We are now about ten days into Lent, and the initial enthusiasm may be wearing rather thin.  Easter still seems a long way off.  But as Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, “Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.”  If we experience failure in carrying out our resolutions, that is a reminder that we can only make progress in the spiritual life through God’s help, not by our own efforts.  Sometimes God allows us to fail, so that he can help us to trust more in the power of his grace.  And this is a time to grow in our knowledge of God’s great love for us. In the words of Saint Teresa of Calcutta:  “As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus’ thirst…He knows your weakness. He only wants the chance to love you.”

 

We have a chance over the coming ten days to practise almsgiving, one of the pillars of traditional Lenten observance, as the Lenten CAFOD collection is swiftly approaching.  Thank you very much for your generous support of the Cardinal’s Appeal last Sunday, which raised £787.62.  You can continue to contribute to this Appeal throughout the season of Lent, particularly by visiting https://rcdow.org.uk/cardinals-appeal/.  This weekend, though, our focus is shifting towards CAFOD and the annual Lenten Fast that our Catholic aid agency proposes, so that we can save and redirect funds in aid of the most needy in our world.  Envelopes will be distributed this weekend, but the collection itself is scheduled for next weekend.  Elizabeth Carey’s article for the parish website can be viewed here, and CAFOD’s own website provides further indications (https://cafod.org.uk/give/appeals/lent-appeal).  NB, our own collection for CAFOD comes a week later than the “official” collection, as we were focusing on the Cardinal’s Appeal last weekend.

 

There are two great feasts in the calendar next week - Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph.  On Monday 17 March, the patron saint of Ireland provides us with an opportunity to suspend our Lenten fast for a day while we give thanks for his evangelisation of that island in the fifth century.  Because of the work of Irish missionaries in so many parts of the world, he is also venerated elsewhere, for example in Nigeria, where he is the patron saint of the nation, so congratulations are owed not only to our Irish worshippers, our Patricks and our neighbours at Saint Patrick’s Church in Soho, but also to Father John and our other Nigerian friends.

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While Saint Patrick’s day is kept as a feast in this country, Saint Joseph’s is kept as a solemnity.  Wednesday 19 March provides us with the opportunity to honour the great husband of Mary, foster-father of Our Lord, patron of the universal Church and of fathers everywhere, patron of workers, immigrants and the unborn.  His shrine in this country is at Farnborough Abbey, transferred there when the original site at Mill Hill was sold almost twenty years ago.  Saint Joseph’s Missionary Society, also known as the Mill Hill Missionaries, was founded by our own Cardinal Vaughan, third Archbishop of Westminster, who also founded Westminster Cathedral.  The tomb of Cardinal Vaughan was relocated to Westminster Cathedral when the land at Mill Hill was sold.  Saint John Henry Newman had a great devotion to Saint Joseph, in whose honour he penned the following reflection:

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“He is Holy Joseph, because according to the opinion of a great number of doctors, he, as well as St. John Baptist, was sanctified even before he was born.  He is Holy Joseph, because his office, of being spouse and protector of Mary, specially demanded sanctity.  He is Holy Joseph, because no other Saint but he lived in such and so long intimacy and familiarity with the source of all holiness, Jesus, God incarnate, and Mary, the holiest of creatures.”

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Assurances of prayers and good wishes to all our Josephs, fathers, and to all those who enjoy the patronage of Saint Joseph, especially the peoples of Austria, Belgium and Croatia, to name but a few.

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This Sunday the Civic Service is to be held at Westminster Cathedral (cf. our parish newsletter of 9 February).  Those who have already indicated a wish to attend are reminded that it begins at 4pm in the Cathedral.  Renewed congratulations to our own Councillor Robert Rigby, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, for arranging this event, celebrating the diversity and unity of the many communities across the City.  

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The Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent always presents us with an account of the Transfiguration, that great mystery of light in the life of Our Lord.  As we are reminded by the Preface this Sunday, “After he had told the disciples of his coming Death, on the holy mountain he manifested to them his glory, to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets, that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.”  Let this great mystery and those stirring reflections from the Preface be a source of encouragement to us at this stage in Lent, a word which means “spring”.  We see the signs of new life around us as the spring flowers gradually make their appearance.  Let it be so in our spiritual lives as well.