Palm Sunday

from a Paschal Homily of an Ancient Author

The imperfect events which took place in time are the images and symbols of what is perfect and eternal; they were devised by God to foreshadow the reality which is now dawning. In the presence of the reality, the symbol has no point, just as when the king comes on a visit, no one dares to ignore the king in person and pay homage to his statue.

We can see the extent to which the symbol is inferior to the reality from this: the symbol recalls the short life of the Jewish first-born, the reality recalls the eternal life of us all.

It is no great thing that one should escape death for a short time, if he will die soon afterwards; but it is certainly a great thing to escape death altogether. That is what happens for us, because Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed for us.

The very name of the feast points to the way in which it is surpassed, if it is correctly explained. The word ‘Pasch’ means ‘passage’, because when the angel of death was striking down the first-born in Egypt, he passed over the houses of the Hebrews (God’s chosen people). But with us the passage of the angel of death is a reality, for it passes over us once and for all, when Christ raises us up to eternal life . . .

We should be eager to welcome this beginning of the new life, and never run back to the old, for it has reached its end. How can we, who died to sin, still live in it?

5th Sunday of Lent

While they wandered in the desert for 40 years, waiting to enter the Promised Land, the People of Israel often grew discontented, and grumbled. They demanded water – then good. When God gave them manna to eat, they demanded meat instead. They harassed Moses so much he even felt tempted to abandon his mission. Such is human nature!

Our Lenten journey lasts just 40 days, but we too often grow discontented on the way. The things we gave up, the tasks we took on, all grow too much. Lent becomes a monotonous burden.

The Church, with the wisdom of 2000 years and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, knows exactly what human nature is like. And so, to encourage us, she breaks up the Lenten season in such a way that the monotony is lessened and we are inspired to look ahead to the joys of Easter. Last Sunday, for instance, we celebrated Laetare Sunday, which with its rose-coloured vestments marks the mid-point of Lent and gives us a new impetus to persevere. Today, the 5th Sunday of Lent, marks the beginning of Passiontide. The most obvious sign of this is the violet veils which now cover the crucifixes, statues and other images. The meaning of this custom – which goes back many centuries – is two-fold. Firstly, it reminds us that during Christ’s Passion, his glory was veiled. On the cross, his divinity was hidden, and only the broken humanity appeared. We need the gift of faith to see, in this frail figure, our Lord and our Redeemer. So, Passiontide encourages us to pray for deeper faith. Secondly, by veiling the images – good and useful as they are – the Church also encourages us to focus on what is truly essential in the liturgy – sacred silence, in which we draw near to God, listening, when God’s word is proclaimed, the offering of the heart, when the Eucharist is celebrated, and prayerful gratitude when Holy Communion is received. Passiontide thus prepares us to receive from the Lord the gift of his Salvation.

Next Sunday will be Palm Sunday. Red vestments, the waving of palms, the singing of joyful chants and hymns – then solemnity as the Passion is read. A drama which introduces the most sacred week of all the year – Holy Week.

4th Sunday of Lent

The Prodigal Son, in today’s Gospel, is searching for happiness, but doesn’t know what it is, on where to find it (just like modern man), so he goes looking in the wrong place … as do we …

In Britain today, we are wealthier than ever and yet it seems there is a general feeling of dissatisfaction. Our society’s obsession with seeking happiness through consumption and pleasure often leads to the very opposite. The modern science of happiness offers plenty of good advice about how to achieve happiness, but remains strangely silent about how it is to be defined… The underlying assumption is that when people use the word happiness they all mean the same thing, namely, the very loose concept of ‘feeling good’… While there is nothing morally wrong in feeling good, it is not in itself a moral guide to right and wrong. If we are to find happiness, we need to go beyond simply feeling good and avoiding harm, to enter the world of knowing good and doing good.

Simply choosing and choosing again (as in ‘retail therapy’) can distract us from that interior world which is the true source of happiness. The exercise of external freedom can become a substitute for exercising internal freedom… The desert fathers and mothers discovered authentic insights about the interior world by living in extreme conditions of solitude and simplicity. They were as realistic as modern psychologists about the passions and struggles of the interior world, but they never wavered in their conviction that they were free to choose an interior life that was more integrated than the one they currently experienced. Just as we now send business managers on outward bound courses in remote and often wild locations in order to discover more about themselves…

… so the Christian embraces the desert wilderness of Lent in order to discover ourselves and God, and thus we find true and lasting happiness.

From Finding Happiness by Abbot Christopher Jamison (of The Monastery TV series)

2nd Sunday of Lent

Transfiguration is at the heart of Lent. God longs for us to be transfigured into the likeness of His Son. Jesus gives the three Apostles a glimpse of His glory, not only to sustain them through the coming suffering and perplexity of His passion and death, but to deepen their longing to share in His new life and His glory.

Our Lenten exercises should help to deepen our love of the Lord, give us time and opportunity to draw closer to Him, to hear His Voice, and to respond to His call to each one of us individually.

Are we conscious of journeying towards Heaven – or of moving away from the things of God, and remaining earth-bound?
Do I sincerely seek the life of Heaven here and now?

Everything we think, do or say (or what we don’t think, do or say – our sins of omission) either moves us a step nearer to God and to the life of Heaven, or a step further from Him and from Heaven…

It is logically impossible to move forward without first being freed from the things which hold us back. We need to be released from all that impedes our progress. Our selfish sinfulness restricts us from finding and fulfilling our God-given destiny. We have marred the image of God in us (in whose likeness we were created) and need to be transfigured by Him who longs to restore us to the likeness of His Son.

We try to fool ourselves if we think that we can do without the God-given gift of forgiveness which, as physical beings, we need to be made tangible, real and assured. Only in the Sacrament of Confession (sometimes called Reconciliation or Penance) can this forgiveness be experienced in its fullness and assurance.

The Catechism (No. 2042) sees Confession, not just as the obligatory means of being absolved of serious sin, but as one of the habitual and necessary means of spiritual progress; while the Compendium to the Catechism (No. 432.2) makes no mention of the need for serious sin but formulates the precept as: “To confess one’s sins, receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation at least once each year”. We need to remind ourselves that the deadly (ie. mortal) sins are seven – pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth – and that each poisons the soul in its own way.

Finally, the obligation to annual confession aids us in combatting the sin of presumption before God’s judgment.  (Zenit)

Confessions at St Joseph’s are every Saturday: 10.30-11.30 and 5.15-5.45pm

1st Sunday of Lent

The Lenten season is often compared to a journey. Just as, in the Old Testament, the People of Israel travelled for 40 years to reach the Promised Land, so duing Lent the Church collectively journeys towards the feast of Easter – Easter itself holding out to us a promise greater than that given to the Israelites – the promise of Eternal Life, won for us by Jesus. Just as the Israelites had their problems on the journey – weakness, disobedience, discouragement – so too our own Lenten journey is rarely straightforward! But it is important we never lose sight of the destination, and persevere.

In the City of Rome, from earliest times, this imagery of the ‘journey’ was taken very seriously. Lent began (as it still does) with the Pope going in procession to the ancient basilica of Santa Sabina high up on the Aventine Hill, there to distribute the blessed ashes. Then, every day in Lent was assigned a ‘station church’ – each day the people would gather for Mass in that particular place, gradually wending their way through the whole city, until at last Easter was celebrated with great solemnity at St John Lateran, the Pope’s cathedral.

Originally the Pope himself celebrated every ‘Station Mass’. This is no longer possible, but still, every day, groups of the faithful meet at the station churches – the major relics of the place are displayed and venerated, Mass is sung and the celebration normally ends with a procession.

Such a custom is very suited to the holy city of Rome, with its innumerable chuches – it would be rather more difficult to adopt in England. But the idea of the ‘station’ (literally ‘stop‘) can still be useful to us in our Lenten observances. How often we start Lent full of good resolutions, only to find we slip back into our old ways very quickly! On Ash Wednesday we are full of fervour, but all too soon our good intentions have mysteriously faded away…

Hence it is a good idea to ‘stop’ at regular intervals – perhaps every weekend – and simply asses how Lent is going for us. Have we made progress? If not, what has gone wrong? Can I put it right next week?

Don’t be discouraged – God is always prepared to give a second chance – but do be prepared to persevere, even when things are hard. After all, Our Lord himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, but he carried on to win us our Salvation.

6th Sunday of the Year

ASH WEDNESDAY is not a Day of Obligation but it’s important to make a good start to the Season of Lent. Come to Mass at 7am, 10am or 8pm and receive the blessed Ash of your forehead as we each seek to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

CONFESSION is the realistic way of doing this. Just come along any Saturday morning to any Cathoilc Church in the world! At St Joseph’s Confessions (the Sacrament of Reconciliation) are 10.30am – 11.30am & 5.15 – 5.45pm every Saturday. If you’ve not been to for a long time just tell the priest and he’ll help you. Pick up one of the Catholic Trust Society (CTS) leaflets on Why go to Confession or Examination of Conscience (only 20p), or read our Simple Guide to Confession to get you started.

PRAYER, FASTING and ALMSGIVING are the traditional marks of Christian commitment during the 40 days of Lent. There’s also a leaflet on that at the back of Church or in our Bookshop.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO DO DURING LENT? Decide today!

PRAYER: Morning and Evening Prayers are vital, so (re-)start or deepen your daily times of conversation with God.

Come to one of the Daily Masses once a week during Lent or, if you already come weekly, try to come more frequently in Lent. There are already about around 30 at the 7am daily Mass, and 60+ at 10am. Come and swell our daily offering of the Eucharist.

How about joining us for Lauds (Morning Prayer of the Church) at 9.30am Monday to Saturday (before the 10am Mass).

Stations of the Cross is at 10.30am and 8pm on the Fridays in Lent – helping us to focus on Our Lord’s journey of suffering towards His sacrificial death for love of us and helps us live our lives in imitation of Him.

Friday Lent Lunches are, like all our events during Lent, in support of two Lenten Charity Projects. A simple lunch of soup and bread with cheese and a beverage to enable us to show solidarity with the hungry and homeless while giving what we might otherwise spend on a meal to send them practical support.

There are plenty of 20p leaflets and £1.95 booklets available to help us during Lent, and especially the popular Walk with me booklet of daily reflections (£1) on the Pope’s Lenten message.

On 15th March, 3 members of our Social Action (Justice & Peace) group walked from St Joseph’s to Box Hill, to raise money for our Lenten Charities.

Click here to read a short report from their adventure!

The appearance of the Passion veiling this weekend signals a more intense period of preparation for the celebration of Easter. The final fortnight of the Lenten season – Passiontide – is a time to focues more single-mindedly on the greatest mysteries of our faith.

The word ‘passion’ as applied to Our Lord carries a double meaning. In ordinary language ‘passion’ is often synonymous with ‘love’, which is the hallmark of Christianity. Jesus commands us at the Last Supper: “Love one another, as I have loved you“. But in its origins ‘passion’ springs from the Latin word ‘passio’, meaning ‘suffering’. To suffer one someone else’s behalf is the greatest test of love. In Jesus’s words: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends“. On the Cross, Jesus proves just how great his love for us is, offering his own life as the ransom for our sins.

In turn Christians are called to offer ‘compassion’ to those most in need. Again, ‘compassion’ has a double meaning. Often, it is taken to signify kindness, sympathy, practical assistance given to the needy. All this can certainly be implied, but at a deeper level to be ‘com-passionate‘ literally means ‘to suffer with’. The followers of Christ are not called to a sort of detached benevolence but to something more – to see Christ in those who suffer, and to sacrifice our own convenience to serve them. This is difficult, and flies in the face of wordly wisdom: it is much easier to drop a few coins in a collection box than to spend half-an-hour with someone sick, crotchety and bad-tempered. But the love we are called to is a costly love.

For this reason let us make the most of this last fortnight before Easter. Let us ‘draw a veil’ over the many things that distract us from truly following Jesus Christ, and contemplate the challenging words of the Gospel today: “Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life“.

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.

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.