Discovering Lent Recap

There’s nothing like crisp, below freezing temperatures and bright morning sunshine to welcome you to the day. When Discovering Lent arrived on Saturday, February 22nd, the snow-dusted world was just awakening to the sun-filled promise of warmer days ahead, while still firmly rooted in the chilly reality that winter is still here.

The hope of spring while winter still lingers is the perfect description of the season of Lent, and as participants made their way down the walkway at Camp Widjiwagan, then onto the tree-lined path to Cedar Lodge, we felt the truth of this rooted anticipation of what’s to come while intended to be fully present right here, right now.

Discovering Lent was the third retreat dreamed up by myself and Kimee from Sacred Rhythms Yoga (and Spirit, of course). As our offerings centre around the beautiful pairing of the liturgical calendar and natural seasons around us, Lent was the natural next full-day retreat offering following our first full-day retreat in late summer of 2024 called Sacred Ordinary, and our half-day retreat in November called Illuminating Advent. Drawn to Lent as perhaps a familiar, yet misunderstood season in the church, especially if you didn’t grow up in a liturgical church, Discovering Lent was just that— an opportunity for those to step outside of the regular rhythm of their life and truly begin to discover the richness of the season of Lent. 

*Watch the recap reel by clicking 🌱HERE🌱

After our first venture to Camp Widjiwagan to take in the space and see if it would serve our participants on February 22nd, we had our first dreaming session at a nearby Starbucks. Sipping on a seasonal drink and enjoying the hum of energy that naturally reverberates through coffee shops, we put our ideas onto paper and the flow of Pancake Tuesday to Ash Wednesday, Good Friday to Easter Sunday, and the space of Lenten wilderness unfolded with ease onto the page of my notebook. As we leaned into Ignatian concepts of ordered and disordered attachments to guide our days offerings of ash and soil, we knew God was up to something special for this day. 

As participants arrived to the day we had been planning and praying for, introductions over snacks, coffee and tea emerged as people hung up their coats, took off their boots, unrolled their mats behind a set of props already lovingly placed for them, and settled in. A chilly morning meant people were wrapped up in cozy layers and blankets, and the first movement practice of the day that grew our heat from within was welcomed.

The first practice of the day, Lent + Lengthen Yoga, allowed participants to explore their current understanding of Lent— how would I describe Lent? What was my first introduction to Lent? How has my understanding and experience of Lent changed, if at all, from my first introduction? As we mirrored on the mat through a reverse slow flow how the season of Lent invites us to slow down from our daily living to find rest and restoration in the wilderness season of 40 days with Jesus, we were reminded that often the discomfort and edges are where transformation happens. 

From our initial exploration, it was a walk through the camp to none other than our Pancake Brunch! An introduction to Shrove/Pancake Tuesday was given by Kimee as we ate our fill of pancakes with all the classic sides you’d expect— hash browns, bacon (or beyond meat sausage patties for my vegan self), scrambled eggs, fruit, and yogurt. Both bellies and conversation were happily full as brunch gave way to our Disorder to Dust session, introducing Ash Wednesday and the Prayer of Examen to discover our Disordered Attachments culminating in a fire ceremony.

While I walked people through an introduction to St.Ignatius before guiding people through a time of Examen to uncover their disordered attachments, I was sure to highlight now non-exhaustive this practice is. While going through the 19th annotation, we spend weeks of daily prayer uncovering our disordered attachments, lovingly being invited by the Spirit to uncover where we are prioritizing otherwise good things into an elevated place that takes priority over God. From classics like money, to the subtle of perfectionism and desiring external validation, we sought to name one thing we would like to release to God, perhaps committing to ‘giving it up’ to God for this season of Lent, being aware of this release to allow something else to grow in its place. The practice led us to write our disordered attachment on a piece of paper, then we were led out to the bonfire where Kimee shared on the practice of Ash Wednesday, the reminder that from dust we came and to dust we will go, and therein lies the invitation— what will we do with the life in between? As each participant prayed ‘God, I offer this to You. In its place, I make space for Your love’ and placed their disordered attachment into the fire, we watched the flames ignite and burn, a fire of refinement, creating the ash that fertilizes the soil yet to be used.

Once huddled back inside, covered again with blankets and ready to settle in, Kimee guided us beautifully through the Stations of the Cross. Typically done through imagery, Kimee invited us to use our God-given imagination to immerse ourselves into the scenes, to be with Jesus during the hardest time of his life as we walked to the cross. Through restorative yoga shapes, our bodies were given way to rest, keeping our bodies still as our minds and hearts engaged deeply. Stopping short of resurrection, the Stations of the Cross invites us into intimacy with Christ, simply being a friend to Jesus during this time of pain and sorrow. While the final stations were being completed, the clouds that had rolled in throughout the day gave way to sunshine, a reminder of the beauty of resurrection on the way.

Silence and space to process and be with Jesus was given after Stations of the Cross. Some of the women who attended went out to the water on the property, or ventured through the trees, while others lay restfully in their final shape, soaking in the Loving Presence of God, while others journaled— each one engaging in a meaningful time of silence with God who was lovingly with them through the entire day.

Our final gathering led us to Growing Order, our sister prayer of Examen practice from earlier in the day, where we explored our ordered attachments— the things that make our souls come alive, and the things we love in a way that aligns with God’s love. As I guided people once more through the traditional movements of the prayer of examen, with the slant of discovering our ordered attachments, it was such a joy to see people soak in the questions, write what the Spirit was stirring within, and sink into the season of repentance as perhaps this idea of returning to living into who God has created us to be! Thomas Merton reminds us: “Humility consists in being precisely the person you actually are before God... A humble person is not disturbed by praise. Since they are no longer concerned with themselves, and since they know where the good that is in them comes from, they do not refuse praise, because it belongs to the God they love, and in receiving it, they keep nothing for themselves but give it all, and with great joy, to God.” 

Kimee led us into ceremony, as we wrote our ordered attachment onto a seed paper heart, that we then planted in the most inspired pots Kimee picked out for our group— a pot with a face, eyes closed, a soft smile, as if in a moment of prayer sweetly resting in God’s love. Not only did we use soil for planting, but Kimee and I got physically into the fire pit after the fire burning ceremony to collect the ashes from the papers we burned with our disordered attachments written on them. This ash, layered in, reminded us that God can do beautiful things with the ash, the dust, the dirt, the things we often want to sweep away but are full of richness for us to plant in.

As we read our watering prayer together in the brisk air, golden sunlight streaming on us, the day was almost complete. Laughter and smiles filled the air like birdsong, beckoning the world into the remembrance of life as a resurrection people.

A final reading of The Magdalene’s Blessing by Jan Richardson, while standing in a circle inside, back where we first began, made the day feel complete. A few words of final sharing were said, closing prayers, and then it was time for us to all continue on our separate paths. Mats were rolled up, layers were stuffed into bags, and the sun was setting as the women who attended made their way back down the paths and to their cars. A moment suspended in time is what retreat days often feel like— a time set apart from the daily living to soak in the Sacred Presence around us and within us, guiding us and loving us, inviting us moment by moment to live aware of the gift of this life, this moment, and all God truly has to offer us.

This day, like every other retreat, was a gift.

A gift to share with others, to see dreams realized, and to consider what else is possible when we gather together in community to share, to be, to release the ideas of perfection and performance and simply tune into being here, with God, and each other, at this moment.

I leave you with the blessing we closed the retreat with.
May it be a gift to you during this season.
The Magdalene’s Blessing by Jan Richardson
You hardly imagined
standing here,
everything you ever loved
suddenly returned to you,
looking you in the eye
and calling your name.

And now
you do not know
how to abide this ache
in the center
of your chest,
where a door
slams shut
and swings open
at the same time,
turning on the hinge
of your aching
and hopeful heart.

I tell you,
this is not a banishment
from the garden.

This is an invitation,
a choice,
a threshold,
a gate.

This is your life
calling to you
from a place
you could never
have dreamed,
but now that you
have glimpsed its edge,
you cannot imagine
choosing any other way.

So let the tears come
as anointing,
as consecration,
and then
let them go.

Let this blessing
gather itself around you.

Let it give you
what you will need
for this journey.

You will not remember
the words—
they do not matter.

All you need to remember
is how it sounded
when you stood
in the place of death
and heard the living
call your name.