What will you be giving up during Lent? What will you be taking on? The three traditional ‘Pillars’ of Lenten observance are Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. These are the traditional disciplines recommended to Christians. Prayer: More time given to prayer during Lent should draw us closer to the Lord. We might pray especially for the grace to live out our baptismal promises more fully. We might pray for the elect who will be baptized at Easter and support their conversion journey by our prayer. We might pray for all those who will celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation with us during Lent that they will be truly renewed in their baptismal commitment. In practical terms this might mean set
A number of people have asked about my work at Westminster Abbey, so I thought I might use this article for just that. I have been a Duty Chaplain at Westminster Abbey since 2004. The post is by invitation. There are around fifty of us to cover each week of the year, each Chaplain spending (usually) one week each year ‘in residence.’ The residence bit is literally true, as the Abbey provides a flat in the precincts, in Little Cloister, where we live from Sunday evening to Saturday lunchtime of our duty week. Each day we join the Abbey clergy for meditation at 7am and Morning Prayer at 7.30am. The duty day on the ‘Abbey floor’ begins at 9.00. We move throughout the Abbey greeting the visitors