Newsletter- 5th Week of Lent
Dear Parishioners
The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Passion Sunday – strikes a different chord than previous Sundays in Lent. It seems the dial is turned up in our Lenten intensity. Our visual signal for this reality is the covering of statues, crosses, and holy images in our churches, a tradition which we keep here at St Mary’s as we enter Passiontide. From this weekend on we prepare ourselves more deeply for the coming observances of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
With the “dialling up” of our Lenten intensity comes a deeper entrance into the drama and the mindset of the Lord in anticipation of His Passion. Every weekday Gospel during the Fifth Week of Lent will describe some different tension between Jesus and His adversaries. As we will see in the coming liturgies, Jesus will make bold statements about His divinity before the Jews, as they seek to kill Him for the crime of blasphemy.
When we reach this weekend, we realise we have all been on the journey of Lent for over five weeks now. It’s worth pondering as we enter Passiontide how God has worked in us and through us. Perhaps your own Lenten penances have uncovered in you some empty spaces (they certainly have in my own journey through Lent!)– Maybe you are feeling some boredom or loneliness or other feelings of unfulfilled desire. For example, perhaps you have discovered if you decided to forgo snacks between meals that you habitually ate out of boredom before or if you decided to give up social media maybe you have discovered that your social media fast has revealed a longing for connection. When we come face to face with those empty spaces in our lives, we need to ask ourselves how am I filling them? We can invite God into those empty spaces and ask Him how He wants us to fill them. Undoubtedly, God wants to fill them, often with a deeper love for Himself and for our neighbour. Love can really fill those empty spaces of our lives. It may not be as instantly gratifying, but a greater commitment to Jesus Christ and a greater love for the people around us and all that God has given to us or put into our lives is really in the end what can satisfy our human hearts. The empty spaces we have all discovered in our lives during Lent are really an opportunity and a means for us all to come closer to God and to one another. May be our prayer this week might be:
“Lord may your light and your truth guide me through these remaining days of Lent. Having been purified by repentance and having abstained from some earthly things, may my heart cling to You more fully. Fill my heart with a greater joy for You and of my faith, show me more fully all You may be calling me to be and do in life. So that I may be transformed through the power of your great love and come to enjoy a deeper union with You during the coming Easter season.” Amen
Heating- Last weekend British Summer Time began, as the clocks went forward by an hour. The heating has now been turned off in the church, presbytery and halls; to help us reduce the large heating bills we have been paying throughout the winter months. A reminder if we have a cold snap you will need, please to ensure you come wrapped up warmly for Mass or if you are using the hall.
Stations of the Cross – Fridays at 7 pm during Lent. N.B. (Stations of the Cross on Wednesday in Holy Week at 6 pm and Good Friday (18th April) at 6 pm.
Extra times of Confession on a Friday (Directly after Stations of the Cross) N.B. (No confessions on the 18th of April (Good Friday).
With prayer and best wishes for you and your families as we enter Passiontide and prepare for Holy Week
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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