Lent.

I'm yet to post on 'Lent' - in fact, I've been so caught up with uni work of late that I haven't done a lot of what I have intended to, for this I apologise!

Lent is a wonderful time of year, it allows us to renew our relationship with God, it is a time of preparation for Holy Week; it is a time of real renewal. In his 2009 Lenten message the Holy Father spoke of the importance of fasting.

In quoting St Basil on fasting the Holy Father stated that "Saint Basil observes that “fasting was ordained in Paradise,” and “the first commandment in this sense was delivered to Adam.” He thus concludes: “ ‘You shall not eat’ is a law of fasting and abstinence”".

Fasting allows us to remember how much we depend on the God in our lives "one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matt 4:4)

You have my prayers for a blessed Lenten journey.

In Domino.

Lent is...

...well, tomorrow!

I've decided to give a few things up and maybe even take up the odd thing; however I will not tell you dear readers, just in case I fail.

My 'Lent reading' however is something I am quite pleased about; The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is one of the books; the other is the Rule of St Benedict. I have yet to read either of them so this shall be most interesting.

Most interesting however is a new prayer book which arrived this morning. I have heard a lot about it and look forward to begin praying with it tomorrow; I shall be using the "The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary" I am rather excited!

Well, I shall leave it there. I'll let you know how I get on with the Little Office.

In Domino

Isolation, Holy Mass and Friendship...

Firstly I'd like to begin with stating how lonely it can be for some/most young Catholics. I love my faith, it makes me who I am; but every now and again one can't help but feel so very lonely. I once went to World Youth Day and had an amazing time. Holding vigil with the Holy Father and seeing over a million young Catholics all praying together at Holy Mass, but soon after the return to the UK the immense feeling of togetherness vanishes and you realise that once again you are alone.

No where is this more realised than at Holy Mass, be it during the week or on a Sunday. On the whole one looks around and you see old people, families (with children sometimes forced to go) and sometimes you see middle-aged singletons... after Sunday Mass i often reflect on what happened? where did all the young people go? And I'm reminded of this song:



...but maybe that's the wrong question. We should not be asking where, but why. Why did all the young people go? I've heard it often blamed solely on Vatican II and the changes that followed...but i think it's something much deeper than that.

No. It is something a lot deeper. You can't tie the loss of faith to Vatican II, you can only tie the loss of faith to ourselves. To those of us who still attend Mass and are only truly Catholic or Christian for those couple of hours we spend in worship. How does it look to those who don't attend regularly/or at all, and then see supposed Catholics rolling out of pubs at the early hours or generally behaving in an un-Christian manner to our neighbour?

I might just be speaking for myself, but i know for a fact that on the whole I act like a very bad Christian, most of the time. I look down on people, I pre-judge people, I occasionally drink in excess, and I don't do nearly as much charity work as I should - but then I wonder, would that be enough?

Well sure it'd be a start. I've acknowledged my faults, but what do i do now? Now I have to change...and is this what Lent is all about? Changing yourself, for the better? I think it is. Lent is a time when we look at ourselves and think "huh, maybe I could do this or that" but why restrict it to Lent? Why not offer it to God as a personal penance? Giving up something you love, is there any great gift?

...Moving on before I bore you. Friendship. Having mentioned loneliness and the feeling of isolation above, I find it fitting to talk of my friend Joe who's moving to Canterbury for a few weeks. It'll be nice to have someone to pray Vespers and Compline with and of course attend Sunday Mass with. Please pray for us both at this time, as we are praying for a sign of what the Lord may want of us.

In Xto.

Lent...fasting?? alms giving??

Dear Reader(s) (i thought i'd start this post differently, don't worry i'm not adopting a preachy style!)

Is saying 'happy lent' a sort of oxymoron? Should we as Christians see this as a joyful time? I think the answer is, Yes. What are we waiting for? Essentially we're waiting for the anniversary of our Salvation.

I think this is a beautiful thought. Advent - we are in waiting of the arrival of the Lord. Lent - we are in waiting for the anniversary of our Salvation, or atleast the moment Salvation was attainable.

I shall end that there before i get caught up in my own words and probably utter a heresy.

I have had a wonderful day, and mass was beautiful. The Church was full to capacity. It was a beautiful sight!

I promise i will update this blog more from now on. Actually one of my Lenten promises is to update the blog more.