Dear members of the SLU family,
Thank you for joining us as we begin our Lenten journey of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, preparing ourselves to participate in the Paschal Mystery with Jesus. We invite you to check back every day to read reflections on the season by fellow students, faculty members, and staff. Take some time to read about the programming that we offer throughout Lent - reading groups, celebrations of the Stations of the Cross, discussion circles, and more.
While we offer our Lenten programming to aid you in your journey, we know that the gospel demands not only that we change ourselves, but that we be agents of the coming of the reign of God in the world around us. In this moment in our history, a moment that is so saturated with violence and misunderstanding, we pray that the performance of the rituals and disciplines of Lent will be the catalysts and the outward manifestations of true and lasting change of heart. We see in our country a wave of anti-Semitic threats and acts of destruction at Jewish cemeteries; a rise in anti-Muslim violence and burnings of mosques; hateful speech and actions against immigrants and refugees; threats to the safety of members of the LGBTQ+ community; continued indifference to the deep-seated racism in our midst; and so many other manifestations of our need for conversion of heart and life. These are not unrelated - far from it - to the urgent proclamation of the reign of God that led Jesus to the cross, and which lays central claim to our lives as people of God.
Now is the time to reach out in solidarity to the stranger, to wash one another's feet, to break bread with those who misunderstand us and who we so often misunderstand.
With you on the way,
Patrick Cousins
Assistant Director,
Department of Campus Ministry
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