First Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ

In his Message for Lent 2024, Pope Francis writes:

It is time to act, and in Lent, to act also means to pause. To pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister. Love of God and love of neighbour are one love. Not to have other gods is to pause in the presence of God beside the flesh of our neighbour. For this reason, prayer, almsgiving and fasting are not three unrelated acts, but a single movement of openness and self-emptying, in which we cast out the idols that weigh us down, the attachments that imprison us. Then the atrophied and isolated heart will revive. Slow down, then, and pause! The contemplative dimension of life that Lent helps us to rediscover will release new energies. In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, more sensitive to one another: in place of threats and enemies, we discover companions and fellow travellers. This is God’s dream, the promised land to which we journey once we have left our slavery behind.

On this First Sunday of Lent all those across our Diocese who will be Received into the Church at Easter, attend the Rite of Election in Brentwood Cathedral. There are nine from our own Parish who will be there: please pray for them and their Sponsors, as well as those who have been responsible for their formation in the Faith over the past year.

I encourage you to support by your attendance and participation, those Lenten events that we have arranged this year: the Wednesday Evenings of Reflection; the episodes of The Chosen being shown each Thursday and the Stations and Benediction on Fridays, all beginning at 7pm.

God bless us in our Lenten journey towards Easter!

Msgr Kevin Hale

National Marriage Week 7—14th February 2024

Below we share a reflection penned by a married couple of our Parish:

ROSES AND ASHES 

Have you started thinking about Lent yet? This year St Valentine’s Day, falls on Ash Wednesday.  So how to combine red roses with fasting and ashes? 

When we marry we profess in our vows to follow our paths of life together, no matter what that may mean.  We commit to being more than just alongside each other. We promise to love and to cherish one another: to do all that we can to enable our spouse to be happy in this world and in the next, and to grow to be all we can be ourselves. That is our calling. 

What of our path through Lent? It’s similar as we look to understand ourselves and learn how we can realise the unending love of God inviting us to celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection at Easter. We seek change in ourselves in order to pay special attention to both God and our spouse. Our gift to our spouse is to help them become who God made them to be; who they have the capacity to be.  The outcome of this depends on how we respond to the graces given to us. So, how can we grow to be the best help mate for our spouse, and to be more fully appreciative of them, and be closer to God? 

We believe it’s about communication with our spouse and with God; how can we do that when we are so busy?  There’s always the children, the parents, work and even our church commitments. 

Perhaps we can agree some resolutions for Lent to help us?

• Pope Francis has simple guidance for couples.  He says, each day include, “Thank you, Please, I’m sorry”. Or how about:

• leave the phones away from the dining table and from the bedroom.

• get a practice of saying a daily prayer together - the Lord’s Prayer, the Angelus, the Magnificat - are just a few options.  

Each day take some time to check in with each other …. Maybe ask “Tell me something about your day today and how do you feel about that”.

This February is a LEAP YEAR, one more day in the month to love each other. We’re thinking of doing something DIFFERENT for the 29th to express our love. Would you like to give some thought to any of the above notions for your relationship?

Brian & Maureen Devine