The Pilgrim Lent - Day 36

Hello! Thank you for stopping by. You’ve landed on Pilgrim Lent, Day 35. Each day is a story from the life of Christ — from when he left the wilderness to the Transfiguration.

You are invited to walk along, or just listen from your armchair if your motivation, the weather, or your body need you to simply rest instead. Up to you. Just open this newsletter on your Substack app on your phone, press play, and head out the door. You can also hit the download button and download this to your phone, and play it that way.

Not sure what’s going on here? Start with this

The last Sunday. We walked back through Week Five — the week of declarations, given one by one to unexpected people. The Samaritan woman at noon who received the plainest statement of identity in John’s gospel. The Syrophoenician woman who pressed through what sounded like a refusal and found the foothold inside it. The woman in Simon’s dining room whom the table called a sinner, who received peace.

The pattern that has been running through the whole journey is compressed in this week: the declarations went to people who had no inherited claim on them. The outside people. The marginalised, the excluded, the ones the crowd would not have chosen. And the question the crowd has been asking since Day Three in Capernaum — who is this? — has been answered, repeatedly and directly, to these specific people.

Four days remain. The mountain is ahead.

Scripture: No new scripture today — Week 5 review.

This week’s practices: Prayer, Fasting, and Giving

Prayer: Lord, I welcome this day exactly as it is. I release my need to control what I cannot control. I trust You with all that comes to me today. Three lines, three breaths.

Fasting: Once a week, skip a meal, if it is safe for you to do so. Or give up something meaningful if a full meal fast isn’t possible.

Giving: Set aside what you would have spent on your fasted meal, and give it at the end of the week. Ask what else you can release.

A note on fasting: Please fast only if it is safe for your health. If you have diabetes, a history of disordered eating, are pregnant or nursing, take medications that require food, or have any health condition that affects how your body handles reduced food intake, please speak with your doctor before fasting from full meals. Fasting is meant to be a spiritual gift, not a harm. If a meal fast isn’t right for you, giving up a meaningful food or drink is a full and genuine version of this discipline.

Three Journaling Questions:

1. Three Journaling Questions:

   1. The declarations this week all went to people from outside — the Samaritan, the Syrophoenician, the woman the town called a sinner. What does it mean to you that the clearest answers to “who is this?” came to people like these? And where do you place yourself in that pattern — inside the circle or outside it?

   2. Five weeks of the Three Movements Prayer. Looking back across the thirty-six mornings: which line has done the most work in you? Which one has been the hardest to mean? Which one has become most naturally yours?

   3. Four days to the mountain. What are you carrying into the final stretch that you have been waiting to set down? What would it mean to arrive at the mountain with open hands?

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The Optional Companion: The Protestant Luminous Rosary

For those who find rhythm and repetition helpful in prayer, I’ve created a companion tool: The Protestant Luminous Rosary.

This is a 10-decade rosary designed specifically for this Lenten journey, using the traditional Luminous Mysteries as meditation points. It’s entirely optional — the daily devotionals stand alone and are complete without it.

But for those who want an additional layer of contemplative practice, the rosary offers:

• A tactile, physical anchor for prayer (beads you can touch, count, return to)

• Meditations on Jesus’ life that deepen your connection to his journey here on earth

• A structure for those who find unstructured prayer difficult

You don’t need the rosary to benefit from this Lenten journey. But if you’re drawn to it, it’s here for you.

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✨If these words have helped you draw nearer to God, consider joining the Sacred Hearth—a circle of women who help sustain the ministry of PraiseWalker and make space for others to discover a deeper life with God.💖

Note: Drafted and edited with input from an AI writing tool; the story, voice, and choices are mine.

Darlene Hull is a Certified Mental Health, Human Flourishing, and Insight Coach who guides Christian women to structural peace. Drawing on years of contemplative practice, Spiritual Formation coaching, and the rich heritage of Celtic Christian wisdom and ancient practices of the church, Darlene’s focus is simple: dismantling the exhaustion of spiritual performance and leading clients into the stable rest (Menuchah) secured by Christ’s finished work.

Darlene is a partner in the Order of Imago Christi (OIC)and a vowed member of the Order of the Mustard Seed (OMS). She works as a Spiritual Formation Coach and Christian Life Coach from her home in Calgary, Alberta. When not writing or coaching, Darlene rounds out her life with long walks, voracious reading, endless cups of strong tea, and a ridiculous amount of laughter.

Note that Darlene is NOT a therapist, counselor, or psychologist. PraiseWalker coaching and resources are designed for spiritual and emotional support and are not a substitute for professional clinical therapy or medical care.

Find out more about Darlene here: PraiseWalker.com

Photo by Tobi on Pexels

All Biblical quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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