Good Friday, The High Priest, Shaftesbury

We have just heard the horror of Jesus’s death, and it is worth our while to take a moment to contemplate WHY this should matter to us, WHO He is TO US, why we should care, why we should even be glad on this "Good" Friday.
To consider "who" Jesus is to us we can consider the many titles that Jesus has, and one of those titles, as we heard in our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews, is that He is our "high priest". And I want to reflect on this using, again, some thoughts from Pope Benedict's new book.

It might seem, at first glance, that the title "priest" doesn't seem significant enough for Jesus. It might be possible to think, "why do I really want or need a priest?"
Well, the reason that the priesthood of Jesus is so significant in terms of who He is, is largely because of the TYPE of priest that He is.
A priest is someone who represents men in their relations to God (Heb 5:1). And, in particular, a priest represents us precisely in those parts of our lives that are most in need of being represented to God: those things by which we are separated from God. And the thing by which we feel most separated from God is our weakness, our weakness in two respects: our weakness in sin, and, in our general frailty -both of these are things whereby we feel separated from the Almighty.

But Jesus is not just ANY sort of priest, He is the perfect priest, the "high priest" of high priests. He is the one best able to represent us in our weaknesses because, as we heard in that letter to the Hebrews, because of His experience of suffering and weakness He is therefore capable of feeling our weaknesses with us (Heb 4:15).
He is therefore able to hold up to the Almighty the anguish of human existence and so bring man to God (Jesus of Nazareth, vol 2,.164).

It was precisely to be such a high priest for us that "Christ came into the world"(Heb 10:5).
It was precisely to be such a high priest for us that Christ started His public ministry, in which His destiny to make “vicarious atonement” for our sins "constituted the most profound content of [His] mission”(p.172).
It was precisely to be such a high priest that He "consecrated Himself"(Jn 17:19), as He said in the prayer that is called His “high priestly prayer” at the Last Supper -using a Greek word that made clear that this "consecration" was dedicating Himself to be the sacrifice(p.87).
And, it was precisely as such a high priest that He been foretold by the Prophet Isaiah as we heard in our first reading, that He might be both priest and victim: as priest by "surrendering Himself to death" (Isa 53:10); that the Lord might burden Him "with the sins of us all”(Isa 53:6) (p.81), as victim.

This said, however, let us not imagine that this suffering was something that came easily to Him.
Let us not forget the battle He experienced within His very self in the Agony in the Garden. It was there, as He beheld the horror of sin, as He contemplated the suffering He was about to undergo for our sakes, it was there that in His human will He prayed "let this cup pass me by” (Mt 26:39). Now, Jesus is truly God and truly man, He has both a human will and a divine will (pp.156-61), and I say this to acknowledge that it is impossible for us to know what it feels like to have two wills, to know what it feels like to be God. But, we do know that the horror of confronting sin and the horror of the death that awaited Him, this horror was so profound that it was a struggle –He sweated blood (Lk 22:44).

And yet, He obeyed, for our sakes.
He obeyed as the high priest, for us, His obedient "yes" brings disobedient mankind to God(pp.163-4, c.f. pp.233-5).
As we heard in the letter to the Hebrews it was by obeying through suffering that He was "made perfect" (Heb 5:9) -and the Pope notes that this phrase “made perfect” (that might well sound strange to us in English, how can the sinless perfect One be “made perfect”?), this phrase is another technical Greek phrase referring to priesthood: to "make perfect" is a phrase “used exclusively to mean ‘consecrated as priest’”(p.164).

Jesus prayed as our priest. The old Jewish high priest would pray firstly for himself, secondly for his house, and thirdly for all of Israel (p.78). The Lord Jesus likewise prayed firstly for Himself (that He might do the work He came to do), secondly for the Apostles, and thirdly for all who would believe (Jn 17:20).
Jesus died as priest. The old Jewish high priest wore a long seamless garment (p.217). Jesus went to His death, as we heard in that gospel account (Jn 19:23), wearing a long seamless garment that the soldiers cast lots for rather than tear.
And Jesus lives now as a priest, as OUR priest having gone before us "through to the highest heaven" (Heb 4:14), carrying with Him all of our human weakness.
It is precisely in our weakness that we can turn to Him, the priest and victim, the perfect high priest who has known our weakness.
"Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from Him and find grace and we are in need of help"(Heb 4:16).

Holy Thursday, The New Commandment, Shaftesbury

Jn 13:1-15
Tonight I want to say a few words about the symbolism of the washing of feet, the washing of feet as done by Jesus as we heard in that gospel passage, which will be symbolically reenacted when I wash feet in a few moments time. And, I want in particular to explain the significance of this using the comments of Pope Benedict in his new book (Jesus of Nazareth, vol 2,p.63ff) [which I also cited in my Palm Sunday sermon].

Pope Benedict comments on the significance of the foot washing done by the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of the question of the "new commandment". The Lord Jesus, as we know, gave what He called a "new commandment": "love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34). While we didn't hear these words in tonight's gospel, these words, this commandment, was uttered by the Lord in the verses that followed Him giving this example of washing His disciples feet in profound humility. In washing those feet, as we just heard, He gave "an example so that you may copy what I have done to you" (Jn 13:15).
At a superficial glance therefore it would seem as if the "new commandment" was simply to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict, however, notes that the new commandment is about much more than just the example of Jesus.

Now, this is an important point, because there are many people throughout the world today who think that Christian morality is about nothing more than following the example of Jesus Christ. They think that Jesus was a great man, a great teacher, a great MORAL teacher. Many, however, mistakenly think He was ONLY a man and so they think that His new commandment consists ONLY in His example.
This notion, however, the notion that Jesus is just a good man, that all that Jesus gives us is an example, even if possibly a perfect example, this notion fails to understand the very “essence” of Christianity -and this is Pope Benedict's concern.

The "new commandment" says that we must love “as I have loved you", and it is possible to misread that in such a way that we think that loving as Jesus would have us love is simply about a more extreme moral EFFORT. That Jesus loved a huge amount, Jesus loved so much that He died for us, and that to love "as I have loved you" is to love with such a huge effort.
But, such a notion reduces the essence of Christianity to just being about external behaviour, it fails to grasp the type of INTERNAL change that Christianity involves.
To love "as I have loved you" includes a more extreme moral effort, but much more importantly it includes something else: it means loving IN and WITH Jesus, it means having Jesus inside of us doing the loving. It means the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us, forming us inside into the image and likeness of Christ, such that Christ is loving in us, such that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”(Gal 2:20).

This is Pope Benedict’s point, this is what he refers to as concerning the "essence" of Christianity. And in saying this he is drawing on the wisdom of the saints and ancients who have gone before him: for example, the great St Thomas Aquinas, in explaining the nature of the "new law" teaches that “the New Law is chiefly the grace itself of the Holy Spirit, which is given to those who believe in Christ” (St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II q106 a1 http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2106.htm).

But, there is an even deeper truth that penetrates to the core of this new commandment, that concerns the "essence" of Christianity, and this deeper truth indicates why Jesus gave the new commandment on the night before He died:
Possessing the new life of Jesus Christ within us consists in participating in the new life He won for us, consists in participating in His own suffering, death, and resurrection.
The only way that we can live the new commandment, the only way that we can receive His Holy Spirit and grace in faith, is by the All Man Adam dying within us and the New Man Christ coming to live within us. And so the giving of the new commandment looks ahead to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit that flows from it.
All of this is what the new commandment, the external manifestation of which is shown in the humble loving service of the washing of feet, all of this is what is on display for us tonight.

Palm Sunday, Year A, Shaftesbury

"His blood be on us and on our children" (Mt 27:25)
-I want to say a few words today about the meaning and significance of that verse. I want to say a few words about why we should WANT His blood to be upon us. In particular, I want to explain the interpretation of this verse given to us by the Holy Father in his new book. This is a horrific image. But it is a horrific image that conveys an incredible truth, a truth that fundamentally changes our relationship with the Almighty.

The Pope builds on the letter to the Hebrews (12:24) where the epistle makes a comparison between the blood of Able in the Old Testament and the blood of Jesus Christ. Able was murdered by his brother Cain, and the Bible tells us that Able’s “blood cried out” for vengeance and punishment upon the brother who murdered him. In this sense, to say, "let his blood be on us", is to invoke a curse upon yourself, and as these words were originally said by the crowd to Pontius Pilate they must have been said with contempt and dismissal of Jesus, dismissal of the significance of such a curse.
However, the blood of Jesus is different -it does not cry out for vengeance. As the Holy Father explains (Jesus of Nazareth. Part 2, p.187), the blood of Jesus Christ was not poured out AGAINST anyone, but rather was poured out FOR many, for the nations.
The blood of Jesus brings not a curse, but redemption.
The blood of Jesus brings the purifying power of His blood.

Let us consider for a moment how we would stand before the Almighty WITHOUT the blood of Jesus. Let us consider what would be the status of our relationship with the Almighty.
I stand before the Lord as a sinner. Daily, and hourly, I commit fresh sins against the Lord: laziness, wasted time, selfishness, impatience – continually failing in my sins to be the better person that God would have me be.
How then do I stand before the Lord? I stand separated from the Lord. And, my sins cry out for vengeance against me, as truly as the blood of Able cried out for vengeance.
What I need, is a new basis of my relationship with my heavenly Father.

What does the blood of Jesus do?
Scripture tells us, that the Christian stands "washed in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14 c.f. 1:5). Washed clean from our sins. Washed so that I have a new basis for my relationship with the Almighty.
And, the words of the Lord Jesus tell us something else about the basis, the new basis, for Christian’s relationship with the Lord: His is the blood of a "new covenant".

Now, the word "covenant" is not a word that we use in our modern language. But it is a concept that has similarities with the notion of a "contract" – it involves a commitment between two people, and establishes the basis of the relationship between those people. In particular, in the ancient near East a "covenant" typically established a bond, a relationship between a king and his people.
In the Old Testament, under the old covenant, the people of Israel had the basis of their relationship with the Almighty established by their faithfulness to the Law that He had given them. That covenant was established and sealed with blood (Ex 24:3-8): the blood of sacrificed bulls was scattered upon the people AND upon the altar -as a sign of being upon the Lord. The sacrificial blood sealed the relationship between them.
But, given that that relationship was broken again and again by the people by their unfaithfulness to the Law, by their unfaithfulness in sin, there was a need for a prophesied "new covenant"(Jer 31:31 c.f. Heb 8:6-13) -a new covenant built on a new basis.
The new covenant that Jesus brings is the covenant in His blood. And this is what we need. His is the blood of the new sacrifice, better than the blood of sacrificed bulls. His is the blood that we need to have upon us as the blood of the old covenant was on the people of the old covenant.
THIS IS THE POINT: the old covenant relationship was established by the blood of the sacrificed bull being cast “upon” the people; the new covenant relationship we now enjoy is likewise established by the blood of Jesus being “upon” us –even though that happens spiritually and not physically.

So, in conclusion, where does this leave me now? How do I stand, if I stand with His blood is "on" me? How do I stand if I stand washed in His blood?
I stand washed clean.
I stand washed clean, as often as I return to be washed again and again in the blood of the Lamb.
I stand in the midst of a transformation:
the blood that had been a thing of horror, and death,
the blood that had been the thing of a curse
that blood, has become a blessing,
the tree of death has become the tree of life
the blood of curse has become the blood of blessing and forgiveness and new life.

And so we would do well to take the words of the people long ago and make them into a prayer for ourselves, "His blood be on us and on our children" (Mt 27:25).

Glory be to Jesus,
Who, in bitter pains,
Poured for me the lifeblood
From His sacred veins!

Grace and life eternal
In that blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind.

Blest through endless ages
Be the precious stream
Which from endless torments
Doth the world redeem.

Abel's blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.

Oft as it is sprinkled
On our guilty hearts,
Satan in confusion
Terror struck departs.

Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Angel hosts, rejoicing,
Make their glad reply.

Lift we then our voices,
Swell the mighty flood;
Louder still and louder
Praise the precious blood!

5th Sunday Lent, Year A, Shaftesbury

Jn 11:1-45
I want to say a few words today connecting some thoughts about faith, about forgiveness, and about hope -all in the light of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

I think that one of the startling things about that gospel narrative we just heard, is to listen to the depth of faith in Martha. Even after her brother's death, she said to Jesus, "I know that even now, whatever you ask of God, He will grant you."

Deep faith is a great thing, and one of the ways we can deepen our faith is by recognising WHERE our faith comes from. Where is it that we RECEIVE our faith from?
I refer to the language of "receiving" faith in part because today we are having a deeply symbolic act of faith: the catechumen in our parish, Catherine Simmonds, who is preparing for adult baptism, will be presented with the Creed. This is a sign of how all of us "receive" our faith. How is it that we know about Jesus Christ? How is it that we know the truths that are contained in the Scriptures? How is it that we know about the reality that we experience in the sacraments?
We only know these things because we have been told them. We only know these things because these truths have been passed on to us, because we have received these truths. We have received these truths from the Church -and this is an intrinsic part of what faith, true faith, is about.
That is what will be symbolised in Catherine being presented with the Creed, receiving it by listening to us profess it. And she will make her formal assent to that faith as she professes it herself before her baptism at the Easter vigil.

To return to the account about Lazarus.
There are truths of the faith being offered to us in this account about Lazarus.
And we will only "receive" those truths of the faith if we approach them with the spirit of faith, open to the Holy Spirit deepening our faith.
So, in terms of those truths in that narrative:
We might note the compassion and care of our Lord that is manifested in human emotions in this passage in a way that is more obvious than perhaps anywhere else in the Gospels: it is here that we have the brief statement that, "Jesus wept". It is here that we have the phrase, "Jesus said in great distress with a sigh that came straight from the heart, ‘Where have you put him?’" It is here that we have the Lord's loving but powerful command, "Lazarus, here! Come out!” Followed by the deeply symbolic words, "unbind him, let him go free".

For us, in the holy season of Lent, the holy season when, as I preached last week, we should be feeling sorrow for our sins, and might even be feeling dejection and despair as we contemplate our failure, for us in this holy season those words that were addressed to Lazarus can be seen as profoundly symbolic of how the Lord wishes to raise us up, raise us up from our sins.
Jesus “weeps” for our sins. He "sighs" for our sins. And when we are imprisoned in our sins He too says to us, "Here! Come out!" And though our sins bind us He wishes that the forgiveness He offers may come to us and that we may be "unbound" from our sins.
And, if we receive these truths in faith, then these truths of faith will give us hope.
But, these truths of faith will only give us hope we "receive” them. "If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

4th Sunday Lent, Year A, Shaftesbury

Jn 9:1-41
I'd like to put a question to you today: When did you last weep for your sins?
Or, maybe if you're not the crying type: When did you last come NEAR to weeping for your sins?

Lent is a time when we should be thinking about our sins and weeping for our sins. And I would like to point out that this is actually yet another way in which Lent can become a season of joy.
I've spoken previously about how our fasting, our "giving things up the Lent", can make Lent a time of joy because this fasting opens us more to the everlasting and deeper joys of heaven.
But there is another way in which Lent can become a season of joy, and that is by following the path from sorrow for our sins to rejoicing in being forgiven for our sins.

Catholics, at least English Catholics, are perhaps not stereotypically associated with deep outward displays of emotion in our repentance for our sins. Perhaps we would be more likely to expect an American evangelical on the TV to be gushing forth in tears as he publicly proclaims his sins, and then publicly rejoices in the fact that Jesus has forgiven him. However, regardless of how it is outwardly displayed, the experience of knowing that we are sinners, feeling deep sorrow for our sins, but then feeling an even deeper joy in experiencing the forgiveness of the Lord -this should be part of the experience of each one of us. That’s why the saints of old had a special prayer asking for the gift of "holy tears".

However, in contrast with “holy tears”, quite often I will have people say to me: I know I'm not perfect, I know that I must have sinned since my last confession, but I honestly can't think of anything in particular that I’ve done, I can think of any sins I’ve committed.
Such a statement is a good starting point in that it realises there is a problem. But I need to be honest with you and point out that this is nonetheless a SERIOUS problem, a problem that needs to be addressed.
If we think back to that gospel passage that I just read out, Jesus condemned the Pharisees because of their spiritual blindness, because of the fact that they did not see their sins.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us... If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”(1 Jn 1:8;10)
If we think that we are not sinning then this is not a sign that we are better than other people, rather, it is a sign that we are worse because we are spiritually blind like the Pharisees.

So, how can we come to see the sins that we presently do not see?
This is a question that we all need to address: those of us who cannot think of any sins, but also those of us who can think of some sins -because there are almost certainly other sins we need to see also.
How can we come to see them?
First, we must pray, that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us. The Spirit gives the gift of joy but He also gives us the gift of sorrow for our sins –a sorrow that leads to joy afterwards.
Second, we must examine ourselves. A good written examination of conscience can be a great help in this regard: a written list of sins can be like a mirror that we gaze upon and see the features, not of our face, but of our fallen lives.
If we are not familiar with doing this it will be hard work at first. But like so many things in life the more often we do it the easier it becomes, and the less burdensome it becomes, and the more it can become what I started by saying it should be, namely, a path to joy. In terms of familiarity and regularity, the practice of a nightly examination of conscience is an important tool in the spiritual life. And, of course, all of this should lead towards regular use of the sacrament of confession -and anything less than monthly confession will make it very difficult for us to remember our sins.

There have been no jokes in today's sermon. Sin and spiritual blindness are not a laughing matter.
Nonetheless, to quote from that same passage, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins”(1 Jn1:9). And the experience of knowing forgiveness brings a greater joy than the sorrow that precedes it -but we will only have that joy if we are open to recognising those things in our daily life about which we need to have sorrow. When did you last weep for your sins?


A link to a examination of conscience on the seven deadly sins is available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/36289758/Examination-of-Conscience-for-Parish-2009

A link to an examination of conscience for teenagers is available here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/52085545/Examination-of-Conscience-for-Teenagers-2011

2nd Sunday Lent, Year A, Shaftesbury

Mt 17:1-9; Gen 12:1-4; 2 Tim 1:8-10
Most people like to know where they are going, and I'm one of them. I might tolerate being blindfolded on my way to be shown a surprise, but, generally speaking I like to see where I'm going. The simple point I want to make today is that God does not leave us blindfolded in our following of Him: He has shown us where we are going, and that is a major part of what the Transfiguration was all about, as we heard in today's gospel.

The Transfiguration happened at a very significant moment: Our Lord was heading to Jerusalem where crucifixion and death awaited Him, and He had predicted to His disciples that He was going to die. Obviously, if they had understood Him, this would have been a deeply discouraging prediction. To remedy this discouragement Our Lord took three of His chosen disciples, Peter, James, and John up the mountain and showed them Himself in His transfigured glory. The sight of that glory was given to sustain them through the suffering of the crucifixion. The sight of that glory was to give them a foretaste of the glory that awaited Christ in His resurrection. And, the sight of that glory was to give them a glimpse of the glory that awaits every follower of Christ if we follow Him in carrying our cross, if we follow Him in our own personal crucifixions in life.

Back to my opening point: I said a moment ago that God does not leave us blindfolded in our following of Him. Now, there is another sense in which, as St Paul says, "we walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7): there are many details of what will happen to us in life that we simply do not know, we do not know the exact manner of our Lord's presence and support to us in our life.

But, I want to illustrate the point that God does not leave us blindfolded in our following Him, He does enables us to see our way and does so in at least three ways:
First, as I just said, in the Transfiguration and His Resurrection, and the revelation of Heaven, He has shown us the glorious DESTINATION that lies ahead for those who are faithful in following Him.
Second, we have His PROMISES to encourage us to set out in following Him. In our first reading we heard the example of God's promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1-4), when Abraham was called upon to leave behind the country and people he knew and head off for a distant land he did not know, and what he was given to enable him to make that departure, what he was given was the Lord's promise, a promise that we know the Lord was faithful to –that included the promise of BLESSINGS to help him on the way. The New Covenant that we belong to likewise promises even more blessings and strength to us on our pilgrim way towards Heaven.
Third, the Lord enables us to see the way we must follow Him by the fact that he has shown us the WAY OF LIFE that we must lead: He has shown us the virtues, the commandments, and, the particular focus in this LENTEN season, He has shown us that we need to carry our cross.

All of the ways in which the Lord shows us how we are to follow Him, the promises we have to support us in our following of Him, and the goal that our following Him is heading towards, all of these things have a greater importance when we are in difficulty, when we are in hardship. And, that holds especially for the hardship of discipleship, which includes the hardships of being faithful to our Lenten resolutions. As we heard in our second reading (2 Tim 1:8-10), there are many "hardships" involved if we are to pursue the holiness that we are "called" to achieve. But that same St Paul reminded St Timothy that we do not do this by our own strength but we do it "relying on the power of God".

So, to conclude, Lent is a time for purification, a time for struggling against sin, at time of employing the remedies for sin: prayer fasting and almsgiving. To strengthen us to endure these hardships today's readings remind us of God's promises to us of the destination, and of the transfigured glory of that final state. God shows us the way, He does not leave us blindfolded.

Giving Up Joyfully! 1st Sunday of Lent, Year A, Shaftesbury

Mt 4:1-11; Gen 2:7-3:7
We’re starting Lent now, when the Church fasts and prays in a particular way, and when we typically express this in small acts of “giving something up” for Lent. Today, I want to say a few words about why ‘giving things up’ should make us happy not sad.
I was thinking about this recently because a parishioner said, “You’ve given up so much for us as a priest, the opportunity of a decent salary, of a wife and children.” I could have responded by adding a few other things I’ve given up to be a priest! But instead I said what first came to my mind, which was that I don’t live my life feeling like I’ve given up much at all, I think I’m the happiest person in the parish, and there is no-one here I’d rather be.
Now, no doubt someone is going to come up to me at the end of Mass and say, “Father, you’re not the happiest person in the parish –I am!” And maybe we can have a competition to determine who is the happiest! But regardless, my point is that I’M certainly not miserable. And I want to take this as an illustration of how we shouldn’t expect that “giving things up” should make us unhappy.

I want to take a step back, however, and note that there is fear that sometimes lurks within us whereby we somehow think we can out-do God in generosity. That you might give up something, you might give Him this thing and He would respond without being even more generous to you.
Well, let’s remember the promise of Scripture, that “whoever sows generously will also reap generously”(2 Cor 9:6).
And this applies to Lent also.

That same passage of Scripture says, “God loves a CHEERFUL giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). When we give things up for God in Lent we need to try to do so with a light and cheerful heart not with a heavy heart –with a heart that trustfully and happily expects to get more back from God than we give.
For example, one of the things I’m off for Lent is alcohol. It is more than possible that at 9pm on Saturday night I might find myself starting to reach for the bottle, but then stop myself and crabbily say to God, “Oh, alright then, if it really matters that much to you, then I won’t have a whisky tonight!” That would not be cheerful giving!

But HOW do we give cheerfully? After all, in the short term any act of self-denial is hard. Well, there are a number of things we need to bear in mind, and to make as part of a small prayer each time we are giving something up:
First, to recall the many promises of Scripture that show He will not be out-done in generosity.
Second, to recall that He is with us in this act of self-denial. After all, we are doing this 40 days of Lent to go with Him into the desert as He went into the desert for 40 days of prayer and fasting. We have Him, and His strength, with us.
Third, we need to have the long-term goal before our eyes. The long-term happiness:

The goal of Lent is to take us to Easter. The goal of Jesus dying on the Cross was to bring us the new Resurrected life of Easter. That journey wasn’t easy for Him, and it’s not easy for us. To have the Old Man of sin (Adam) die and the New Man (Christ) live in us is a struggle. Our first reading outlined how Adam and Eve fell in sin, and we go into the desert of Lent to gradually have grace transform us from that fallen state to that of Christ. It’s a long road, the Royal Road of the Cross, but Lent leads us to a Resurrection –if we enter into it properly.

To bring this to a practical conclusion. The Catholic tradition offers us the 3 remedies for sin in this holy season: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving –and we should seek a least a little of each of these 3.
(i) “Giving something up for Lent” is a small act of fasting –compare that with the way Muslim fast in Ramadan, or the way Catholics in the past fasted more vigorously. If you want some suggestions for things to give up for Lent look in the list of suggestions in the newsletter (as copied below this sermon);
(ii) Prayer needs to be the spirit with which we do this “giving up”, but is also something important in itself. Maybe add as little as extra Hail Mary each day in Lent. Or, especially for the many of you who are retired: attending weekday Mass at least one extra day per week in Lent would bring you many graces. Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings would also be very valuable. Maybe a decade of the Rosary. Resolve on one!
(iii) Finally, Almsgiving –giving to the poor, to others, in some form. Following our Ash Wednesday fasting we have a retiring collection today, that’s one way of giving. But maybe also some little act around the home or for our neighbour.

Lent is supposed to change us: it should make us generous in almsgiving. But, back to where I began, it should not make us miserable, it should make us joyful in Christ. Joyful enough that we should all strive to say, “What I’ve given up has left me the happiest person in the parish!”
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from this week's newsletter:
Giving Things Up For Lent
The season that the prayers of the Church call "this joyful season" started last Wednesday. Have you thought yet about what to give up this Lent? How about one or more of: meat, alcohol, TV (maybe for one day a week at least), dessert, chocolate, unnecessary internet surfing, coffee, tea, computer games, cheese, your favourite TV soap opera, crisps, your favourite snack food, reading blogs, facebook, eating at restaurants, give up or restrict your use of your favourite radio station, limit yourself to one coffee per day. Why is Lent "joyful" when we are giving things up? Because it helps us orient ourselves to our true joy in God in heaven.

Why is it good for us to 'give things up for Lent'?
The practice of ‘giving something up for Lent’ is an important way of fasting. Fasting is good for us for five reasons: First, at a human level, like dieting, fasting disciplines our desires. Second, at a supernatural level, more than mere dieting, fasting is a prayer. It thus needs to be offered to God; ‘offer your very bodies as a living sacrifice acceptable to God’ (Rom 12:1). In particular, fasting is something we can offer in reparation for our sins. Third, fasting (and any form of penance) is also a means of detachment from the things of this world and attachment to the everlasting realities of the next. Fourth, fasting can free up our hearts to better enable us to love others. One way we do this is by the traditional Lenten practice of giving to the poor. Fifth, and most importantly, fasting unites us to Jesus: Jesus went into the desert and fasted and prayed for us for 40 days, in Lent we go into a spiritual desert to be with Jesus for 40 days of fasting and praying. Uniting ourselves to Jesus's suffering unitesus , above all, to His suffering on the Cross which is the path to the new life of the Resurrection, the new transforming life of grace within us.
Finally, this can be summed up by noting the Church’s threefold Lenten remedy for sin: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (giving to the poor). These three should all go together, not in opposition, i.e. it’s not enough to say, ‘Oh, I’m not giving up things, I’m doing something positive!’ Each of us would do well to add a small part of each of these three to our Lenten season: add a small prayer to your usual daily or weekly routine, give something up for Lent, and give some money to a good charity.