Collection of Lenten Posts

As we observe this holy season, here are some of our posts from past years concerning Lenten prayers, practices, and devotions.  During Lent we intensify the work of conversion, metanoia, turning from self to God, which is common to all the seasons of our monastic life.  We pray that you receive many graces during this Lent.

Parce Days: Making Reparation — on the three days before Lent

St. Dominic prays at the foot of the Cross with his arms like a crossThe three days leading up to Ash Wednesday we call the “Parce Days” (pronounced PAR-chay, for those unfamiliar with ecclesiastical Latin). These are days are observed as days of special penance in reparation for the excesses of Mardi Gras, going back to at least the 13th century. During the Parce Days, we pray special prayers of reparation, most notably by dropping our other employments and …
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Reparation Prayer for Lent — prayed daily at 3:00 pm

Painting by Fra Angelico, Crucifixion with St. DominicI adore You, O loving Savior, Jesus Christ, Who died on the Cross for me. I very humbly thank You and ask pardon for all my sins through the merits of Your Passion and Death. I ask the grace to live and to die holily. Courage, my soul, time in flying, death will come, eternity is nigh. O my God, grant me the favor to pass this hour and every one of my life as …
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Video: Canticle of the Passion — a devotion for the Fridays of Lent

The Canticle of the Passion, or the “Passion Verses” as we say, is a specifically Dominican devotion traditionally sung on the Fridays of Lent.  A compilation of texts from Sacred Scripture relating to the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, this devotion was revealed by the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Catherine de Ricci, a cloistered Dominican Tertiary of the 16th century, after the Saint experienced the first of her many ecstasies sharing Our Lord’s Passion. “Our Lady is said to have desired … Continue reading

Vocation Letters: Living Lent — a glimpse of our life

Vocation Letters cartoon of Dominican nuns living the liturgical season of Lent with their traditional practices of receiving Ashes, praying before Jesus on the cross, and covering statues with purple drapes for Passiontide.

Dear Mom and Dad, Prayerful Lenten greetings from Marbury–as it will certainly be Lent by the time you receive this! Since we don’t receive social visits during Lent, you’ve never been able to get a glimpse of how we live out this season at the monastery. I would love to share it with you—I’ve been looking forward to Lent since the end of the Christmas season. . .Continue reading →