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