A Lenten Journey

Lent 2026:
Returning to the Heart

“Return to me with all your heart”

— Joel 2:12

“It is only by returning to the heart that a true ecological conversion can take place”

Pope Leo XIV

Lent is a sacred season of conversion and renewal, a return to the heart that prepares us to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of Christ, who reveals love lived to the extreme. In the silence of the desert, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we learn to love as Jesus loves: listening to the suffering of the world, carrying the weight of the cross, and opening paths of new life for all who share our common home.

By cultivating a contemplative heart, we learn to discern the voice of God amid the cries of the Earth and the poor. This spiritual discernment transforms our action at its root, shaping a faith that unites contemplation, ecological conversion, and justice, and enabling us to proclaim with hope the promise of Easter for all creation.

The Path Back
to the Heart

The heart is where contemplation, discernment, and action for our common home become one.

Each week of Lent, a movement of the heart is revealed through the Lenten liturgy and Dilexit Nos, inviting us to contemplate, discern, and act for creation.

Each link is activated on the corresponding Sunday of Lent, guiding the community step by step on a shared journey of conversion and hope.

Contemplative Video Meditation

This guided contemplative meditation video invites you to attune your heart to the heartbeat of creation and to the Heart of Christ. Through silence and prayer, we learn to listen more deeply to God’s love, the cry of the Earth, and the cry of the poor.

Rooted in the spirit of Lent and inspired by Laudato Si’, this shared heartbeat opens space for discernment, helping us recognize what God is asking of us on our Lenten journey toward ecological conversion and care for our common home.

How to contemplate with this video

  1. Find a quiet place and a comfortable position.
  2. Connect with the natural rhythm of your breathing while the video is playing.
    • As an alternative, you may choose to pray with the traditional Jesus Prayer, rooted in the Christian contemplative tradition. Silently repeat the prayer in rhythm with your breathing:
      Breathing in: Lord Jesus Christ,
      Breathing out: have mercy on me.
  3. We invite you to return to this video throughout Lent, letting this simple practice become a regular rhythm that grounds your prayer, your discernment, and your actions in love.

2,656

people have tuned into the heartbeat of the earth

 

Weekly Lenten Reflections

Pray, listen, and care for our common home

Receive weekly Lenten reflections from the Laudato Si’ Movement to guide your prayer and ecological conversion throughout Lent. Rooted in Scripture and contemplation, each reflection offers simple prompts to listen to the cries of the Earth and the poor and respond with faith and action.

Take home your Daily Prayer to Return to the Heart

This daily prayer invites us to pause, listen, and reconnect with God’s presence in creation. Through gratitude, reflection, and action, it helps us hear both creation’s song and its cry, and respond with love, humility, and justice each day.

1

Ash Wednesday

The call: return to the heart

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Ecological Spirituality

2

First Sunday of Lent

The desert: discerning desires

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Sustainable Lifestyle

3

Second Sunday of Lent

Transfiguration: contemplation transforms our gaze

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Ecological Education

4

Third Sunday of Lent

The Samaritan woman: thirst for God

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Responding to the cry of the poor

5

Fourth Sunday of Lent

The man born blind: from darkness to light

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Community resilience and empowerment

6

Fifth Sunday of Lent

The resurrection of Lazarus: taking care of life

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Responding to the cry of the Earth

7

Palm Sunday

Passion, death, and resurrection: opening the heart

Active
Laudato Si’ Goal: Ecological Economy

The work of caring for creation is happening in communities everywhere. People of faith are responding to the crisis with courage and love, and your support makes that work possible.

As you pray and reflect this Lent, consider how your generosity can help sustain this movement for our common home. 

Other Resources

Continue your journey with these additional resources for prayer, formation, and
community.

Lenten Prayer Service

Join our contemplative prayer service, gathering our global community in prayer for our common home.
March 14, 2026. 8 – 10 a.m. Quito / 1400 – 1600 CET

Ecological examen

Is a tool for prayer, reflection and action for individuals and communities to deepen the call to care for creation and the most vulnerable. After each step, take a moment of reflection and prayer.

Ecological Way of the Cross

reimagines the traditional Stations of the Cross by linking each moment of Christ’s Passion to contemporary suffering — especially the suffering of the earth and the poor — to invite prayer, reflection, and ecological conversion in our time.

Training: Contemplation and Advocacy

A workshop that introduce LSM’s contemplative practice and its role in ecological advocacy, with tools to integrate contemplation and action.

Mar 21, 2026 9:30 (ET) Mar 26, 2026 5:00 PM GMT+8 (Manila)
 © 2026 Lent: Returning to the Heart. All rights reserved.