By Rev Fiona Bennett (From Seeds April – May 2025)

Lent is a time in the Church year when we are invited to strip back and re-discover what is truly important.

Many years ago, as part of a course learning about Ignatian Spirituality, I undertook an exercise to write my own eulogy. The exercise was to identify what was truly important and valuable to me, by considering how I would like to be remembered. Having considered what was truly important or valuable, I was then invited to consider how much of my time and energy in the present I invested in these important and valuable aspects of my life.

It was quite a challenging, and very Lenten, exercise.

Throughout my ministry I have written and delivered many eulogies and have often pondered on what it is that makes a life ‘well lived’? Each life is very different but I think there is a general admiration for people who have adapted to whatever life has brought them, and thrived in doing so; a deep appreciation for people who care for, encourage, and support others; and a sense of inspiration from people who fearlessly savour life and grasp the opportunities it brings, whether ordinary or unusual.

I wonder for people in our world today, who have lost homes, jobs, basic security and even their legal identities, what they perceive to be truly important and valuable. If Jesus was right that the poor are blessed, then there is wisdom to be learnt from all who are stripped down today, about what is truly important and valuable in God’s eyes.

“I undertook to write my own eulogy”

Listening to, and being shaped by, voices from stripped down experiences is another significant exercise for Lent, as we seek through the season to realign our present living to invest in that which is truly valuable and important as disciples of Jesus in the world today.