Newsletter- 5th Week of Lent
Dear Parishioners
The 5th Sunday of Lent is traditionally called Passion Sunday. This weekend we begin in the Church a time called Passiontide as we journey closer to Holy Week and prepare for the solemn celebration of the Paschal Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday). During Passiontide the Church begins a period of mourning where we focus our attention and prayer on the salvific death of Our Blessed Lord. On Passion Sunday the crosses, images and statues in our church are veiled in violet, the penitential colour of the Church. These are outward signs of our mourning, and they help us to focus on the penitential aspect of this liturgical season. The veiling reminds us too in a visual way that our faith in all its glory is only possible through the work of Christ in his suffering and death on the cross. Our Lord hid his glory during His Passion, so we also hide our religious objects to prepare ourselves more fully to focus on and honour his Passion.
‘Unbind him and let him go’ As we prepare for Holy Week, our readings this weekend focus on the theme of being restored to life. The Scripture is full of hope, inviting us to trust in God’s promise of resurrection and eternal life. The Israelites, living in exile in Babylon, lack hope and direction (First Reading). But the Lord speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, telling how he will raise them up. He will put his Spirit within them, giving them new life, and restore them to their homeland. This prophesy is fulfilled in the Gospel. Here, God’s love and power over death are made known as Lazarus is raised by Jesus, the One who brings life where there is death. Jesus reveals himself as ‘the resurrection and the life’, calling us to believe and trust in him. His deep compassion and love are highlighted as he weeps with Mary and Martha. The Responsorial Psalm encourages us to cry out to the Lord with longing and honesty. In expressing deep sorrow for our sins, we can trust in the Lord’s ‘mercy and plentiful redemption’. St Paul (Second Reading) reminds us that living by Christ’s Spirit – the Spirit of truth, love, compassion and justice – gives us hope and brings us true life and peace.
In our prayer this weekend we might like to reflect more deeply on who Jesus really is, and what it is that he brings to us as individuals and as his Church. Let us pray too that his living spirit will touch our hearts and lives afresh as we journey closer to Holy Week and to the joy of the Resurrection and the celebration of Easter which is yet to come!
Change of Mass Time – Thursday 26th March: This Thursday I must be at meetings all day at Bishops’ House in Nottingham and Mass in the parish will be celebrated before I leave at 9.30 a.m.
With my prayers for you and for your families during the coming week,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
2026 22nd March – Newsletter – Download