Lent 2005

Lent is a great time to focus on and share in the journey Christ took to Calvary for us. This Lent, spare a few moments each day to reflect and allow God to share in your everyday life. This planner helps to suggest one simple thing you can do each day to bring Christ into the centre of your life. Allow God to enter in and act through you.

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Enjoy those pancakes!!

Pray, fast and be generous

Find a book to read this lent

Say a prayer for those who are sick

Have a fresh start - go to confession

First Sunday - go to Mass early and pray for those in need

Pray for the people of Europe

Get up on time!

Sing in the shower!

Remember those in religious life

Make a donation to CAFOD

Do a job you've been putting off

Second Sunday -

Prepare today's meal as a family or with friends

Open the bible at random and see how it speaks to you

Pray for the Pope and the Church today

Drink water today and thank God for it

Don't grumble today

Eat simply so others may simply eat

Be gentle - don't argue

Third Sunday -

Smile at the sign of peace today

No TV today - spend time with family or friends

Remember the people of Wales

Tidy your room, office, garage or shed

Listen and don't interrupt

Remember the women of the world

Pray with someone today

Fourth Sunday -

Be generous and say YES!

Visit a friend you haven't seen for a while

Buy the Big Issue today

Give thanks to God for you.

Make sure you say "Thank you"

Pray for those who are lonely

Go for a family walk or watch a film together

Fifth Sunday -

Think kindly of someone who has hurt you

Say a prayer for your priest

Praise your family all day

Pray for the children of the world

Pray for peace in Ireland

Spend a little time in stillness

Pray for those without work

Palm Sunday -

Get a palm today

Make an effort to catch up on world news

Remember our Jewish brothers and sisters

Pray for those who have lost someone close

Maundy Thursday -

Watch and pray

Good Friday -

God has forgiven all our sins

Holy Saturday -

Lord we pray that you will light up our lives

Easter Day -

Celebrate !

Christ has risen !

Christ is risen!

Ash Wednesday	The beginning of the season of Lent. Putting ashes on our heads as a form of penitence is a practice inherited from Jewish tradition. Ashes, for Jews and Christians alike, are a sign of repentance, sorrow and mourning. On Jewish fast days, the penitent wore sackcloth, placed ashes on his (or her) head and went barefoot. The first Christians followed this same tradition. They also fasted on each Wednesday and Friday during Lent. Life is much easier these days! Those who are able are asked to both fast and abstain from meat on both Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but we also need to think seriously about how we live and respond to the Gospel demand to pray, fast and give to the poor. I have a strong belief that fasting is really important for us because it helps us appreciate the dire poverty and hunger of so many of our sisters and brothers throughout the world.
First Sunday of Lent	In a bit of a nutshell, we�re being invited in the Gospel story of the Temptations of Jesus in the Desert - and it is a fierce desert, both physically and psychologically � to see the devil trying to seduce Jesus into thinking what it means to be God�s son, is to have enough to eat, to be physically safe and to be politically powerful. We need to think about how being too comfortable, never taking a risk and wanting to get our own way all the time, are a hindrance to becoming holier. Its pretty tough, really�
Second Sunday of Lent	One of the themes this Sunday is seeing the extraordinary in everyday life. The 4 Apostles must have been totally amazed to glimpse the power and glory of Jesus on the mountainside. It would be good if during this Lent we could take a bit of time each evening to sit still and �play the tape of the day�, simply recall what we�ve seen, who we talked to, what delighted us - spot the �Transfiguration moments� that can happen, if only we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear�.
Third Sunday of Lent	We have the great story of the 'Woman at The Well'. There is so much in it...one of the themes is Jesus meeting those who are outside his own culture and tradition and valuing their worship. Another is his willingness to risk talking to folk others would ignore. A third is the amazement of the Apostles who just didn�t understand what was going on�and much more�
Fifth Sunday of Lent	The readings are something of a roller coaster. There is something totally wonderful about Jesus crying because his friend Lazarus has died. It can free us to do the same for others. There is something more wonderful about Jesus being able to overcome death�a hint of the Resurrection of the Lord in two weeks time.

The Passion Story
7.30 - 8.30 pm Wednesday 16th at St Bede�s.	Week 1/4: Bernard Robinson will begin his reflections on the Passion with the Passion Story in Mark's Gospel
7.30 - 8.30 pm Wednesday 23rd February at St Bede�s.	Week 2/4: The Passion Story continues with Mathews Gospel
7.30 - 8.30 pm Wednesday 16th March at St Bede�s.	Week 3/4: The Passion Story continues with Luke's Gospel NB. Rescheduled from 9th march
7.30 - 8.30 pm Wednesday 23rd March at St Bede�s.	Week 4/4: The Passion Story continues with John's Gospel
For a synopsis of Bernard's talks please go to *The Passion Story*
The Passion Narrative: a brief reading list BROWN, Raymond E., The Death of the Messiah From Gethsemane to the Grove. A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels. 2 vols. (Anchor Bible Reference Library), New York, Doubleday, 1993. Paperback edition, �15.99 [The classic work - detailed, reliable] BROWN, Raymond E., A Crucified Christ in Holy Week. Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 1986. �5.50 [short, easy-going, inexpensive] MARTINI, Carlo. *Promise Fulfilled, Meditations on the Passion Narratives.* St Paul's, 1994, �7.25. BENOIT, Pierre, *The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.* New York, DLT, 1969 [out of print] HENDRICKX, H., The Passion Narratives of the Synoptic Gospels. 2nd ed. London, Chapman, 1984. [Good, popular introduction, but it does not cover John; [out of print]

Lent and the Sacrament of Reconciliation...

The Season of Lent may also be a time for us to think more carefully about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. At some point in Lent we will celebrate the Sacrament in a Penance Service. But it may also be a time to consider and take advantage of the Sacrament as an individual. There is an opportunity for individual �confession� or reconciliation every Saturday morning after 9.30 mass.

Lenten Service of Reconciliation: Sunday 13th March, St Bede�s at 6:00pm.

Some Thoughts on Lent�

�Lent is a season with a double charge; a blend of bleakness and of beauty. By a happy coincidence, in the Northern Hemisphere, Lent walks with Spring. There is sun and rain, fair days and storms. And there are daffodils blowing farewell to Winter. Lent is the child of Winter, it is the father of Spring.
Lent is for learning. Lent is a revealing time. But only for those who listen. The Father speaks rarely in the Gospels, when He speaks me makes one single request: �Listen�. This is the first discipline of Lent and there is no harder discipline. Most listening is half-listening, and the true listener is a rare bird. To speak is easy, to listen is sanctity.
In Lent we ponder death. Jesus invokes a fresh image of death at variance with pagan metaphors. It is a pastoral image of the seed sown in Spring soil, dying that it might be reborn to make bread for human invigoration. The seed needs its Winter, needs the night and the discipline of the wind and the weather. All sunshine makes a desert.
Lent is the time when we have occasion to ponder this singular revelation. To turn from the pessimism that bereavement imposes on every aching heart. It can be a liberation from the fear of death.

(Excerpts from an article in the Catholic Gazette in 1989 by Fr Hugh Lavery).

Salvation begins with the human person, with human dignity, with freeing every person from sin. And in Lent, this is God�s call: be converted, individually! There are no two identical sinners among us. Each one of us has committed his or her own shameful deeds, yet we want to lay the blame on someone else and hide our own faults. I must unmask myself. I, too, am one of them and I need to beg God�s pardon because I have offended him and society. This is the call of Christ, the human person comes before all else.

(Archbishop Oscar Romero. We will remember the 25th anniversary of his death/martyrdom in March this year. He was killed while saying Mass in a hospital chapel on 24 March 1980).

This Lent I shall:

Write a letter to someone who has inspired me
Tell my spouse why I�m glad we�re married
Smile at people I don�t know (could be interesting..) - such as bus drivers, bank tellers, shop assistants etc
Pray for those who taught me as a child
Tell a young person about my favourite historical character
Take a walk beside a stream and think how important water actually is�.
Send an Easter Card to someone recently bereaved
Read a bit from the Gospels each day
Take more opportunities to join the community at Mass

(Parish Lenten Resources from the US).

Lord

Protect us in our struggle against evil.

As we begin the discipline of Lent,

make this day holy by our self denial.

May this season of repentance

bring us the blessing of your forgiveness

and the gift of your light.

Amen