Devotional booklet guides, encourages participation in liturgies
Southern Nebraska Register
Salt + Light, a group dedicated to young adults in the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, created a booklet for young Catholics to more fully enter the liturgies of Holy Week.
Salt + Light is a group for those who are 21 to 39 years old, to help members “grow in faith and fellowship while helping each other glorify the Lord.” The organization hosts events from large to small. They host holy hours followed by social time, “Pint Night” events at a brewery with a speaker, Bible studies, and numerous outings ranging from bingo to indoor rock climbing. Members take the initiative to lead running clubs, volleyball and soccer teams, mission trips, and other activities.
Natalie Bender, who serves as program coordinator, was making plans last November for the 2025 Lenten retreat when she learned the speaker who had been scheduled was no longer available to travel to Lincoln for the event. The change in plans led to a shift from a one-day retreat to a speaker series held over three weeks. On the last three Sundays of Lent, local voices highlighted different aspects of struggles faced by young Catholics.
Bender was looking for something to conclude the series, “but I remembered the Church already provides us the best way to prepare for Easter – with the liturgies of Holy Week.”
As the preparations were underway late last year, the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was distributing devotional booklets for Advent, spawning the idea for a similar booklet for Salt + Light’s Holy Week.
“The liturgical seasons are such a gift to us—to all of us, at all ages and stages of life. I wanted to remind young adults they are welcome at these liturgies, too," Bender said.
She said she reached out to several people to write for the Holy Week Booklet. They enthusiastically provided reflections for eight events during Holy Week, and issued challenges for participants to consider.
“I gave a general outline of the idea,” Bender said, “and I loved seeing how they developed their entries independently. It illustrated how the Church’s liturgies speak to all of us.”
The booklet itself was created by Abby Ostdiek, a Salt + Light team member who uses her graphic design skills in numerous ways, from running the group’s social media, to designing t-shirts.
While Holy Week events are held in Catholic churches across the world, Salt + Light chose to highlight the events at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln, the mother church of the diocese, with Bishop James Conley. Bishop Conley wrote the Easter Sunday reflection. The full booklet is available for download at www.saltandlightlnk.com/holy-week-devotional.
The final presentations in the Salt + Light Lenten speaker series will be held at 2 p.m. at St. Joseph Church in Lincoln. Joshua Burks of the Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies will address men, and Deacon Matthew Hecker will present for the women.
Images courtesy Salt + Light. Download the entire booklet at their site.
