Making a Banner for Lent Part 2

A Coffee with Padre Video

By Fr. Timothy Armbruster, C.PP.S.

Welcome to this latest Episode of Coffee with Padre. Last time, I worked you through the preliminary steps in making a banner for Lent. (Click here if you missed that episode.)

Now, I have completed the larger Lenten banner, and I would like to share with you what I have created. As I hang it on the wall in our chapel, I am quite proud of the work, happy with the way it has turned out. I do need to add a little extra binding around the edges to finish it out, but I wanted to share with you the completed design.

The cross was made larger and wider, and additional colors were added to the strips. I questioned  if there’s enough black in the cross, but when I looked at it again, I began to realize there’s enough black to set off the cross. More than that, there’s also that stripe down the center with a bit of a red mixed in with the purple. That became a reminder to me of the bloodshed on the cross, and once again, the purple colors, the colors of lint, the colors of sacrifice, the colors of forgiveness.

There’s energy and movement in the colors of the banner. The statement that the cross makes, it’s there, it stands out, but at the same time, it sort of blends in. If you look for it, you can see it, but it also blends in with life. Sometimes those challenges, the crosses that we bear, are sometimes just part of life. Everything working together, taking on the challenges of daily life, finding those opportunities to do the right thing, finding those opportunities to practice acts of charity. Knowing those times of struggle in our lives.

Sometimes the crosses that we bear may not always seem so heavy with the help of others. Sometimes it seems like we’re going it alone with no one there to help us. And it’s probably then that the black lines of the cross are even more prominent in our lives.

The more that I look at this banner, the more I see what’s reflected in our lives, the energy, the movement, the challenges, the hopes, the dreams, the inspirations, the different colors of fabric, the different images in the fabric. All continue to speak to us.

As I complete this Lenten banner, as we continue our Lenten journey, may we once again be mindful as we enter into these last weeks of Lent towards Holy Week, towards Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, towards celebrating the Tridium, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Good Friday and the Easter vigil, the banner continues to speak to me, to us as we continue this Lenten journey.

May we know the challenges that still lie before us, but also the hope and peace that fills our hearts.

Happy Lent!

All of the videos in this series can be found here: Coffee with Padre

For more videos in our Lenten series visit: Lenten Video Meditations

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[Fr. Timothy Armbruster is a Precious Blood priest whose ministry has focused on parish work and retreats for youth and young adults. He holds a Master’s of Divinity Degree from Catholic Theological Union and describes himself as “a clown at heart.” Fr. Timothy incorporates clown ministry into his work to open our hearts, to seek laughter and happiness, and to see the world around us a bit differently. “In the stuffiness of life, we need God’s humor to see things anew,” he says.]

 Credits: Photo ID 352949596 © Frederica Aban | Dreamstime.com. Music: We Are a New Creation (Instrumental) · Christopher Walker · Paule Freeburg We Shall Praise Your Name ℗ 2011 OCP All rights reserved. All selections BMI. Released on: 2020-03-31 Music Publisher: OCP https://youtu.be/1NmInyrziZE

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