Rite of Election

25 February 2012
Location: Clifton Cathedral
Address: Pembroke Road, Bristol BS8 3BX
Time: 11.00 am

We celebrate the Rite of Election at the start of the Lenten season, on the first Saturday of Lent - this year on 25 February. It is a wonderful experience for those who come to present themselves to the Bishop in the Cathedral seeking to be called forward and encouraged to continue their journey of faith towards the celebration of the great Easter Vigil, and the celebration of their own initiation.

It is also an experience for those who have been baptised and now seek to be received into the life of our catholic community. The Bishop echoes the call, the election of God, who calls us by name so that we might know the power of his love in our lives. The bishop affirms in his calling forward the candidates and the catechumens God’s call to each one of us to journey deeper into our understanding of who he is. But the Rite of Election is a celebration of the whole church for it is into a community of believers that God calls.

The Rite also reminds us that there is a need in each one of us to turn back to the Lord. His message of repentance and conversion is one that we, as a Church, are in constant need of hearing. As we journey with those on pilgrimage through Lent to the Sacraments at Easter, so their calling is an opportunity for us to finely tune our ears that we might once more hear the loving voice of the Father calling us to model our lives on Christ, to refashion ourselves according to his image, and to remould our way of living and loving according to his.

As we come in the Rite of Election to pray in support of those on their journey of faith, so they invite us to continue that pilgrimage and journey of discovery so that the Good News of God’s love may be ever new in us. It would be good to see you at the Cathedral, not just to support those that we are preparing to call our brothers and sisters in faith, but as part of your own Lenten journey of return to the Father of mercy and compassion.

Our report from last year is still online.