This Sunday is the First Sunday of Lent.  We marked the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday (which this year also happened to be Valentine’s Day!).  The ashes on our head remind us of at least two things.  First, that we are mortal beings.  We have finite lives on this earth and at the end of our days we return to the earth: remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.  That can seem grim.  That is why we need to keep the whole Easter season in our vision.  As Fr Frank reminded us on Ash Wednesday, Lent marks the beginning of a ninety day season.  It begins with wearing ashes but it ends with the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost.  That Spirit fills us with renewed life and energy.  It draws us closer into the mystery of the life, death and resurrection of Christ.  It reminds us that in fact, the life that God gives us, cannot be taken away from us even in our death!  So, we come to the second reason we wear ashes on our forehead. With God always for us we are always more than ashes. Lent becomes a time for us to recall the promises that God has made to humanity.  We will hear about one of those promises in the book of Genesis on the first Sunday of Lent.  “Here is the sign of the Covenant I make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations: I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and earth.”  In other words the rainbow is given as a sign of God’s ongoing covenant to all of us and all of the earth.  Lent then becomes a time to focus on life in the covenant.  We spend time getting to know more deeply this God, revealed in Jesus Christ.  So we spend a little more time in prayer and reflection.  We spend time emptying ourselves of the things that distract us from living the Christian life and fill ourselves with the life of the Spirit: we fast from food, from technology, from the many time wasting distractions that can enter our lives.  We spend time in works of charity and faith.  We give of our time, our resources and our love so that others can be better off.  In this way we live as if the love of God in fact does have no end and no boundaries.

To assist us in the Lenten season this year there are a number of offerings provided from our parish and beyond.  As always our parish will support Caritas Australia and their work in international aid through the annual Project Compassion campaign.  You can collect a Project Compassion box from one of our churches or go straight to the Project Compassion website to donate. This year’s theme for Caritas is for future generations.  The annual Project Compassion campaign is a major way of assisting in the Church’s international aid program to make a better world.

We also have opportunities for prayer and reflections and meditations.  To find out more about these opportunities visit the Lenten Enrichment page of our parish website.

Many of us will make our own way through Lent towards the Easter sacraments of renewal.  Whatever you do, whatever you take up or give up let us do it in solidarity with one another that we may proclaim to the world that we believe in a God who is Lord of life and rejects all that has to do with death and destruction.   Happy Lent!

By Fr Brendan Reed

Published: 16 February 2024