Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
March 25th, 2023
Call to Action: 76
76. We call upon the parties engaged in the work of documenting, maintaining, commemorating, and protecting residential school cemeteries to adopt strategies in accordance with the following principles:
i. The Aboriginal community most affected shall lead the development of such strategies.
ii. Information shall be sought from residential school Survivors and other Knowledge Keepers in the
development of such strategies.
iii. Aboriginal protocols shall be respected before any potentially invasive technical inspection and
investigation of a cemetery site.
Suggestions for Almsgiving
Suggestions for Further Study
If you have time today, take a moment and watch Nikki’s full TEDx talk titled, “Decolonization Is For Everyone,” included in the Listening to Indigenous Voices guide from the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice.
The 2023 Lenten Calendar is a project of CTA's Indigenous Solidarity Collective, a working group that addresses the Catholic Church's historical and current role in colonialization. To support more projects from working groups like this one, please consider making a contribution!
Saturday, Mar. 25, 2023
Missing Children and Burial Information
Call To Action's 2023 Lenten Calendar is a collaboration between the Indigenous Solidarity Collective and Anti-Racism Team (ART). This calendar provides more than 40 days of prayer and study to lead members into action and solidarity with Indigenous communities. For holy days and Sundays during Lent, we'll publish a reflection from an ART or Indigenous Solidarity Collective member on why we're committed to undoing racism and Indigenous oppression in our own communities and biases and what it means to do this work as Catholics. Following each meditation or reflection, we will feature a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Today is the Solemnity of the Annunciation--a joyous occasion that serves as a break from this Lenten season of penance. It might seem odd to celebrate the Annunciation during Lent, and not Advent, but this feast day dates back to Early Christian tradition, in which people were thought to pass on the same day they were born. This feast day, then, connects our futures to our pasts; our living to our dead.
This Lent, I've been thinking a lot about ancestors; of homelands past and present; of what it means to engage with the history of each space you're in. How do we stay connected to these ancestors and lands? What do we take from these spaces and what do we give back?
Today is meant to be a celebration. It's okay, during Lent, to take this time to both celebrate what's to come and honor what brought us here. In the words of Indigenous poet Joy Harjo: We gave thanks for the story, for all parts of the story.
—Meditation by Indigenous Solidarity Collective member Lauren Barbato
As part of your Lenten practice, please consider donating to one or more of the
following organizations: