FaithND launches Lenten Sunday Gospel Reflection series

Author: Kevin Brennan

Ash Wednesday Mass in Siegfried Chapel

FaithND, the online spirituality community run by the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association, is launching a new Lenten Sunday Gospel Reflection series. On each Sunday in Lent and throughout Holy Week, FaithND will provide email subscribers and Web readers with insights into the day’s Gospel reading.

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, will deliver an Easter Sunday homily on video as part of the initiative. Additional reflections will be written by Congregation of Holy Cross priests, distinguished professors and other members of the Notre Dame community.

The Lenten Sunday Gospel Reflection series is an extension of FaithND’s increasingly popular Daily Gospel Reflection program. Each weekday morning, readers receive an email featuring the day’s Gospel reading, a reflection written by a member of the Notre Dame family, a daily prayer and a short biography of a saint. This free daily offering is available to anyone, regardless of affiliation with Notre Dame or the Catholic faith.

The Daily Gospel Reflection continues to expand its audience at a rapid rate. After adding more than 11,000 new readers from Thanksgiving through the end of Advent in 2013, the Daily Gospel Reflection email now goes out to more than 32,600 people each morning.

“I often hear from readers who tell me that receiving the Daily Gospel Reflection is a cornerstone to their prayer life. From the first moments of their day, it grounds them in God’s Word and connects them to a community of believers trying to live the Christian call,” said Angie Appleby Purcell, the spirituality program director at the Notre Dame Alumni Association. “The Lenten Sunday Gospel Reflection series is a further way for readers to intentionally hone their spiritual practices in preparation for the Easter feast. We want to help readers connect the Sunday Gospels to their Lenten experience, and we have gathered great writers and thinkers from among our faculty, staff, students and alumni to share their insights."

FaithND’s celebration of Lent also will include weekly articles on each chapter of Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel), a narration of the Sorrowful Mysteries by Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus, and a conversation with theology professor Lawrence Cunningham on Lenten practices.

To sign up for the Daily Gospel Reflection and the Lenten Sunday Gospel Reflection, visit faith.nd.edu.

Contact: Angie Appleby Purcell, 574-631-6724, faith@nd.edu