Operation Rice Bowl: A Lenten Tradition
Operation Rice Bowl On-Line Community
Ash Wednesday 2008
Thank you for signing up to participate in Operation Rice Bowl's online community. This Lenten program of Catholic Relief Services invites Catholics in the United States to respect human dignity and foster solidarity with the poor through the traditional practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In turn, participants will become a part of the stories of people throughout the world who are rising from poverty with the help of these relationships of solidarity.
Each Monday in Lent we will e-mail you a reflection to help guide you on your Lenten journey. The weekly messages will spotlight a different CRS program, offer reflections on prayer and fasting, and suggest ways that you can participate in the work of helping people to rise from poverty.
Today's Ash Wednesday reflection invites you to prepare for this global journey as for a spiritual pilgrimage with Jesus as your guide.
Pray - The wheel of the church season has turned. Today the green of ordinary time is replaced with Lenten purple. The time has come to dip into the remnants of last year's Palm Sunday procession and to rub the ashes on our forehead. We are invited again to make a return to the Lord. Think of it as a pilgrimage, a journey that invites us profoundly to reorient the way we walk with Christ and with humanity. Through Operation Rice Bowl this Lenten pilgrimage will take a global route, winding through some of the world's poorest places. Consider that Jesus' own earthly walk led his disciples directly into the lives of people who struggled and suffered, bringing healing and hope and a new sense of communion. In your prayer this Lent, imagine yourself visiting these communities and listening to their stories as would a disciple following Jesus to the next new and challenging place. What is God teaching you about love and compassion and repentance in these encounters?
Fast - A pilgrim travels light. There's only so much that one can comfortably carry when on the move. To prepare for your Lenten journey, first decide what you will leave behind. Consider what slows you down, tires you out, what burdens you. What would you rather not lug along as you work to keep pace with Jesus this Lent? If you do without it for 40 days, you may find that you don't really need it all.
Learn - A pilgrimage is typically arranged around holy sites, those places and people that make the life of Jesus or the experiences of a saint real to the traveler. Your Operation Rice Bowl pilgrimage will take you to Guatemala and Mali, to India, Haiti and Cameroon, and return you to the United States with a stop in Fort Myers, Florida. In each encounter, God has placed something that you are meant to take with you. As you enter these stories, look for the lesson you are meant to remember and to share with those you will reconnect with on the other side of Easter.
Give - The Reign of God, which is really what you will be exploring this Lent, is a place of mutuality, of earnest giving and humble receiving. Just as you considered what you would leave behind before embarking on this pilgrimage with Jesus, now make note of what you will bring with you to share with those you encounter on the way. What gifts has God placed in your temporary care, meant for the benefit of someone else? How far across the world will God's abundance stretch? Pack wisely and with an open heart.
