We don’t usually notice how far we’ve wandered until something runs dry.

The younger son in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son thought freedom meant distance. Distance from home, from dependence, from the Father. For a while it worked. Until it didn’t. Hunger has a way of telling the truth, and in that moment he discovered something unexpected: the road back was still open.

Lent begins the same way every year, with ashes. Not as a sign of defeat, but of honesty. We remember we are not self-sustaining. We need mercy. And the surprise at the center of the Gospel is this: God is not waiting to scold us for returning. He is already running toward us.

This season invites us to face that mercy, not in theory but in our real lives. We fast to loosen our grip on control so that God can be in control. We pray to learn again how to listen to Him. We give so that love can move outward instead of circling inward. What feels like emptying slowly becomes receiving.

If you’ve drifted, come home.
If you’ve grown comfortable, go deeper.
If you’re weary, walk lighter.

Below are ways our parish will walk this road together. This Lent, don’t try harder. Come closer. Take a step. The Father meets every step toward Him with more than we expect, and before you know it, you’ll find the story of your life makes sense in His.

START HERE

Pick one step – you can’t do this wrong

Most people begin with The Rescue Project or Confession.

CHOOSE YOUR PATH

THIS LENT AT OLM

(See what’s coming up–you can join at any point.)

Starting Now

Thursdays during Lent — The Rescue Project (6:30pm)
Free dinner, short talk, & conversation → Register.

Fridays — Stations of the Cross
A short prayer walk with Jesus’ Passion→ See times.

Confession — Many opportunities weekly
Come whenever you’re ready — no appointment needed →Schedule.

Coming Soon

March 16 & 17 — Parish Mission: Facing Mercy (7:00–8:00pm)
Two evenings reflecting on God’s mercy and healing with Fr. Ryan Adorjan.→ Event Details.

Later in Lent

Feed My Starving Children Service Day
Pack meals for children in need around the world.→ Sign Up to Serve.

March 23 (8am) – March 27 (11:59pm) — 24-Hour Adoration Week
Sign up for an hour or stop in anytime for quiet prayer.→ Choose an Hour.

Holy Week

Palm Sunday → Easter Sunday
Enter the heart of the season with us.→View the schedule.

WANT TO EXPLORE EVERYTHING AVAILABLE THIS LENT?
See all the ways to pray, fast, and give below.

Prayer

Fasting

We don’t usually notice how far we’ve wandered until something runs dry.
Fasting lets us feel that dryness on purpose so we can discover what we truly hunger for.

The Church asks Catholics to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, eating one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal. Every Friday of Lent is also a day of abstinence from meat, except when a solemnity occurs. Those who are elderly, ill, pregnant, or under 14 are not bound by the law, but everyone can enter into the spirit of the fast in some meaningful way.

And each time we come to receive the Eucharist, we also keep a one-hour fast before Mass. Even this small pause teaches the heart to wait, to desire, and to recognize that we are being given a gift we cannot provide for ourselves.

These practices are not punishments. They are invitations. The younger son in the parable only began his journey home when hunger told him the truth. Fasting gently reveals where we rely on comfort, control, or distraction more than on the Father who runs toward us.

So fasting is not merely removing food. It is loosening our grip so God can place something better in our hands. What feels like emptying becomes receiving.

This Lent, consider fasting not only from certain foods, but also from patterns that keep your heart crowded. Step away from the usual routines and make room for God through prayer, worship, and the Lenten opportunities at OLM such as those found below. When space opens, mercy has somewhere to land.

Fasting prepares the heart. Prayer fills it. Charity shares it.
And slowly, almost without noticing, the road home becomes clear.

Almsgiving

When the Father welcomed his son home, he did not give a lecture. He gave a robe, a ring, and a feast.

Mercy always moves outward. Once we begin to receive it, we start to notice others differently. Almsgiving is the practice that turns the heart away from itself and toward real people, real needs, and real love.

The Church invites us during Lent to give not from what we will not miss, but from something that costs us. Not to prove generosity, but to grow freedom. We discover that possessions loosen their hold on us when they become a blessing for someone else.

Almsgiving can take many forms:

• Offering financial support to those in need
• Serving the poor with your time and presence
• Preparing meals or donating needed items
• Checking on someone who is lonely or overlooked
• Choosing simplicity so another person can have enough

Here at OLM, our parish Lenten service opportunities give us concrete ways to live this. They are not interruptions to Lent. They are Lent. Charity trains the heart to love the way God loves: personally, concretely, and without delay.

Fasting opens space. Prayer fills it with God.
Almsgiving lets His love travel through us to someone else.

And often, in serving another person, we discover we are standing much closer to home than we thought.

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN?
Start with one small step — or just come on Thursday evenings. You don’t have to have Lent figured out to enter it.