THIS SUNDAY: Where does authority come from? Why is one man regarded as a prophet, and another as a lunatic, and a third as a hypocrite? Jesus startles the crowds with a “new teaching” today, but what amazes them so much is not the message but the authority behind it: they are convinced because what he does somehow adds credibility to what he says. It‘s the old situation that we are all familiar with – we look through words to see the actions, which show us the real message. The scribes did not heal or work miracles, but simply talked about God. Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God, but also shows the people what it is – a Kingdom where all that damages human happiness is abolished. The other side to this is that we must listen to a prophet or teacher when they are backed by such authority; we may not “harden our hearts” and ignore the message when we have recognised that the messenger is sent by God. This is the hard part, because it demands that we too show, by our actions, that we have heard.

THE CRIB: The crib comes down after this weekend having remaining in view for these six weeks since Christmas. A huge thank you for your kindness this year to the homeless of our own city as well as the refugee looking for help and shelter. We’ve sent off £300 gathered from your offerings since Christmas. As we have been drawn to this holy family of refugees in the crib, so you have also reached out to the Christ hidden in the poor and the homeless of today.

FIRST COMMUNION 2012: The preparation sessions for our youngsters pick up again from this coming Wednesday, 1 February.  the children should have their books in school already, but if they haven’t, parents are ask to make sure you send them in, please.

CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE: The Bishop invites all married couples to join him as part of National Marriage Week on Saturday 11 February in the Cathedral for Mass at 12noon. It’s a wonderful gathering from across our diocese. Do go along and celebrate the beautiful state of married life with him. Poster on the board and copies for you to take away from the narthex. If you are celebrating a significant anniversary this year (25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, 55th, 60th, 65th…) please do let Fr Christopher know that he can ensure you receive your individual invitations from the bishop.

EDUCATION SUNDAY: Next Sunday we ‘celebrate’ Education Sunday. Our Catholic schools and colleges are a great treasure. This treasure has been given to us and we must ensure that we hand it on to future generations. The purpose of our Catholic schools is to proclaim the Gospel. Education Sunday seeks to celebrate the tremendous work that takes place in our Catholic Schools, but also to pray that they may be places where Christ is known and where our dignity, our value and our worth are recognised. The Church has this great gift of education to offer our world and through the work of our schools that treasure is handed on. The retiring collection next Sunday goes to support the Catholic Education Service, working with our Bishops and our schools to keep Catholic Education on the public agenda. Please support Catholic education as generously as you can next weekend for through your giving our schools are supported and nurtured.

PARISH FORUM GROUP meets again on Wednesday 8 February at 7.45pm in the presbytery.

GROWING IN CONFIDENCE IN OUR FAITH IN 2012: There will be one or two opportunities for us, as a parish community, to explore our faith, to ask questions about our faith, and grow in our confidence to live and proclaim our faith throughout this year. The spring will offer us chance to come together in an informal way to ask simple questions and find simple answers. There’s also something planned for the autumn to enable us, as a parish community, to take up the bishop’s invitation to explore to teachings of the Vatican Council. Watch this space and get ready to respond, maybe, to the invitations on offer.

CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME to Maddison Pippa Lewis who was baptised last weekend and also to Jeremiah O’Connor who was also baptised last Sunday. We congratulate them both and also their families.

PARISH LITURGY GROUP: Fr Christopher is pulling together all those with particular responsibilities for the liturgical side of our parish as well as those who coordinate the various liturgical ministries. This gathering will look at ensuring that each of our ministers is formed and supported, as well as providing a real opportunity to reflect upon what we do as a community of prayer. The meeting aims, also, at allowing each of those coordinators to communicate with one another and facilitate a planning of what takes place here when it comes to our prayer. They meet next on Tuesday 6 March at 7.00pm in the presbytery.

THE SEASON OF LENT: This important season of preparation looms on the liturgical horizon even though Christmas is only just behind us. We begin the Lenten season on Wednesday 22 February with our celebration of Ash Wednesday. As a season of prayer there will, of course, be opportunities for us to deepen our prayer; as a season of penance there will extra opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation; and as a season of charity there will the usual Lenten opportunities to reach out to those who hunger and thirst in our world through our fasting and our almsgiving. Watch this space!

CALLED TO BE…18 February 2012 at Sacred Heart, Grange Court Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol from 7.00 pm to 8.30 pm. This is an opportunity for adults who work with the young people in our parishes to shape youth ministry. There is a chance to meet our Youth Ministry Coordinator, Dave Wheat, and have a say on the future. This is one of five events taking place in every county in our diocese in January and February.

CANDLEMAS: The beautiful celebration of the presentation begins with the blessing of candles. Mass will be celebrated in the evening on Thursday so do come and celebrate that fortieth day here in Church. The blessing of throats on St Blaise’s day will take place on the Friday morning after Mass.

THIS SUNDAY: Following on from the woman of Samaria encountering the thirst of Jesus, we find ourselves in the company of a blind man, Bartimaeus. The thrust of St John’s little episode of this healing is to show us, not only Jesus’ power to heal the blind, but to bring this man from unbelief to belief, from darkness to light, from blindness to sight. Those who were newly baptised in the early Church were given the Greek name photozomenoi – the enlightened ones. What St John shows us is that those who belong to Christ are those who are not walking in darkness but are guided by he who is the Light of the World. The light that is given to us at our baptism is a reminder that we have Christ as our light. It is our faith that illuminates the path we walk, leading us to Christ. It is that light we journey towards this Lent as at the heart of our Easter Vigil is the light of the Paschal Candle. Christ is our light and our way, our guide and our lead. His is the light we follow; he will not leave us in darkness, but bathing in his glorious light.  This joy-filled Sunday – Laetare Sunday – also marks the mid point of our season.

MOTHERING SUNDAY: This day, of course, is a day to reflect upon the Church of your baptism, the church where you were brought to birth into the family of the Church – hence the reason why we call the Church, our Mother. We also remember our own mothers today. Whether they have gone before us to glory or whether we still enjoy their presence in our lives, we ask God to bless them and to watch over them, today and always.

FIRST COMMUNION PREPARATION: Preparation continues on Wednesday 6 April at 3.45pm in the school. The children then break for Easter, returning to their preparation on Wednesday 27 April. Their next celebration Mass is when they come to receive the gift of the cross on Sunday 8 May at 10.30am.

ROOTED IN CHRIST: The talks have attracted many over the last couple of months and they are a simple way to begin to deepen our understanding of what we believe. The talks take place in Holy Family, Patchway, and are well worth going along to. The present series on the Sacraments focuses on those tremendous signs of Christ’s presence on our journey through life. Deacon Kevin Moloney is reflecting upon the Sacrament of Marriage this week – Tuesday 5 April at 7.30pm. Find out more either on our diocesan website or else on our notice board in the narthex.

THE SEASON OF LENT – PREPARING FOR THE SACRAMENTS: We will have three adult Baptisms this Easter – Joe Alsop, David Fitzgerald and Rebecca Fitzgerald – as well as two celebrations of Confirmation – Nora O’Brien and John O’Brien.  At Easter, we will also be celebrating the reception into the Church of four members of the Anglican Communion who are seeking entry into the Church through the Ordinariate – Pauline & Michael Long, and Bernard & Beryl Coombs. They are part of a wider community spread across Bristol. This is a most encouraging prospect for our parish community and should find us wanting to use their journey as one that encourages us in our faith, too.  We keep them all in our prayers.

LENTEN SOUP LUNCHES: Palm Sunday, 17 April, here at St Bernadette’s -12 noon. The proceeds from our lunch will go to support CAFOD.

CAFOD BOXES: Your CAFOD boxes can be brought back to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday where they will be taken up with the gifts as our offerings for the poor.

LENTEN BRUNCH: Thank you to those who provided last week’s lunch and those who cam along in support. £330 was raised thanks to your kindness. This will go to support our parish outreach projects.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Each Sunday of Lent we will make that prayerful journey to the Cross and to the tomb following in the footsteps of Jesus. The Sundays of Lent we start at 4.00pm in the Church, ending with benediction. On Good Friday, the Stations for children and families will be celebrated at 11.00am. This gives the children a chance to enter into the story and the drama of Good Friday walking with Jesus to the Cross. This is also a chance for families to draw together on this important day in our lives of faith.

SCHOOL STATIONS: Year 5 are leading the Stations of the Cross here in the Church on Friday 8 April (10.30am). Put the date in your diary and come along and allow the children to help us reflect upon this journey to the cross.

DIOCESAN FAMILY DAY: Bishop Declan is inviting us to join him at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College on Saturday 21 May (from 10.00am – 4.00pm) with our diocesan community, drawing us together to celebrate our faith. There is a poster in the narthex, and please put the date in your diary. It is a great opportunity for the parish communities across the four counties of our diocese to come together – from climbing walls to workshops – there is something for everyone of all ages. Please go along and represent our own parish community.

WELCOMERS: Our welcomers come together this coming Thursday 7 April in the Church for a time together.

HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE: Palm Sunday: 5.45pm (Saturday) & 10.30am (Sunday); Holy Thursday: Mass at 8.00pm; Good Friday: Stations for Children (11.00am); Liturgy of the Passion at 3.00pm; Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil at 8.30pm (note the time as the sun does not set until 8.08pm BST and the Vigil is celebrated after the sun has set); Easter Sunday: 8.30am & 10.30am. The full programme for Holy Week is also available from the narthex.

PARISH FORUM GROUP meet in the presbytery on Thursday 14 April at 7.00pm.

WEB STATIONS: From this coming Friday (8th) you will be able to reflect on the Stations of the Cross via our parish website. A station a day taking us up to Good Friday. Make it a part of your prayerfulness each day. On the home page each day from nextFriday (8th), we journey through the fourteen Stations, taking us to Good Friday and the celebration of the Lord’s Passion. The reflections have been composed by Fr Christopher and Jane Critten. The images are the first images of the stations placed in our Church. Originally, the stations were just marked by a cross. Fr Mitchell (as he was then) obtained a set that were given by St Thomas More’s, Cheltenham. They are slate with the images carved out and highlighted in white. The photgraphs were taken by Fr Robert King.

APF – Missio: Thank you to all red box holders, annual members, and to those who gave donations.  The parish raised £2799 in 2010 in support of the missions.

COMMUNITY CHOIR: Spring Concert in support of the people of Japan.   The Amplius Community Choir are giving a concert of sacred and secular music celebrating  Spring, Lent, and Easter on Saturday 16 April at Counterslip Baptist Church in aid of the Japan Red Cross Relief Fund.  Starts at 7.30pm – everyone welcome.

NEW TRANSLATION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL: Four Thursdays in Eastertime have been set aside for the beginnings of our reflection and preparation for the new translation of the missal ~ 5 May, 19 May, 2 June, and 16 June. These sessions (an hour each) beginning at 7.00pm will give us an opportunity to reflect upon the Eucharist and the words we pray when we come together for Mass. Please do come along and take part in this catechesis.

PARISH MAGAZINE: Don’t forget that copies of the Lenten/Spring edition of the magazine are available from the narthex. Get in touch if you would like a copy sent to you.

FIRST COMMUNION PREPARATION: Preparation continues on Wednesday 9 March at 3.45pm in the school. Bishop Declan meets with the parents of this year’s group on Thursday 31 March at 7.00pm in the Church. This is always a wonderful opportunity for our bishop spend time with the parents encouraging them in all they do to hand on faith to their children.

ROOTED IN CHRIST: The talks have attracted many over the last couple of months and they are a simple way to begin to deepen our understanding of what we believe. The talks take place in Holy Family, Patchway, and are well worth going along to. The present series on the Sacraments focuses on those tremendous signs of Christ’s presence on our journey through life. Fr Gregory Grant is reflecting upon Reconciliation this week – Tuesday 15 March at 7.30pm. Find out more either on our diocesan website or else on our notice board in the narthex.

THE SEASON OF LENT – PREPARING FOR THE SACRAMENTS: Lent has always been the traditional time whereby we accompany those who are journeying towards the Sacraments on Initiation at Easter. It was, in the early Church, an intensive time of preparation as the catechumens walked ever nearer to the font. As a parish we are in a most fortunate position whereby (at the moment) we will have three adult Baptisms – Joe Alsop, David Fitzgerald and Rebecca Fitzgerald – as well as two celebrations of Confirmation – Nora O’Brien and John O’Brien.  This will mean that some of the Sunday’s in Lent (three, four and five) will be used to celebrate the Rites appropriate for those journeying towards Baptism and the Sacraments at Easter. We will also be celebrating the reception into the Church of four members of the Anglican Communion who are seeking entry into the Church through the Ordinariate – Pauline & Michael Long, and Bernard & Beryl Coombs. They are part of a wider community spread across Bristol. This is a most encouraging prospect for our parish community and should find us wanting to use their journey as one that encourages us in our faith, too.  Keep them and all those journeying towards the Sacraments this Easter in your prayers. They took part in the Rite of Election this weekend, welcomed by the Bishop, supported by the diocesan community. You’ll notice that the cover is over the font, inviting us to look forward to its ‘unsealing’ at the great Easter Vigil as we renew our baptismal promises in the presence of the newly baptised.

LENTEN SOUP LUNCHES: The series of Lenten Soup lunches taking place both here and at some of the other Churches round about will begin from the start of the Lenten Season. This is a great way of tapping into the spirit of Lenten fasting as well as supporting charitable causes through your giving. Friday 18 March  -  St Bernadette; Wednesday 23 March  - Christ Church, Petherton Road; Monday 28 March  -  United Reformed Church, Whitchurch Village; Saturday 9th April – St Nicholas, Whitchurch Village; Palm Sunday, 17 April – St Bernadette. All at 12 noon. Do go along and support this charitable initiative. The proceeds from our two lunches will go to support CAFOD.

CAFOD LENTEN FAST DAY: This important day focused on our charitable giving during Lent to some of the world’s hungriest people takes place on Friday 18 March. The CAFOD envelopes are attached to the newsletter and, of course, the Lenten soup lunch also takes place on that Fast Day. The retiring collection on 20 March will be our Lenten gift to CAFOD (please Gift Aid if you are a tax payer). We give up something (as part of our Lenten penance) so that we can be transformed in the image of God and his desire to love us. We show our love for our brothers and sisters by reaching out to them in very practical ways seeking to support them.

CAFOD BOXES: To accompany your Lenten journey, there are some CAFOD pyramids and boxes for your Lenten gifts (alms) which you are free to use across the six weeks. Just bring them back to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday where they will be taken up with the gifts and our offerings for the poor.

LENTEN BRUNCH: make a note in your diaries, a good hearty brunch as British Summer Time begins will take place on Sunday 27 March following the 10.30am Mass. All proceeds will go in support of our parish outreach projects. There is a poster for you to secure yourself a place on the notice board – do sign up!

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Each Sunday of Lent we will make that prayerful journey to the Cross and to the tomb following in the footsteps of Jesus. The Sundays of Lent at 4.00pm in the Church, ending with benediction (except this Sunday as Fr C is supplying at St Gerard’s for their 5.00pm Mass). Palm Sunday will find us celebrating Vespers at 4.00pm, and on Good Friday, the Stations for children and our young people will be celebrated at 11.00am. This gives the children a chance to enter into the story and the drama of Good Friday walking with Jesus to the Cross. This is also a chance for families to draw together on this important day in our lives of faith.

CHANGES TO THE PRAYERS OF THE MASS: One of the first changes in translation to our present missal comes with the I Confess. This prayer, asking God for mercy and seeking the help of the saints as we seek to return to the Lord, is reminding us of our utter dependence upon the Lord and acknowledging our need for his forgiveness. In the new translation, we will pray: I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

DIOCESAN FAMILY DAY: Bishop Declan is inviting us to join him at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College on 21 May (from 10.00am – 4.00pm) with our diocesan community, drawing us together to celebrate our faith. There is a poster in the narthex, and please put the date in your diary. There is something for everyone of all ages.

WELCOMERS: Our welcomers come together on Thursday 7 April in the Church for a short time together.

FIRST COMMUNION PREPARATION: Preparation continues on Wednesday 23 March at 3.45pm in the school. Bishop Declan meets with the parents of this year’s group on Thursday 31 March at 7.00pm in the Church. This is always a wonderful opportunity for our bishop spend time with the parents encouraging them in all they do to hand on faith to their children.

ROOTED IN CHRIST: The talks have attracted many over the last couple of months and they are a simple way to begin to deepen our understanding of what we believe. The talks take place in Holy Family, Patchway, and are well worth going along to. The present series on the Sacraments focuses on those tremendous signs of Christ’s presence on our journey through life. Fr Tom Finnegan is reflecting upon the Sacrament of the Sick this week – Tuesday 22 March at 7.30pm. Find out more either on our diocesan website or else on our notice board in the narthex.

THE SEASON OF LENT – PREPARING FOR THE SACRAMENTS: Lent has always been the traditional time whereby we accompany those who are journeying towards the Sacraments on Initiation at Easter. It was, in the early Church, an intensive time of preparation as the catechumens walked ever nearer to the font. As a parish we are in a most fortunate position whereby (at the moment) we will have three adult Baptisms – Joe Alsop, David Fitzgerald and Rebecca Fitzgerald – as well as two celebrations of Confirmation – Nora O’Brien and John O’Brien.  This will mean that some of the Sunday’s in Lent (three, four and five) will be used to celebrate the Rites appropriate for those journeying towards Baptism and the Sacraments at Easter. The Scrutinies, as they are called, are the Rites and prayers that ask for strength and courage in those walking towards the sacraments. At Easter, we will also be celebrating the reception into the Church of four members of the Anglican Communion who are seeking entry into the Church through the Ordinariate – Pauline & Michael Long, and Bernard & Beryl Coombs. They are part of a wider community spread across Bristol. This is a most encouraging prospect for our parish community and should find us wanting to use their journey as one that encourages us in our faith, too.  Keep them and all those journeying towards the Sacraments this Easter in your prayers. They took part in the Rite of Election this weekend, welcomed by the Bishop, supported by the diocesan community. You’ll notice that the cover is over the font, inviting us to look forward to its ‘unsealing’ at the great Easter Vigil as we renew our baptismal promises in the presence of the newly baptised.

LENTEN SOUP LUNCHES: Our Lenten Lunch series got off to a great start this Lenten fast Day on Friday and it was good to see so many of our fellow Christians from the churches around coming along for lunch. This Wednesday, 23 March  – Christ Church, Petherton Road, are hosting the lunch. Please do go along to offer them some support as they did to us. Then, Monday 28 March -  United Reformed Church, Whitchurch Village; Saturday 9th April – St Nicholas, Whitchurch Village; Palm Sunday, 17 April – St Bernadette. All at 12 noon. Do go along and support this charitable initiative. The proceeds from our two lunches will go to support CAFOD.

CAFOD LENTEN FAST DAY: You envelopes that were attached to last week’s newsletter can be returned via the retiring collection this weekend. You gift to the world’s hungry and thirsty is a tremendous sign of showing love and compassion, and a sense of solidarity through our own Lenten fasting.

CAFOD BOXES: To accompany your Lenten journey, there are still some CAFOD pyramids and boxes for your Lenten gifts (alms) which you are free to use across the six weeks. Just bring them back to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday where they will be taken up with the gifts and our offerings for the poor.

LENTEN BRUNCH: make a note in your diaries, a good hearty brunch as British Summer Time begins will take place NEXT Sunday 27 March following the 10.30am Mass. All proceeds will go in support of our parish outreach projects. There is a poster for you to secure yourself a place on the notice board – do sign up! Make sure you indicate whether you would prefer an Italian style brunch or a hearty English brunch. We’ll need to cater accordingly. You may just check you’ve signed up as there were names on the Friday list that may have been meant for next Sunday’s.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Each Sunday of Lent we will make that prayerful journey to the Cross and to the tomb following in the footsteps of Jesus. The Sundays of Lent we start at 4.00pm in the Church, ending with benediction. Palm Sunday will find us celebrating Vespers at 4.00pm, and on Good Friday, the Stations for children and our young people will be celebrated at 11.00am. This gives the children a chance to enter into the story and the drama of Good Friday walking with Jesus to the Cross. This is also a chance for families to draw together on this important day in our lives of faith.

DIOCESAN FAMILY DAY: Bishop Declan is inviting us to join him at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College on Saturday 21 May (from 10.00am – 4.00pm) with our diocesan community, drawing us together to celebrate our faith. There is a poster in the narthex, and please put the date in your diary. It is a great opportunity for the parish communities across the four counties of our diocese to come together – from climbing walls to workshops – there is something for everyone of all ages. Please go along and represent our own parish community.

PARISH FINANCES: Copies of the financial statement for 2010 are still available from the narthex if you didn’t have chance to pick one up. Thank you to those of you who responded to the Gift Aid scheme. There’s still chance for you to ‘sign up’ as we approach the start of a new financial year at the beginning of April. If you are already part of the scheme, don’t forget your new boxed set of envelopes. See Dave Lavelle if in doubt. Please do think about how we can best contribute to our parish’s upkeep. It is important that we are in this part of the city and the Church, and we can only do that with your commitment and your most generous support. From April, the collection figure at the foot of the newsletter will give the broader picture of what comes in each week so you can see how we fare by standing order and gift aid rebates.

WELCOMERS: Our welcomers come together on Thursday 7 April in the Church for a short time together.

‘My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready’

With this antiphon (from psalm 107), we opened our Morning Prayer today.  We’re here, at the beginning of Lent, having prepared ourselves for the  journey that lies ahead.  We are equipped with a written plan, we’ve used up our ‘eggs’, we’re shriven, we’re determined, we’re enthusiastic.  In short, our hearts are ready, O God.

But ready for what?

On Sunday, we’ll hear how ‘Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness‘  and our Lenten journey is similar: we are leaving our comfort zones and we don’t really know what to expect.

When we strive towards a more intimate relationship with our Father in prayer, we trustfully step out of our usual parameters, away from our ego-centricity and into the unknown. When we resolve to act with courageous and generous charity,we trust that Jesus, model of Charity will take our good beginnings to their fruitful ends.  When we strip ourselves of those known comforts of everyday life through fasting, we trust that the Holy Spirit will be our sustainer.

At this point, we have some idea of where we want (need) to go, but we must allow ourselves to be ‘led by the Spirit‘ and be flexible enough – and brave enough – to amend those plans accordingly.  There’s our Lenten plan… and there’s God’s plan for our Lent.  If ours is incompatible with His, we must shift our goalposts (because, apart from anything else, His ideas for us are always better than even our grandest scheme!).

The wilderness of Lent seems daunting from here, but let us pray for the courage to follow where the Spirit will lead, trusting that (as psalm 107 closes) ‘with God we shall do bravely‘.

We need to give thanks for the scanty triumphs grace has won in us and say sorry for the times when the flesh was weak, remembering how compassionate the Lord was with his own disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Let’s review our particular resolutions in prayer, fasting and works of charity.  What worked?  What didn’t?  Is there still anything left undone?  Perhaps there’s something we might have succeeded in if we’d been less ambitious to begin with?  Consider the spiritual reading we’ve undertaken.  How did we grow as a result of that reading?  How has that reading  impacted on our lives?  Perhaps it’s unfinished, but we don’t have to wait until next Lent to finish it!

What might we repeat next Lent?  (committing pen to paper would be good for future reference). Perhaps there’s some good habit we’ve developed that we’d like to carry forward into everyday life? Now let’s consider the general journey we took through Lent.  Cast your mind back to Ash Wednesday – we had plans; we were determined and enthusiastic.

Did we alter those plans as necessary each week, or did we abandon them? Or stick to them without reviewing whether or not they tied in with where the Lord was leading us?  Are we standing now where we thought we would be back then?  Probably not, since our Lenten plans were only half the picture.  There was also the Lord’s plan for us, known to Him alone. Each of us is standing now at the threshold of the Triduum.  We’ve tried, we’ve failed, we’ve tried again, countless times.  We’ve been generous with our prayer, time, resources and ourselves… and God will never be outdone in generosity.  May He bless us and those we love abundantly as we go now to celebrate His passion, death and resurrection.

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*The Lord always answers our prayers, though sometimes in unexpected ways, so we sometimes need to ask His help to let us see how those prayers have been answered.  Perhaps God has answered our prayer by bending someone else’s mind or heart and now ‘the ball’s in our court’ and we need now to take a courageous step.  Perhaps a prayer has been answered with ‘no, it’s not good for you’ or ‘not yet’, or ‘no, I have other plans in mind for you’.

I remember one day – there must have been a particularly long queue – I caught myself trying to guess  which little passage he’d be reading to me.  I guessed correctly (he had, after all, had cause to read me that passage more than once before…) but more significantly, I noticed that his little book was indexed not according to vice, but according to virtue.

So say, for example, he had a penitent who was struggling against pride, he’d look up humility. That discovery brought home to me the fact that in spiritual combat, we need to fight vice with virtue.  But how can we win the battle if we don’t even know which weapons we possess?  That’s why we need to consider seriously which virtues we already hold in fair measure; which swords, as it were, are strong and true.  There will be other virtues that are not so strong in us.

They’re like weapons that we’re not used to handling, possibly because we aren’t troubled much by their opposing vice.  There may even be virtues that are rather alien to us, or about which we have all but forgotten.  They are the rusty weapons which, in all honesty, cannot be relied upon in battle and if we need to use them, we’ve lost.

It’s a little exercise that ‘s worth a few moments’ thought, especially as we come towards Passiontide.  Have a look at your own virtues (in a spirit of humility, of course, giving thanks to God for its presence) and see: what’s strong in you?  Can you see your strongest virtue straight away?  Why do you think it’s strong in you?  How do you use it to fight its opposing vice? Consider other virtues, especially ones you need for ‘battle’ and could perhaps sharpen a little.  Prayer and practice are the whetting stones for the swords of virtue.  God gives us what we need, if only we ask it of Him.

Just as he is infamous for giving his mother a hard time, so she is famous for sticking by him (even when he tried to give her the slip and sailed for Rome without her) and waiting in prayerful hope for his conversion. When Monica was aware that her end was nigh, she said to Augustine*, “Lay this body anywhere, let not the care for it trouble you at all. This only I ask, that you will remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be”.

This last request to her son really struck me when I first read Augustine’s confessions.  He himself does not dwell on it, rather on ‘how she had ever burned with anxiety respecting her burial-place, which she had provided and prepared for herself by the body of her husband’, and his thankfulness that this had ceased to vex her in the end.

Perhaps he doesn’t comment on it because it was – by then – the most natural thing in the world to honour his mother by remembering her ‘at the Lord’s altar’.  It seems the least we can do, doesn’t it, to remember always in prayer the one who gave birth to us and who has sacrificed more than we will ever know for us?

This Mothering Sunday, among the cards and the flowers (here’s hoping) and the breakfast in bed (dreaming now), there’s an opportunity to consider how we are keeping the fourth commandment not only with respect to our mothers, but – as we hear the Gospel of the prodigal son – our fathers too.

The importance of ‘honour thy father and mother’ is reflected in its position within the Decalogue.  It comes immediately after the three commandments which deal with our relationship with God, and before ‘thou shalt not kill’.  In childhood, it meant obedience and respect, but what does it mean for us now? Relationships are essentially dynamic things; they never stay still.

We are always growing closer to or further from people, and our relationship with our parents is no different.  We may not see them as often as we would like but no matter how far apart we are, no matter how busy our lives are, we can always, at the very least, remember them in our prayers.

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*Confessions, book IX chapter 11

St Michael is thrusting his spear into (Satan, represented as) a dragon, but from the amount of effort he seems to be exerting, you’d think – if you couldn’t see below his knees – that he was absent-mindedly hoeing his veg patch.

As I washed the dishes and wondered about this, I thought that perhaps the constraints of the narrow frame made the artist portray St Michael in this pose.  Then again, perhaps it was to make him comparable with the serenity of Gabriel et al that he was made to seem so placid… then, amongst the pots and pans, it came to me – perhaps that’s how much effort it takes for an angel to carry out a task that would leave us exhausted at best. The angels of God are especially prevalent in our Lenten liturgy.

On the first Sunday of Lent, the devil tempts Jesus by reminding him of the angels whom God had commanded ‘to keep you in all your ways.  They shall bear you upon their hands lest you strike your foot against a stone…’  Both Matthew and Mark (though not Luke, admittedly) tell of the angels who ministered to Jesus during his 40 days in the wilderness.  This Sunday we’ll hear of an angel appearing to Moses, then next Sunday, just immediately before we hear of the prodigal son, Jesus declares, ‘I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents’. Then, of course, in Gethsemene, ‘there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him’.

From the annunciation through the nativity, the wilderness, Jesus’ public ministry, to the cross, the resurrection and ascension, there are angels flitting in and out of the story of Jesus’ life… and so too do they surround us from day to day.  I wonder though, if our guardian angels weren’t such generous spirits, how many might comment on a job-satisfaction survey that they were over-worked and under-valued? St Jerome wrote of our guardian angels, ‘So valuable to heaven is the dignity of the human soul that every member of the human race has a guardian angel from the moment the person begins to be’.  Although our guardian angels are widely credited for protecting us from physical harm, I should think that they spend most of their efforts guarding our souls from peril.

We know that the closer we draw to God, the more jealous the Tempter becomes.  At this stage in Lent, then, we should not be surprised to find him particularly busy.  Perhaps our initial enthusiasm has worn off a bit, but we’re not far enough in to see any progress and we still have a long way to go.  Remember the image of St Michael.  When we look ahead and foresee a day of battle, St Michael sees a walk in the park. Angels of God, defend us on this day of battle!