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Pastoral
Letters
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Pastoral Letter for Lent 2002 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, “What are you doing for Lent?” We’ve all been asked that question at one time or another and, by and large, our answers will range from the trivial to the ambitiously heroic. I want to suggest in these few thoughts that it is the wrong question to ask anyhow. Simply doing something for Lent can mean that we’re running away from the important challenge of this wonderful season of the Church’s year. Lent isn’t just about doing things; it’s about discovering whether we’re brave enough to search for the face of Christ, knowing that, when we find it, we will discover there an immense love for us. This is the discovery of faith and it’s central to the meaning and purpose of our Lenten journey. Asking about doing is putting the same question that the rich young man asked of Jesus in the Gospel. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” I think he already knew the answer and was just seeking reassurance that he was all right. And if you read the story (Mark 10:17-22), you’ll see that Jesus tells him what to do – he lists the commandments for him. But that wasn’t enough – more was needed. Simply keeping the commandments did not engage the heart of the young man and Jesus wanted his heart and the commitment of his unconditional love. Jesus was trying to reach the young man’s heart, not just hear about what he was doing. We know this because the Gospel goes on to say that “Jesus looked steadily at him and was filled with love for him”. The tragedy was that he wasn’t ready to experience that face to face encounter with Jesus and the overwhelming love that flowed from it. “His face fell at these words and he went away sad.” Lent is very much a time when Jesus looks steadily at us and loves us. He’s not so much interested in what we do but in who we are. He wants to hold our eyes with His and lead us into the experience of His unconditional love for us. This means that, for me, Lent is a very special time when Jesus invites me to seek His face, to be caught up in His life and love, and to be with Him on His journey to Calvary and to Easter. I have to take on a Lenten discipline that is far greater than simply doing things, important though that may be. I have to risk coming face to face with Jesus in prayer and in the Scriptures. I have to spend time with Him and allow myself to accept the extraordinary love that He has for me. I have to be brave enough to meet His eyes and hold His gaze. I have to let His love penetrate my heart. Lent challenges us to discover the Jesus who loves us and dies for us. We follow Him through temptation, suffering and death. We share life with Him “to inherit eternal life.” In an extraordinary way, He needs us to be his companions and He needs us to walk with Him for His own comfort and strength. If penance and fasting and all the traditional observances of Lent help us to do that, coming closer to Him and loving Him more, then so be it, but it’s the love that counts. The penance and the fasting may help us to drive out some of those “devils” that stop us deepening our response to His love for us, but we will not be doing these things for their own sake. We do them because we love Him. When I come to Easter, at the end of the Lenten journey, I want, more than anything, the blessings for which St Richard of Chichester prayed for: “to know Him more clearly, to love Him more dearly and to follow Him more nearly.” My Lenten journey really has to be one of faith and love and I want to encourage you to travel with me along this road. Make no mistake – it will be truly penitential but, at the same time, supremely life-giving. It leads us to Calvary but, through the Cross and the death, to the new life of Easter. I want also to remind you of a very special group of people in our diocese for whom Lent is a particularly important time. For them, it’s the culmination of a journey in faith that has been going on for a long time. They are our catechumens and candidates – men and women who are discovering Christ in the fullness of the communion of the Church. They have been seeking the face of Christ and, having found it, they now long to be nourished and sustained by His presence in the sacraments of the Church. They are going to be baptised or received into full communion with us at Easter. They are certainly journeying with us through Lent and they are seeking to be sustained by our example and our own eagerness to seek the face of Christ. Enfold these brothers and sisters in your prayers and your love. Remember them particularly on the first Saturday of Lent when they come to the Cathedral for the Rite of Election. Come with them to the joy of the Easter celebrations when we all share and rejoice together in the great gift of God, which is the new life of the Risen Christ. May God bless you all, Bishop Crispian |
