Saint George's Anglican Church, Paris
Saint George's Anglican Church, Paris

Lent 2023

You can find details of Lenten reading and a practise of daily examination from Saint Ignatius Loyola below.  Texts on a Rule of Life or preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation are also below.

Stations of the Cross with the Stabat Mater
Stations_Stabat Mater_Richard Coles 2020[...]
Document Adobe Acrobat [1.1 MB]
Making a Rule of Life in Lent
Rule of Life_Lent (A5).pdf
Document Adobe Acrobat [100.5 KB]
Why go to Confession by Jim Forrest
Why Go to Confession Booklet_Jim Forrest[...]
Document Adobe Acrobat [441.1 KB]
Self Examination using the Beatitudes by Jim Forrest
Self Examination using Beatitudes_Jim Fo[...]
Document Adobe Acrobat [480.1 KB]

Books in Lent

The Falling of Dusk by Paul Dominiak

ISBN9781472990471;

Dominiak's concern is to explore how religious conviction remains possible without certainty, and how faith and doubt necessarily co-exist, avoiding both religious dogmatism and doctrinaire atheism. He converses both with the great doubters of Christianity and with the meaning of Jesus’s final words on the cross, those messages of repair spoken as “darkness covered the earth.”

Dominiak is open, wise, and thoughtful. It is a book full of theological ideas, but the tone is that of a retreat address rather than a treatise. It is a book for those who have lost faith in faith, or those who feel that they haven’t properly integrated honesty of experience with theological truth. His creative curation of the Seven Last Words is rewarding and, though some may find it a tiny bit too heady at times, many more will be grateful for its heart, and for its grace and ability to help in translating belief into the habits of relating to God, others, and oneself. I am still gratefully reflecting on his insight that: “we can’t hate our way through hurt without becoming trapped by it.”

The Way of Thomas Merton: A prayer journey through Lent by Robert Inchausti

ISBN 10: 028108582X ;

Nineteen short chapters, each followed by some questions for reflection, introduce us to Merton’s work, particularly his emphasis on being liberated from the “false self”. The author knows his subject, but presents Merton accessibly, without letting the material become trite or thin.

The question “Whose life am I actually living?” is resonant at a time when so many voices are shouting at us from the wings about what we should be doing on stage. Merton’s relentless commitment to seeing beyond what he is good at, to seeing where the mask has eaten into his face, and the destructive ways in which we are made to fit in with expectations, is an important provocation to us.

Meeting God in Matthew by Elaine Storkey

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0281081956 :

With a self-effacing scholarship that wants to share its discoveries to deepen faith rather than win admiration, Storkey introduces us to St Matthew and his Gospel in some fresh and insightful ways.

 ...

This presence of love, no matter what, is at the heart of Storkey’s reading of Matthew. It is a Gospel that reminds us that the early Christian community obviously had fiery issues and differences among themselves, and holding these two truths together, human difference and divine fidelity, we understand how vital it is to acquaint ourselves with Matthew’s faith in our own attempts as a Church to stay together and so to reflect the God who never walks away from us. Storkey resists shirking from textual conundrums, but neither does she unweave the rainbow of the Gospel’s beauty.

Lent Study Groups

Tuesday Group

19h00-21h00 by Zoom

Taught by Fr Jeffrey, we will be looking at The Sacraments.

Saturday Group

TBC

Facilitated by Sonia Taylor and Fr Nicolas this group

will follow a French language Bible Study.

The Examen ou La prière d’alliance

Practising the Examen shouldn't take very long (10-15 minutes) and ideally should be at the same time each day. Bedtime isn't the best time - we're sleepy and shutting down - try making a hot drink and giving yourself some quality time.

You might like to jot things in a journal - or talk over what you've discovered about yourself and God with an accompanier (email the clergy for more details). The prayer helps us be clearer not only that God is active in our daily lives but what we're being called to be and do in response! Have a good Lent! 

No matter what you're worrying about ... stop!

God is with you—quiet perhaps, but always there. Remember that God has created everything.

Think about all you have - it's a gift so that when you look back over the last 24 hours you might see it from God's loving perspective, working in the things that have happened to you -is there something that you would like to be particularly thankful for today? 

 

Ask God to shine his light into your heart

 

Now remember the past 24 hours...

so that when you look back over the day you might see it from God's perspective, working in the things that have happened to you.

 

Remember the people you met and the things that happened –was it a ‘good’ day or a ‘bad’ day? Was it unusual? Who did you meet? Did you come across something surprising: a long-lost friend… or an awkward enemy? Does something special come to mind… something I was told… a beautiful sunset… something on the TV? In all the things that happened how did you feel? Was it joy or sadness, anger or fear? Maybe you felt great and were happy? What caused your feelings and did they change during the day?

 

God guides us through our moods and feelings. Normally, the way of God is (in a deep sense) peaceful and consoling. If your day was disturbed or if you were uneasy, can you sense where that uneasiness was coming from? Like a sailor buffeted by different winds we are affected by different things—the better we come to know these swirling breezes, the easier it will be to see the perhaps subtle movements of God in our lives.

 

Where was God in the events of the last 24 hours...

There will be things—if you can’t think of anything then you haven’t looked hard enough! I will give thanks for this. But also, did I turn away from God during the day? Maybe I turned a blind eye when it suited me? Did I recognise God in that homeless person, the annoying child or the spiteful co-worker? Ask for forgiveness for anything you may have done to hinder or ignore God’s love during the day that has passed. Ask especially for the graces of healing and strength.

 

Commit the coming 24 hours to God...

The prayer isn't about self-improvement! It's about knowing the presence of God. Because we are a people of hope—let us remember that God will be with us wherever and whatever is before us.

 

Ici il y a un lien pour La prière d’alliance en français. 

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