ASH WEDNESDAY – 1 March
The Prophet Joel and the Gospel of Matthew today call us torepentance, reconciliation, fasting, prayer and almsgiving.This call takes us to the heart of the penitential season of Lent: a conversion of heart that comes from a renewed and revitalised relationship with our God who is gracious and merciful and bestows abundant life on all.
As Christians we know that we are called to live life to the full. During Lent,this‘joyful season’, we are called to give expression to the ‘greatest commandment of the law’, the love of God and the love of one’sneighbour which is at the heart of Project Compassion.
This Lent,after the ash is washed away and we move through this journey to Easter, let us hold in our prayersthe oppressed, the hungry, the broken-hearted, the captive, the prisoner.Can we fast so that others may have more of the world’s resources?In a time ‘when the divide between the mega-rich and the forgottenpoor is ever widening’,may webring the good news to those most deeply affected by the inequities in our world—let us take home a Project Compassion box or envelope set and give generously to some of our neighbours who are amongst the poorest and most vulnerablepeoplein our world.
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT – 4-5 March
Today’s readings bring us face to face with temptation,anda call to surrenderultimately to the graciousness of God’s love.What a mixture of emotions and thoughts to encounter as we enter more fully intotheLenten season.
Pope Francis tells us that a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity –as offered to Jesus in today’s Gospel – leadstoboththe misuse of available resources andthe exclusion of the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
In the Gospel, the same Spirit who baptised Jesus in the Jordanled him out into the wilderness,where he encountered self-doubt and was tempted to accept power over ‘all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour’.Through prayer, Jesus was strengthened forministry and service to go and‘be’the good news of God’s mercy and love.
During Lent, the Church, through today’s Gospel and the words of Pope Francis, invitesus to take up the call to fast, pray and give alms.Project Compassion enables us to pray so that we will be strengthened to fast and give (alms). In this way we canhelp neighbours like Dinia in the Philippinesto find healing and peace, and to know herself as a valued member of her community with a role in creating a brighter future for her children.
A retreat intoour own ‘wilderness’leads us toaplace deep withinourselveswhere we encounter this servant, Jesus, inviting us to take seriously this Lenten call.
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT – 11-12March
During these early weeks of Lent we hear of Spirit, wilderness, temptation, wild beasts, angels, and, inthis week in particular,of promise and transfiguration.What dothesewords tell us about howwe are asked to spend the Lenten season?
We hear oftheloving promise made between God and Abraham. On Mount Tabor,God speaks of Jesus as‘beloved’son and urges Peter, James and John to“Listen to him”.He urges them tolisten to what Jesus has been saying about the direction his ministry will now take—Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and his death and eventual resurrection,a journey on which we,aspeople of a loving Covenant, are invited.
This journey is intended to help usdiscernwhat really matters,andto recognise that our responsibility for others goes beyondourimmediate community.Project Compassion urges us to recogniseMartinafromTimor-Lesteasa neighbour,full of dignity and grace.Shehas taken the long journey to transform her life,makeimportantlinkswith a supportive community andcreatea better future for herself and her children.
Our God on Mount Tabor who sends the Son ‘not to be served but to serve’ invites us on this journey to transform the world through the sacrifices of our daily life.
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT – 18-19 March
The ‘woman at the well’ is one of the best known of the Gospel stories, a storyextremely rich in offering us insights into ourowndaily life.In fact, we have to be careful not to be so overwhelmed by the lengthand depthof the story thatwe do not receive its messages.
At this well, Jesus speaks, heaven forbid, to a Samaritan,and a woman at that—double trouble!In their encounter, she teases him and he engages her in ‘imaginative dialogue’ thattakesher to a new depth of understanding about herself.Thisoffersher a way out of the cycle of emotional abuse in which shehas beencaught.His greatest giftisto treat her with respect for her personal dignity.Through this encounter she is transformed.
This week we are challenged by the story of some of our First Australians. The survivors of Kinchela Boys Home(KBH)are men stolenas children from their families, their country and their communities.Pope Francis tells us,“Every life is sacred,every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity.”
Just as the Samaritan woman, encouraged by her encounter with Jesus,moved back into her community,Uncle Richard and the men of KBH walk togetherwith renewed confidence, learning from each other and, with the support of Caritas Australia,sharingthepainfulstories of their journey of healing.Let us commit ourselves to the good of our First Australian brothers and sisters and promote reconciliationacrossourland.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT- 25-26 March
Today we take a breath and celebrate Laetare Sunday—a day of hope,when Easteris atlast within sight. We pause tolook back on our Lentenjourney and to refocus onthe road ahead.It seems appropriate that John’s story of the man born blind is the reading for this Sunday.This move from blindness (darkness) to sight (light) is the metaphor for the transformation of character that happens as a result of commitment to Christ.Are our eyes still on Easter?
This reading is a strong and powerful message for our times where so many of ourneighbours haveexperiencedcircumstances not of their makingand are in need ofa helping hand.In ourProject Compassion story this week, we meetNguyetfrom Vietnam, a young woman with a severe disability.As is the case in many countries, people like Nguyetand her family are often ‘out of sight’when it comes to receiving the support andcare needed to participate in the life of the community.
As Jesus turned his gaze to the man born blind, may we refuse to avert our gaze from those who most need acceptance, love and support.Together withCaritas Australia’spartner agency Catholic Relief Services,may webe ignited by the promise ofenlivened hopefor Nguyet and her community.
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – 1-2 April
Jesus is getting near to Jerusalem—it’s just over the hill.He has left the relative safety of his home in the Galileeto be with family and friends.He is late,they tell him.They ask him,why did you take so long?You could have saved Lazarus from dying!
Jesus, though,hasanother lesson for his disciples and followers.We are all‘Lazarus’and each of us is the one‘whom Jesus loved’.He comes to us and stands at the doorway of our lives and helps us to see that we need to be freed from the dark places in which we sometimes lose ourselves.
Jesus calls the friends of Lazarus to unbind him and set him free.Jesus calls on us to unbind those around us.We all need to be freed from the ties that bind us.We areat all times invited togive and receive the light and life of Christ’s healing help and forgiveness.
This week Project Compassion calls us to help‘unbind’the issues forcommunities living in informal settlements around Fiji. Semiti,National Director of Caritas Australia’spartnerPeople’s Community Network, addresses the sense of hopelessness inmany ofhispeople.Hejourneys with themas together they create new possibilitiesfor better lives. Through our prayer, fasting and almsgiving,we can support this network of communities as they work in solidarity and grow in resilience and hope.
PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD – 8-9 April
Today we process into the Church accompanied by shouts of‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’,only to hear,in the second Gospel of the day:‘Crucify him!Crucify him!’What do we do with this?Howcan wego forward and not be manipulated by the crowd that shouts‘Hosanna’one moment,and a week later callsfor Jesus’ death?
Perhaps the best way to travel this last week—the only week in the Church’s year that we call Holy—is to do so in the company of the poor and the broken, the marginalised, the innocent, the abused.If we are to stand at the foot of the cross with Mary and John and hear Jesus make us all his brothers and sisters,andhear him say,‘Behold this is your mother, this is your son,’ thenlet us, like Jesus, empty ourselves. Andlet usfollow him.
Just eight hoursflying time fromAustralialive our neighbours on the islands of the Philippines. Here extreme weather has caused extraordinary devastation. Aloma and her small children havealready journeyedfrom tragedy to triumphthrough herwork with Caritas Australia’slocalpartner,Socio Pastoral Action Center Foundation Inc. Now there isfresh hopeof amore secure future forherfamily, and her whole community.
“Humanity,”says Pope Francis,“has the ability to work together in building our common home.”
As we leave the church, we do so in silence in order to reflectonthis most importanttaskduring this Holy Week.
EASTER SUNDAY –16 April
This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us be glad and rejoice in it!
This day is the day of Resurrection.This is the day death has been conquered.This is the day when women, faithful women who stood at the foot of the cross, witnessed theresurrectionand spread the good news. This is the day we remember light, water, oil, life, death, resurrection and the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
This is the day when we rest from our fasting and almsgiving,and this is the day we celebrate with our community, our family and our friends. This is the daywhenwe feastand we alsocontinue to stand with the poor and most vulnerableofthe world;and this is the day that we realisewe need one another andwe have a shared responsibility forallour neighbours, those near and those far away.
But a final question remains:
To what must we die in order to rise transformed?
Pope Francis answers thisquestionwhen hesaid in 2013thatthe Church and the papacy must be reformed asthe Churchseeks out the poor and the oppressed:“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”
Caritas Australia,as the Catholic agency for aid and development, joins the wider Churchin building a world where all human beings can live in dignity,and communities areempowered to be thearchitects of their own development.
We thank you forhelping to empower our neighbours, throughthe support you so generously give each year during Project Compassion.