Embers to Flame: How We Bear Witness This Lent

On Wednesday afternoon, January 28th, something both heartbreaking and holy unfolded outside Miami’s Immigration Court. A South Florida Guatemalan teenager stood before more than 200 Catholic students and adults — her voice breaking — and shared that both her immigrant parents are detained in different states. Jessica hasn’t seen her father, who worked as a landscaper, in more than six months, nor her mother in three months. Without their parents, this teen and her 20-year-old sister care for two younger siblings. 

After she spoke, participants placed flowers in front of a sign reading “Protect our Holy Family,” publicly naming immigrant friends and neighbors whom they were praying for. Prayers rose in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. College students from Barry University stood alongside students from five Miami Catholic high schools (Belen, Carrollton, Columbus, La Salle, Pace). Fifteen priests, many from the Jesuit Migration Network, had celebrated Mass with the community at nearby Gesú Catholic Church just an hour before. The theme of care and concern echoed through downtown Miami: You are not alone. No están solos.

I was struck not only by the witness itself, but by how compassion kindles compassion and courage kindles courage. In November, 35 Miami Catholics gathered for a similar outdoor prayer service on the feast of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. By January, that number had grown to over 200. 

Our numbers are small compared to the extraordinary witness happening by the thousands in Minneapolis. However, it offers a preview of what the Holy Spirit is stirring across our Church – a Church that is diaconal, synodal and missionary. 

As we enter the Lenten Season, I invite you to sit with a question: How is the Holy Spirit calling you to bear witness to your faith during these forty days?

Lent is a season for prayer and repentance, for nourishing our hope and for stepping outside of our own worries to notice those in need. It is a time to allow the kindling embers in our hearts to grow into flame. What form might your prayerful witness take? Perhaps accompanying immigrant families, organizing a prayer service, listening deeply to those who suffer, advocating for the vulnerable, or creating space for a broader discernment within your parish.

Discerning Deacons offers various ways to deepen discernment and witness experiences during Lent.  

Join DD in our effort to consult with 10,000 Catholics about the future of the diaconate during the Synod’s Implementation Phase. Grab your toolkit here.

Receive a free daily written and audio Lenten reflection from the Ignatian Solidarity Network to cultivate your stubborn hope. Add your name here. 

Learn how you can protect and promote human dignity for all by participating in a national Catholic Season of Faithful Witness to catalyze local prophetic witness events from Ash Wednesday through Corpus Christi. Register to join a national call on Tuesday, February 24. 

May we walk this Lenten road together — in prayer, in witness, and with hearts transformed by accompanying those at the margins.