18 / 19 February 2012 

†    Final nominations for your choice of membership on the Pastoral Council close this Sunday.

†    Wednesday of this week sees us begin our Lenten Journey.  It will commence with our being signed with Ashes.  This calls us to begin our Lenten journey of repentance.

The journey of Lent is usually an opportunity for us to spend time in prayer.  We walk with Jesus to the Cross and as we do, we ponder anew the great mysteries of our faith.  We discern, in the order of things, how is God speaking to and calling me, and what is my response?

It is a time of fasting with a view of developing anew a disciplined life. 

Finally, it is a time of almsgiving, or as I have suggested  —  choosing to become an active part of the missionary outreach of our Church.

†    Project Compassion has become that opportunity for us to get a glimpse of “practical hands of Missionary work.”  It takes us each Lent into the struggle of real people who rarely achieve the pristine idyllic situation shown as the outcome of our Lenten giving.

†    In those smiling faces, there is a hidden personal and family struggle to believe all this is possible and achievable; and then to find the energy and belief in self and the system to begin another Journey. This is really nothing less than heroic, when we witness human beings rise from the ashes to hope and new life and finally belief  —  in themselves and the world.

†    How does Project Compassion touch your life?  Is it any more than throwing money in a cardboard box, with little or no thought to where it goes and who will benefit from it?  Or do you experience this journey as a very real awakening?

†    Our Journey ends in the Celebration in the Triduum of the Easter Sacraments.  How do you and I arrive at this point?

Peace

Fr Brian