During the coming Sundays of Lent, we will offer the opportunity to pray the Stations of the Cross. This is a long-held prayer within the Church. My understanding is that this devotion arose within the Church in the Middle Ages, as a way of allowing the faithful to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, without actually, physically going there. So, for us, the Stations of the Cross are a pilgrimage we can make this Lent in faith.
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on 14th February. This appropriately falls on Valentine’s Day – a day when people celebrate love.
Readings for the Day are from Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20–6:2; Matt 6:1-6,16-18
Today we begin our journey to Easter. We use these days, of Lent, to look at ourselves, ask some serious questions about where our lives are heading, and recommit ourselves to being more authentic and faithful followers of Jesus.
It would be easy for us to look at Lent as the season in which we have to do something to change our lives. There is no denying that that is true, but there is much more to it than just that. Sin is a reality, our need for forgiveness and reconciliation is a reality, our involvement in acts of penance and conversion is a reality. Even more important than that is God’s love. What we proclaim today is that God is love, where the visible sign of that love is the mercy and forgiveness always on offer to us when we fail.
(from Liturgia, Brisbane Archdiocese)
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