The Lenten Way – daily prayers of pilgrimage

For so many of us, daily life is full of journeys. Trying to meet the demands of work
and family life, it can feel like we are endlessly on the move. Over time, all of that
coming and going can leave us feeling tired and drained.
In years gone by, when the act of traveling was fraught with far more challenges and
dangers, people of faith chose to set off on long and difficult journeys to holy sites, as
a form of spiritual discipline. For them, pilgrimage was a way of transforming the act
of travel into a journey of self-discovery, as they learned to follow Jesus in the way of
the cross. As pilgrims, they used each step of the journey to nurture a deeper
curiosity about themselves, about the world around them and about the people they
would meet along the way. Step by step, drawing closer to their destination mirrored
the journey of the soul, as it seeks to draw closer to God.
Throughout the coming season of Lent we will be sharing a series of daily prayer
postcards called The Lenten Way. They are designed to help us transform our
myriad journeyings into a daily pilgrimage of prayer, marking each step of the road
from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Many of them contain visual reminders of the
ancient tradition of pilgrimage which are still written in the local landscape, including
way-markers for walkers along our ancient tracks and trails, photographs of our
sacred sites and images of natural beauty in this season of spring awakening. Each
image is paired with a verse from the psalms of the day, which mark each step of our
spiritual journey through the Lenten season.
We wish you every blessing in your daily pilgrimage of prayers as you journey along
The Lenten Way.

(Images and postcards are courtesy of Archdeacon John Godfrey: [email protected] / 087-9008085