This Lent, 'Fast and Feast' to Reflect on Your Relationship with God
02/26/2020
The Department of Campus Ministry invites the SLU community to journey through the Lenten season with a daily reflection series focused on helping Billikens fast but also to feast as they renew their relationships with God and each other.
The series begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26, and will continue through the 40 days of Lent. Easter Sunday is Sunday, April 12.
“Reflection into action is an important part of our Catholic, Jesuit identity here at Saint Louis University – two main components of Ignatian pedagogy,” Susanne Chawszczewski, director of campus ministry, said. “The images you will encounter during this time will hopefully bring you to both reflect and act each day with gratitude and hopefulness. I would like to think that this is what St. Ignatius intended with the Examen. And we continue as an institution to embrace that heritage.”
Joyful Preparation for Celebrating a Miraculous Mystery
Lent is a period of preparation to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. The season has two key dimensions, joy and preparation.
According to the Roman Catholic Church, through the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, “The season of Lent has a twofold character: primarily by recalling or preparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the Paschal Mystery.”
“It is a time for seeking the Lord in prayer and reflection, reading Scripture, giving alms, and practicing self-control through fasting,” Chawszczewski explained.
As part of the SLU community’s Lenten preparations, Campus Ministry has crafted a daily reflection series based on images and short passages meant to inspire reflection and to mark a path forward toward a renewed, richer relationship with God and others.
“A daily reflection can help us to remember that we are really called to a true conversion – in our hearts, our minds, our bodies – to be a follower of Christ,” Chawszczewski said.
Reflecting to ‘Fast and Feast’
This year, rather than a blog or a written reflection, the department chose to use images grounded in the theme, “Fast and Feast.” The duality, Chawszczewski said, illustrates the two key characteristics of Lent and calls Billikens to more deeply examine ways that both fasting and feasting can better the world and bring one into closer fellowship, spiritually and with other people.
“There is so much brokenness in our lives and in our world – a brokenness that we must ultimately share with Our Savior in the context of this Lenten journey,” she continued. “It is a reminder that we can fast from more than just food but that we can also feast on actions that bring us closer to each other and to God.”
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Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers nearly 13,000 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.