“Holy Week is on our doorsteps”
Please God, we are now ready and looking forward to celebrating this most important event. Salvation that has come from on High. The Son of man, Jesus; who is also God’s only Son; intervened in our lives for the sake of our salvation. The cost was high, revealed to us by the way to calvary. The station of the cross helps us to give our careful attention to Jesus, so that we can with the help of the Holy Spirit transform our lives.
For me the pandemic; now this dreadful war among wars reveals an unavoidable fact … the realms of evil. Unfortunately much of my faith is a response to this hard fact. We begin each year, highlighted by lighting the first advent candle, the candle of “hope”. This has opened my eyes greatly to the value of “the celebration” of mass. During this last couple of years I have found it remarkably helpful.
We had the severest lockdown and on occasions celebrating mass on my own. The immense peace when celebrating the sign of peace. We are very blessed by our two churches because they present a remarkable sense of peace. We must do our best, our very best that our churches will continue to remain open, and blessed with loving communities of faith. I am fearful that not all our churches in the diocese will survive. Bishop Richard brought this to our attention at the very beginning of his ministry, when he introduced an immense consultation “with the focus on our diocese and our churches; what life in the church will be in 2030”. This was because of the age profile of the clergy, and the first focus was how the ministry of our priesthood would be like in 2024. Now the implications at this present time are sobering, especially if we place the emphasis upon the number of priests; and what they can do.
What we can do – Our response to the Synod maybe very helpful in this.
What we must do, helped through the Liturgy to well celebrate the events of our faith. Let us begin with “Palm Sunday” truly embracing that moment when Jesus entered Jerusalem, triumphant and riding on a donkey. In our seminary a very inspiring priest who highlighted this event from scripture “if our hearts are that hard and we do not respond, then the rocks and the trees will cry out with gratitude”. The procession should have great importance.
At Easter we celebrate the waters of baptism, in which we are washed and made clean. Sacramentals in the life of the church bring to our attention the grace of the sacraments that we receive and re-establish the greatness of God’s grace. The custom of having Holy Water in the house and in cars, a sign of the importance of God’s grace in all our lives and activities. It highlighted also the need for God’s protection.
In preparation for Christmas and Easter the priests spent hours in the confessional. The sacrament is true and can be very fruitful. Through the ministry of the church God grants to you pardon and peace. Now that we have ministers of the Eucharist at Holy Communion, I will be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation at this time. Please make your best preparation and come to celebrate this sacrament. This valuable ministry gives us the opportunity to celebrate the great sacrament of peace and then to receive our Divine Lord in Holy Communion.