Religious seasons follow an established liturgical calendar (calendars with quite a surprising intricate level of planning).
Having a regularly-scheduled liturgical calendar provides a rhythm to our communal faith experience and the opportunity to connect with the myriad of faith concepts during the times set aside to celebrate – and engage with – these concepts.
Our faith experience is at the same time personal. I have struggled at times with engaging with liturgical seasons on a fixed calendar, preferring to engage with faith concepts when such concepts become personally meaningful – and therefore easy to connect with – in the seasons of my own life.
Yet, the photo above speaks to the communal nature of faith. The rosary shown above is the rosary I was given for my First Communion at age seven. My classmates and I received our First Communion together – in community. The occasion was special enough that I’ve kept my first communion rosary all these years (I keep it in a special place at home where it won’t get lost). The wooden cross outside of the rosary was handmade for me by an acquaintance when I was in high school. I don’t remember the name of the fellow who made the cross for me, but the communal nature of the gift was meaningful – I’ve likewise kept the cross all these years. The cross laid inside the rosary likewise has a story; when churches were again able to have limited church services as we began emerging from COVID lockdowns, we couldn’t each “kiss a cross” at my parish at the Easter Vigil – so we were each given one of these small crosses at the Easter Vigil. Again, a communal experience. Again, I kept the cross….. Rosaries can be prayed alone, anywhere; rosaries are also often prayed communally. Placing one wooden cross in the rosary speaks to Jesus within prayers to his mother, while another cross placed outside the rosary (on purple fabric for the color of Lent) speaks to Jesus’ sacrificial death being for all of us – those of us who are both within community and for all those who are not in community.
We grow in faith in community. We are meant serve our communities. We have the opportunity to grow religiously in community with one another during liturgical seasons such as Lent – as well as within the flow of our own life’s seasons.
Welcome to 2024’s communal season of Lent – a time of reflection, fasting, being of service. We spend 40 days anticipating Christianity’s holiest religious day of the year – the anniversary of God’s ultimate display of love for all of us.
Kim Burkhardt blogs at A Parish Catechist and The Books of the Ages (and a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers). If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!). You can also support this blog by clicking here when you are going to shop on Amazon (that lands A Parish Catechist a commission on Amazon sales).
