A Lenten Prayer

During Lent, with our eyes on Jesus, we try to spend more time at prayer,

More time talking to God and listening to God,

During Lent, with our eyes on Jesus, we try to be more aware of the needs of others,

And to share our time and our money with the poor, the hungry and the homeless.

During Lent, with our eyes on Jesus, we try to grow stronger as people

By learning to say no to our sins, and our failings and by sometimes even saying no to the things we enjoy.

With our eyes on Jesus, we journey through Lent trying to understand and accept what God has in store for us.

Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, marked the start of the season of Lent. Lent is a time of fasting, prayer and penance, which leads us through the forty days to Jesus’ resurrection. Symbolically the forty days remind us of Jesus spending forty days in the desert praying and fasting. We want to change our lives during Lent and come closer to Jesus. These 40 days are used in preparation for the future joy of Easter bringing God’s blessings, mercy and forgiveness. To practice sincere repentance, God tells us to change our hearts. We are called to examine our most inner self. In order to do this we are called upon to pray, give alms and fast. Some ways to do this include:

Prayer– Mass attendance, spending time in the Church, reading the Bible or prayer book, extra prayer time, attending Stations of the Cross and praying the Rosary.

Fasting - giving up something we like or enjoy, limiting food and drinks that we have as treats and giving the extra money we have to the poor.

Almsgiving – helping people less fortunate than ourselves with money or time. In general, being kind to those we meet.

Caritas Project Compassion Launch

On Tuesday I travelled to St Benedict’s Catholic College, Oran Park with students from the Year 6 Social Justice committee to the launch of Project Compassion.

Project Compassion is Caritas Australia's annual Lenten fundraising and awareness-raising appeal. Millions of Australians come together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. Through Project Compassion, we are asked to acknowledge that we are all members of the one human family, all equally worthy of love, mercy and respect. 

This year the Project Compassion 2020 theme is:

If you are able to, please give generously during lent to provide resources that will make major changes in the lives of whole communities. As the season progresses we will learn about each of the communities we are supporting.

Next week is Catholic Schools Week, a week where we celebrate the great things that are happening in our Catholic Schools across Australia and especially in our Diocese of Wollongong. The theme this year is "Embracing our Future Together". We will celebrate G Day (Grandparents’ Day) next Thursday, please don’t forget to invite your great people as we would love to share this day with as many people as possible.  Further details are below.