I hope that by taking St. Patrick’s Breastplate to heart, young people will draw closer to God and one another.

Fasting with St. Vincent Ferrer

Lent is a season in which we respond to the Lord’s call to “return to me with all your heart, / with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” (Joel 2:12) As I remind young people of the requirements for Lent, I usually share this passage with them to remind them that this obligation is nothing more than responding to God’s Word. One time, a young lady asked me, “Wait, what are we crying about?”

“Our sins,” I replied.

I then explained that abstaining from things like meat, chocolate, and television is not meant as a form of punishment; rather, abstinence is to remind us that the thing we should really be fasting from is sin. “Fasting and abstinence,” I said, “remind us that we are totally dependent on God. Fasting helps us develop the discipline to say ‘no’ to the things that will hurt our relationship with God and with others.”

The young people shrugged. I knew they heard me, but I wasn’t sure if they had understood the role fasting and abstinence play in turning our hearts back toward God.

This year I will ask for the help of an old friend, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350–1419), whose feast day is April 5. After explaining to young people about fasting and abstinence, I will introduce St. Vincent as an example of how these practices can help them draw closer to God and others. But instead of delivering a lecture about him, I will show young people how they might learn from St. Vincent’s example this Lent.

I will write each of the following facts about St. Vincent on a different slip of paper:

Before joining the Dominican Order in 1367, Vincent had memorized Scripture.
Vincent received a vision from St. Dominic and St. Francis, in which they told him to “go through the world and preach Christ.”
Vincent walked all over Europe, preaching in in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy.
Vincent helped restore unity to the Church during the Great Western Schism, when three different men claimed to be pope.
Vincent supported the wrong man during the Great Western Schism. When he learned his mistake, he told people to support the true pope.

I will place the slips of paper in a basket. I will then explain that when we give something up for Lent, we can do something in its place that draws us closer to God. Fasting and abstinence give us the freedom to be people for others. That is why it is such an important practice during Lent.

I will then invite the young people to draw a slip of paper, read it aloud, and then, before returning the slip back into the basket, think of something they can do that would imitate St. Vincent. For example:

Vincent memorized Scripture; a young person could read Scripture each day.
Vincent “preached Christ;” a young person could preach Christ by performing one of the works of mercy.
Vincent walked all over Europe; young people could commit to being more active during Lent.
Vincent helped restore unity to the Church; young people could pray for Pope Leo XIV each day during Lent.
Vincent admitted his mistake in supporting the wrong man as pope; young people could celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

For the remainder of Lent, we can then begin each class by recalling how we imitated St. Vincent during the week. If time allows (and if the young people seem to enjoy this activity), we can then draw from the basket again.

Fasting helps us grow closer to God by focusing our attention on that which we truly need. By following the example of St. Vincent Ferrer, we can be sure that our Lenten fast will free us to do more for God and others.

Giving Alms with St. Katharine Drexel

Whenever I talk about the three pillars of Lent, the conversation I have with young people about alms usually goes something like this:

“What are alms?” one youth will ask. “Are those the things we get on the Sunday before Easter?”

“No,” I’ll correct gently, “those are palms.”

“I know,” another will say, “it’s a book in the Bible!”

“That’s not right either; you’re thinking of Psalms.” I will then go on to explain: alms are things we do—such as giving money or things—to help people in need. Giving alms means that we perform an act of charity for others. “If we want to please God,” I’ll have to explain, “we help people in need.”

During Lent, we give alms to express our solidarity with those who are poor, and in so doing, we turn our hearts toward Christ, who became poor for our sake.

Perhaps St. Katharine Drexel (1858–1955), whose feast day is on March 3, can explain the meaning of almsgiving better than I can. After all, she used her family’s fortune to help those who lived on the margins of society. Her father taught her that their wealth was not theirs; their wealth ultimately belonged to the poor.

There are two ways I can welcome St. Katharine into my classroom this Lent. First, I can share some details about her life’s work, such as setting up missions for Native Americans and founding schools, like Xavier University, that served African Americans. As a class, we will think about a charity that St. Katharine would want us to help, and we will dedicate an almsgiving box to serve that cause. We can decorate it with pictures and quotes from St. Katharine.

The second thing I can do is hand out a Lenten Family Calendar for the young people to take home. St. Katharine’s generosity was an extension of her prayer life; by doing the activities of this calendar, young people (and their families) will engage in both prayer and works of charity, thus following the example of St. Katharine. I will encourage them to do the activities found in that calendar; I might spend a little time each class to talk about what activities from the calendar they did during the week and talk about what those activities were like for them. Were they challenging? Did they learn something about themselves or others?

This Lent, I hope that the young people all develop a generous heart like St. Katharine Drexel, and that, like her, they become people for others.