Seeking silence in our busy lives is essential for nourishing our relationship with God who speaks to us, not only through the Scripture readings, but deep in the silence of our souls. The moments before and after Mass are especially precious for opening our hearts to God.

Silence is not only an essential element in our relationship with God – it is also a gift we can offer to our neighbour. How much noise is there in everyday life! Traffic, mobile phoes, electronic gadgets of sort, piped music, 24 hour television… For very many people, the little time they spend in Church is their only chance to find any peacefulness at all. Please try and help us to value and use the sacred silence of the Church.

Of course, we also come to Church to meet our Catholic friends – conversation builds community. But this can be done in the Pastoral Centre, the Bookshop, the porch area, or around the doors, where we as priests enjoy greeting our parish family. The Church itself, however, is difference to any other place on earth – a sacred space, and the gate of heaven! This Lent (and afterwards!) let’s remind ourselves of how valuable that it.

A Prayer for before and after Mass.

Regaining Equilibrium in Lent and Liturgy

Lent is the time par excellence to redress the balance of our lives, to restore the equilibrium to the pendulum which too readily swings to the extremes.

Read more about reforming our liturgy on a special Season of Lent – Time to Reform article.

The series of Sunday Lenten Homilies on the Parts of the Mass (drawn from the Gospel of the first four Sundays of Lent) is aimed at helping us to understand the parts of the Mass, and to participate more deeply in the Holy Sacrifice.

We began last week with the Introductory Rites, whose purpose us “to ensure that the faithful, who come together as one, establish communion and dispose themselves to listen properly to God’s Word and to celebrate the Eucharist worthily” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal 46). In the light of last Sunday’s Gospel about Jesus’ Temptations in the desert, we especially thought about the Penitential Rite (act of sorrow) and the Opening Prayer (known as the “Collect”, because it collects together the prayers of the people), as well as the importance of the pre-Mass silence for preparatory personal prayer.

Today’s Gospel is St Mark’s account of the Transfiguration when the three closest apostles heard Go the Father command them to LISTEN to His Beloved Son. The Liturgy of the Word comprises “the readings from the Sacred Scripture together with the chants occurring between them; (also) the Holy, Profession of Faith, and the Prayer of the Faithful … By their silence and singing the people make God’s Word their own, and affirm their adherence to it” (GIRM 55). On the third and fourth Sundays of Lent (when the Gospel readings are about the Cleansing of the Temple and God’s generosity) the last two homilies in this series will be, respectively, on the Consecration, and on Holy Communion. Lent prepares us for, and leads us to, the new life of Easter, just as the Eucharistic Banquet is the foretaste and
promise of the new life of Heaven.

During Lent there are no flowers, no Gloria, no Alleluias, and no music “except to sustain weak singing”. All these things are restored – like life itself – in the joy of Easter.

Keeping the Church Silent and still for prayer and worship is our communal parish Lenten commitment during Lent 2009. Let’s help one another by putting a finger on our lips … Sshhh …

You’ll be amazed (and many people will be grateful) at what a big difference this’ll make to the atmosphere of our Church.

Read page one of the new Parish Magazine (Lent/Easter 2009) so that you don’t put your foot in it (!) by talking in church in Lent.

The Sunday Homily during the first four weeks of Lent will help to deepen our understanding of the parts of the Mass, drawing on the Sunday Gospel readings and liturgical texts.

On this First Sunday of Lent we find Jesus in the wilderness, immediately after his Baptism. He suffers temptations by Satan, but remains steadfast. This prepares Him for His Sacred Ministry.

The first part of the Mass – the Introductory Rites – similarly prepares us for what is to come. We repent and turn from our sins so that we can turn to God and experience His Presence at Mass.

Eastward-facing (i.e. Ad Orientem) is what the Pope is restoring, and we’re offering at the Sunday 11.30am and daily 7am Masses. There is no question of introducing the “extra-ordinary form” Tridentine rite here (to reassure a few people); neither is this a matter of “backs to the people”, but rather of us all facing forward to where we’re destined … We look together to the East from where Christ will come in glory.