the life’s healing journey lenten yer a pr & reflection guide · life’s healing journey...

The Life’s Healing Journey

Lenten Prayer & Reflection Guide

2L I F E ’ S H E A L I N G J O U R N E Y L E N T E N G U I D E

We have produced this special guide to accompany you through Lent as we all make our way with our Savior to the joy of Palm Sunday, the celebration of the First Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the sorrow and sacrifice of Good Friday, and the miracle of Easter.

Catholics have many ways to celebrate Lent with sacrifice, fasting, and prayer. We hope this guide, which is meant to help you grow closer to God in a personal way, will help you on your journey.

Most importantly we hope you engage with the content to truly reflect on your faith, your strengths, your weaknesses, your hurts and losses, and your blessings, and start to understand the unending love and mercy God has for you, and that you are called to share.

Each reading from the Sundays of Lent will have a meditation, a reflection to consider in relation to your own spiritual life, an action to help you grow, and a discussion if you would like to share this guide with your Bible study, prayer, men’s or women’s group, or other friend, family member, or association you feel called to share with.

All you need to work through the guide is a notebook and a pencil or pen. If you like to read, you may want to have a Bible near you so you can reflect on the reading in full.

If you would like to use this guide in a group setting, make sure that everyone has the materials they will need to reflect and that everyone agrees to be respectful of each other and non-judgmental of each other’s experiences.

We hope you have a very blessed Lent and you fully experience the merciful love of God.

Life’s Healing Journey (LHJ) is an international spiritual program of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart that empowers and supports you towards the road to forgiveness, acceptance, and growth. This journey offers a way to inner peace and prepares you to make the changes you need to be set free.

Prayer and Reflection For Your Journey


Sin and Death: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

God created us to live, not to die. He breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve and into each one of us. Turning from God to self brought shame, guilt, alienation, and death. Now being exposed before God was frightening.

Personal Reflection

• Do I see myself as God’s unique creation and in the process of growth? Do I allow God’s breath of life into my life each day?

• Do I feel like I must hide who I am from God and others? Do I accept myself as I am?

• Is there need for healing in my relationship with God? Have I been afraid to approach God?

Action

Take a minute to just listen to your own heartbeat and breathing. Thank God for this very moment. God is giving to you your life right now. Real-ize that God cares for you, believes in you, loves you.

First Sunday of Lent: Reflection 1


New Life: Romans 5:12-19

The abundance of grace and justification comes through Jesus Christ. Through the obedience of one, the many will be made righteous.

Personal Reflection

• Do I believe that God’s mercy is greater than my sin? Do I see myself as a loved sinner?

• Can I forgive others who have wronged me?

Action

Imagine yourself at the foot of the Cross and listen to Jesus say that the Father forgives you because you did not know what you were doing. Allow yourself to feel the Lord’s forgiveness.



Son of God: Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus enters deep union with God and strengthens his own vocation as Son. He is tempted to doubt himself and his true vocation.

Personal Reflection

• Am I aware of my own redeemed nature as a child of God? Have I been tempted to lose faith in God and myself? Have I tried to control my life, or the lives of others, only to lose control and become addicted to substances, behaviors, or relation-ships that enslave me?

• What are some strengths I see in myself? How can these grow in me?

• What are some of the sins, faults or, mistakes I have made that I need to acknowledge and work on?

Action

Take time alone in God’s presence, try-ing to feel the close-ness of perfect pa-rental love for you. You are a beloved child of God. Say over and over: “here I am; I come to do your will.” Consider fasting from your desire to control. Think of anything or anyone that might be in the way of your commitment to God’s will.



What would a “right relationship with God” look like? How can we help each other on the journey to a right relationship with God who loves us? How can we remind each other that we are loved even though we have sinned? What can we do to encourage each other to a greater trust in God’s love? Discuss what each of us might need to let go of (fast from) this Lent.

First Sunday of Lent: Group Discussion


Go Forth: Genesis 12:1-4a

“Go forth… Abram went as the Lord directed him.” God constantly calls each of us to a spiritual journey throughout life.

Personal Reflection

• What is holding me back from journeying with God in my life? Am I holding on to past negative expe-riences that keep me from trusting God, myself, and others?

• Can I name my fears?• Do I recognize my past hurts, pains, and disillu-

sionments, and how they might still be affecting my ability to be free to move forward in my life?

Action

Write down some of the hurts, pains, and disillusionments of your life. Remem-ber that God is with you and loves you. Don’t be afraid to admit that some of the hurts have been there for a long time.

Second Sunday of Lent: Reflection 1


Our Strength in Hardships: 2 Timothy 1:8b-10

The Lord has lived our human life and knows our pains and hardships. Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and restored life, will be our strength.

Personal Reflection

• Do I believe that God loves me and calls me to a holy life?

• Am I holding on to my hurts and pains and think-ing of myself as a victim? Jesus is the true victim. Am I willing to process my pain with the Lord and little by little pass with him from death to life?

Action

Meditate on the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary. Think about how the Lord has lived and ex-perienced all your suffering: emotional, physical, and spiritu-al. Allow the Lord to be with you in your suffering and pain. Share your life story with him.



Transformation: Matthew 17:1-9

Just when the Apostles think they know the Lord, they are overcome with a greater experience of the mystery of his person as the Son of God. God tells the Apos-tles to “listen to him.” Jesus then tells them to “rise and do not be afraid.”

Personal Reflection

• Do I question and not believe the mysterious “something greater” that I sometimes feel with-in me? Are my prayer times filled only with my words? Do I listen?

• Are there painful experiences in my life that have helped me to grow?

Action

Try to silence your-self for a minute in God’s presence. Don’t say anything. Just listen. Each week of Lent in-crease the minute of silence by another minute. Listen to the call to be “some-thing more” than you have been.


1 0L I F E ’ S H E A L I N G J O U R N E Y L E N T E N G U I D E

Share some transformative experiences of life that have helped you have a deeper encounter with the Son of God: the birth of a child; falling in love; losing a loved one; growing older; letting go of an unhealthy relationship; dealing with addiction; etc. Have these experiences helped you to become more aware of “something greater” operating in your life?

Work at listening to one another without offering solutions or advice. Listen for and appreciate God’s voice in each other. Work at loving-listening without intervening as a life dynamic: think of what living with others like this might be like!

Second Sunday of Lent: Group Discussion


Turn Back? Exodus 17:3-7

When trusting God became difficult, the people were tempted to turn back and blame Moses and God for their pain and suffering.

Personal Reflection

• When I remember the hurts, pains, losses, and disappointments in my life, do I blame God or a significant person or myself? It is important to identify whoever I hold responsible for my pain.

• What am I thirsting for in my life? • Have I ever chosen to return to an unhealthy rela-

tionship because I was afraid to move forward?

Action

List some of the hurts, losses, etc. you have experi-enced in life and next to each ex-perience place the name of the person you blame. You can blame God. Try not to blame yourself for everything.

Third Sunday of Lent: Reflection 1


He Died for Us: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

“...while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” We are helpless to save ourselves; Christ is our savior. Our response to being saved is thanksgiving. The central action of the Church is the Eucharist: a cele-bration of gratitude.

Personal Reflection

• Do I think that I can earn my salvation? Are my prayers, charitable actions, and obedience to the laws of God and the Church done out of thanksgiving or am I thinking that I need to earn God’s favor?

• Is there something that I have done that I think cannot be pardoned, even by God? Do I allow God to forgive me? Can I forgive myself?

Action

Compose a prayer thanking God for lov-ing you even when you have sinned.



Give Me a Drink: John 4:5-42Jesus approaches a sinful woman and asks for her help. “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” This woman had iden-tified herself as someone who was a sinner. She had lost belief in herself to the point of completely losing her self-respect. She even allowed herself to be abused by others. Jesus treats her with respect and by ask-ing for a drink gives her a chance to rediscover her self-worth; to know herself as loved by God.

Personal Reflection• Have I ever experienced someone believing in me when I had lost

faith in myself?

• Have hurts, losses, disillusionments, etc. in my past made me lose faith in God, myself, and others? What are other effects that these painful experiences have caused in my life?

• Have I ever communicated my belief in someone else when they had lost faith in themselves?

• What are my gifts, abilities, and talents that I can use to serve others?

• Have I been aware of the needs of a stranger: a foreigner, someone of a different religion, culture, or language; someone who might be rejected by others for their sexuality or orientation, or their drug problems, etc.?

ActionLook at the list you made ear-lier of your hurts, pains, loss-es, and disillusionments in life and the people you blame and now reflect on the effects they have had in your life.

Write down some of those effects. Have you allowed those experiences to make you lose hope in yourself?Imagine that you are the Samaritan woman and that Jesus comes and asks you for your help. He believes in the good in you. Ask him to help you rediscover your own value and worth.

Reach out to someone who needs to know that you be-lieve in them.



Share an experience of someone who believed in you and helped you to realize your worth. Place the name of each per-son in your group at the top of a blank page. Pass the pages around allowing the others in the group to list the qualities they honestly see in that person (without sign-ing). Give sufficient time for each one to read the feedback of the others. End with a spontaneous prayer of thanksgiving.

Third Sunday of Lent: Group Discussion


Anointed: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

”There - anoint him, for this is the one!”

Personal Reflection• No one even thought of Jesse’s youngest son when Samuel came to

anoint a new king. Have I devalued myself as one called by God?

• Have I ever thought of myself as “chosen and called” by God and anointed for a mission?

• David achieved great accomplishments as king but he also had mo-ments of serious sin.

• Have I placed unreal expectations on myself and others who are anointed for ministry?

• Have I ever felt overlooked for some work or responsibility that I felt I could accomplish?

• Have I felt sadness or even despair for my own failures or my lack of commitment to the Lord?

Action

Spend some quiet time in the Lord’s presence. Then while gazing into a mirror make the sign of the cross on your own forehead with a little oil. Remember that you were anointed on the day of your baptism. Renew your commitment to the Lord. You may want to write down what that commitment looks like.

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Reflection 1


Arise From the Dead and Christ Will Give You Light: Ephesians 5:8-11

The scripture says: “now you are light in the Lord.”

Personal Reflection

• I sometimes have lived in darkness. Yes, I recog-nize my mistakes and the sins I have committed, but I am not a mistake. I am not a sin. I recognize my faults of the past and ask forgiveness. I accept responsibility for my actions and omissions and work to change. It might be a good moment for the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Action

Do an Examination of Conscience but with the eyes of your heart focused on the Lord, not on your faults. Also, be aware of the gifts given to you by God. Listen to the Lord’s voice saying to you: awake o sleeper, arise from the dead, and I will give you light!



The Light of the World: John 9:1-41A lot of people in Jesus’s time thought that a birth defect or disability was the result of sin; it was cause and effect. Similarly, some people today think that a person is already condemned by their background: “he or she comes from a dysfunctional family, so what do you expect;” they grew up on “the other side of the tracks” so you can understand why they are that way; the people of his or her “race or religion” are like this or that, so be careful; etc. We even have our sayings: “a bad apple from a bad tree,” etc.

Personal Reflection• Have I ever been made to feel bad about myself because of my family

background or the area I come from or the faith I practice? Have I been judged and discriminated against for any similar reason?

• Have I ever judged people on similar criteria?

• Do I see physical limitations or defects in myself or others as a curse?

• Jesus heals the blind man in a very symbolic way. When he makes a paste of saliva and earth, we are reminded of God creating Adam and Eve. Jesus is giving the blind man not only physical sight, but also the light of faith. He now has the eyes of faith to see things as they truly are.

• Do I tend to only look at the surface of things?

• Have I stopped looking positively into the people with whom I share my life?

ActionLook again at the important people in your life. Try to see beyond the superficial. Look at them more deeply. Realize that even in the closest peo-ple in our lives there is still a mystery to be appreciated even if we cannot always understand them. Ask God to help you appreciate and not judge others.

That same mystery is also within each of us. Only God knows us completely. Ask God to reveal more of you to yourself and to help you ap-preciate those parts of your-self you do not understand.

Reach out to someone who for no good reason you did not accept before.



Sit in a circle around a lit candle. Share with each other a little of the prejudices and/or attitudes of discrimination that you have discovered in yourself. Ask God for forgiveness. End by joining hands and praying the Our Father.

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Group Discussion


I Will Open Your Graves and Have You Rise from Them: Ezekiel 37:12-14

Personal Reflection

• Hurts, pains, disillusionments, and losses in my life may have become a graveyard for me. If I continue to hold on to them, I cannot live in the present.

• Am I more aware of what I need to let go of? What I need to forgive?

• Forgiving is often painful, but not to is deadly. For-giving heals me. It brings me life.

ActionI begin to review my notes from the beginning of Lent. What are some of my im-portant wounds that I now recognize? Who do I blame in each case (without judg-ing anyone; just name the person involved)? What are some of the effects of the wounds I hold onto? How do they keep me in “the valley of death”? Go deeper into your story. Recognize that the open wounds in your heart will only be healed by forgiving. Ask the Lord to help you in your journey toward forgiveness.

Fifth Sunday of Lent: Reflection 1


Action

Reflect on the lov-ing people in your life and how they have helped enliven the Spirit of God in you. Try to put into action one of the Corporal Works of Mercy this week.


Arise From the Dead and Christ Will Give You Light: Ephesians 5:8-11

Personal Reflection

• Forgiveness does not mean that the hurtful events of my past were okay. Forgiveness means that I want to live in the Spirit, that is, live in the present with the Lord. Because I belong to Christ, I want to forgive.


ActionImagine yourself in the tomb like Lazarus. What is hold-ing you bound? What blinds you to see the good in your-self and others? What are the hurts, pains, and losses in your life that have you hugging yourself so tightly that in your loneliness you are bound to them? Do you feel like you are in a cold and dark place in your life? Can you hear Jesus calling to you? Come out!


The One You Love Is Ill: John 11:1-45

Jesus did not have only family, apostles, and disciples in his life… he also had close friends. They had expec-tations of Jesus which were not fulfilled as they had hoped. This is a story of trust and mistrust; of hopes and disillusionments; of anger and resolution; of grief, loss, and rediscovery; of death and life.

Personal Reflection

• Have I ever suffered disillusionment with God who did not respond to my plea?

• Have very significant people in my life let me down?

• Who are some of the significant people in my life who have died? Did I have closure with all of them?


Share some stories of important people in your life who have died. Sometimes when we begin to share, we recognize not only our lingering grief, but also some of the issues we might still need to process.

Fifth Sunday of Lent: Group Discussion


We Are The Focus Of The Lord’s Passionate Love: Matthew 26:14-27; 66

Personal Reflection• Have I ever experienced betrayal? Is the hurt still in my

heart?

• Have I ever denied someone to save myself? Has someone done that to me?

• Are my responses to injustice violent? Am I quick to “raise the sword” when in a conflictive situation?

• Do I feel guilty about running away from a difficult situation?

• Have I been silent and just part of the crowd when someone has been unjustly judged?

• What has been my response before the physical sufferings of others? My own physical suffering?

• Have I ever felt abandoned by God?

Palm Sunday of Holy Week Reflection Guide


Action 1Spend time reflecting on the Lord’s Passion. Walk and reflect on the Way of the Cross remembering that the Lord knows all your sufferings and is with you. Allow the Lord more deeply into your painful life experiences. You are not and have never been alone. The Lord is with you.

Action 2Go to the Good Friday celebration of the Passion and Death of the Lord, or at home before a cross, spend some time contemplating the Lord’s love for you. Is there anything you need to let go of to embrace his cross - to receive his love? Write down the hurts, pains, and disillusionments that you are still struggling to let go of and don’t feel capable of forgiving.

Action 3Go to the Easter Vigil. Take along your list of the most difficult pains you have - the ones you have not been able to forgive, even a little. Symbolically put them in the Easter fire. Allow the Lord to help you burn away whatever has not let you live and love in the present. Light a small Easter candle and focus on the Lord who at this very moment is offering you a new life. Accept him, putting into his hands the pains in your life that only he can heal.

If you can’t go to the vigil, make your own little Easter fire and burn (or bury in your garden) the list of unforgivable pains and losses. Focus on the Risen Lord who is with you. Light a candle and use it as your prayer candle throughout the Easter season.

Palm Sunday of Holy Week Reflection Guide

Group Discussion

Have Easter dinner with others. Look around the table and discover the presence of the Lord in the people you’re with.

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