7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

21 February 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday when as a community we enter the season of Lent. As the prophet Joel proclaims it is a time to call the people together, to summon the community to turn to God who is rich in tenderness and compassion. As St Paul says this is “a favourable time”, a time of opportunity.

It is important to remember that the observance of Lent is something we do together. We are not a group of individuals, each privately trying to work out his or her own relationship with God and others. We are a communion of people recognizing that our identity as individuals comes about because we belong to a community and we face up to our responsibilities to God and to others.

St Paul calls us to be reconciled to God. Reconciliation is about relationships and the sort of relationship that God wants with us. Sometimes that is difficult to understand but what is clear is that the relationship God seeks to have with us and the whole of creation, is made known in Jesus Christ. We need to listen and listen again to Jesus in the Scriptures. We need to see and understand who he is and the way of discipleship that he invites us to follow. That way leads to Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. To follow Jesus is to follow that way.

Throughout Lent we are called to be a people of prayer. In prayer we listen to the Lord and allow his voice to speak to us. In prayer we need to concentrate less on our own words and more on the word of God. I would suggest that during Lent you read one of the Gospels – perhaps the Gospel of Mark – and use it as the basis for your prayer. Alternatively you might like to take the Sunday Lent Gospels and reflect on them throughout the week either in groups or on your own.

Reconciliation to God always means we need to be reconciled to our fellow human beings. We cannot say we love God and then say we do not love our neighbour. Relationships are not always easy and there can be breakdowns which speak more of death than life. Reconciliation is not forgiving and forgetting but remembering and changing. During Lent we turn to God and ask that we be changed. Our fasting in Lent is a prayer for a change of heart. That change of heart is of God’s making not our own. Fasting is something that has become unpopular in past years. Perhaps it is something to rediscover not as a means of losing weight but as St Augustine says, a sign of our desire to fast from sin.

To have a change of heart is not only to be more open to God and those we immediately know, but to be open to all people in need. With the credit crunch there are going to be many people who are in need of one sort or another. That need may be material but it could also be a need to be affirmed as a person and recognized for one’s value. Lent is a time to give others support. This may also be expressed in raising awareness and money for the developing world through such organisations as CAFOD.

These forty days of Lent that lie ahead of us are a time to commit ourselves to God, to one another and to all in need. Commitment to relationships always entails risks. We do not know the outcome. As Jesus headed towards Jerusalem where he would confront people for their lack of genuine love, he risked himself into the hands of his Father. The risk led to the darkness of Cavalry but more importantly to the life of Easter. Entering Lent we know we are journeying towards Resurrection and new beginnings. I wish you a good journey and a life giving Easter.

With my best wishes and prayers
Bishop of Clifton

To be read and / or made available in all Churches and Chapels in the Clifton Diocese on the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time 21 / 22 February 2009