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Pastoral
Letters
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Lent 2003 "When the bridegroom is taken away, then they will fast." Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, There's a chilling note about those words from St Mark's Gospel that the disciples will fast when the bridegroom is taken away. They serve as a salutary reminder to us that we are on the threshold of Lent, a season which challenges us once again, both as individuals and as a Christian community, to become a penitential people. There are three traditional focuses for our Lenten observance and they are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. None of them are ends in themselves and we are not being invited into a period of masochistic, self-imposed suffering and penance. We are, however, being invited to renew our search for the face of Christ. By discipline, self-denial and generous giving, we are being challenged to sharpen our capacity to appreciate more acutely our awareness of Christ, of His love for us and of His closeness to us. There are many features in the face of Christ. They range from joy to sadness, from laughter to disappointment. His eyes are the eyes of one who loves us to distraction, though they are often full of tears because we so easily forget Him, turn away from His brothers and sisters and go our own way. The call of Lent is a call for each one of us to return and to be brave enough to face the eyes of Christ who may be turning towards us to look at us, as He looked at Peter when he betrayed Him, with a look of infinite sadness, yet overflowing with love and forgiveness. We are constantly reassured by His real presence among us in Word and Sacrament as food for our journeying more deeply into His love. He has promised to be with us always and we share the fruits of that promise with those who constantly accompany us on our journey of faith. There are good times on the journey and we give thanks for them. But there can be bad times -hard times - when we are beset by failures and betrayals, not just from outside but from within the community as well. In recent months, we have all been affected and distressed by relentless and repeated revelations of the abuse of children and vulnerable adults within our communities. It has been even more shameful for us that some of our clergy have been among those who have betrayed sacred trusts, even though they form only a tiny percentage of the numbers of those who abuse. But the Church, as I have already said elsewhere, is not the victim in all this – the abused children and adults struggling to come to terms with past abuse are the real victims and we must never forget them or our responsibilities to them. Our society is in danger of becoming an abusive society, one in which the vulnerable and defenceless seem to be particularly at risk. Many aspects of public life today are profoundly sad and, because we are children of our time, in spite of our faith, we contribute to that sadness through our own weaknesses and failures. Solidarity and community are wonderful aspects of our lives within the Church. We are immensely encouraged to know that, as disciples, we never walk alone. More than ever, we need to strive to become and to be seen to be a community that is different – one which stands out from the crowd because of its goodness, its generosity and its love – a people marked by compassion, gentleness and a willingness to forgive. Lent gives us again the opportunity to repent, to be converted and to believe and live the Good News. As we search again for the face of Christ, even if it means braving the sight of his tears, we are called to repent for our own personal sins and to seek forgiveness from God. By reminding you of Lent and its demands - and I want to try to offer something significant to the Lord myself at this time - I invite you to join me in your own way so that, together, we can make this season a special time of prayer, fasting and generous giving to those in need – an offering of love to the Lord to help us appreciate more deeply and respond more generously to His love for us. I want us to do this together, but with a minimum of fuss or publicity. I hope that my Lent and yours can be a real and genuine sign of repentance for everything that we in the Church have done to increase the sufferings of an already overburdened and afflicted world. Doing penance together, being a penitential community, seeking forgiveness from God and neighbour is to travel through "the little death" of Lent to reach fresh and renewed life. There is no better way of being with the Lord through His suffering and death. But Good Friday cannot be separated from Easter and it is at Easter that we will be able to experience and rejoice in the glory of the face of the Risen Christ. His Risen Life is Christ's joyful gift to us and He goes before us into Galilee where He will teach us how to share His precious gift of life and hope with all among whom we live. Our Communion with Him is inseparable from the Mission He gives us. May God bless you, + Crispian To be read or made available at all Masses celebrated on the weekend of March 1st/2nd, the 8th Sunday of the Year. |
