Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
April 1st, 2023
Call to Action: 83
83. We call upon the Canada Council for the Arts to establish, as a funding priority, a strategy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects and produce works that contribute to the reconciliation process.
Suggestions for Almsgiving
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, Apr. 1, 2023
Commemoration
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's Gospel ends on a curious note. As the Jewish people prepare for Passover, they wonder if Jesus, the man performing all these healing miracles and raising folks from the dead, will come to the feast. The lectionary doesn't include the final lines of the chapter—that everyone, including Jesus, knows he is a wanted man. His time here—whether in Judea or on this Earth—is limited.
I've never thought much about the time before Jesus rides into Jerusalem when he retreats out of the public eye. What did Jesus feel? Did this time, however fleeting, provide him with the space to grieve, to mourn, so he may gain the courage to ride into Jerusalem?
What sorrow, burdens, and grief are we holding onto today? What can we endure and then release as we enter Holy Week?
—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: