REFLECTION FOR 1ST SUNDAY IN LENT (YEAR C), Week beginning 6 MARCH 2022
Ash Wednesday in 2022 marked the opening of the 3rd consecutive Lent in a situation of ongoing pandemic this situation for the world is now compounded by the opening 10 days or so of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Horror has been unleashed there, for all ages of person, and we know not how long it will last.
These two are huge factors for the world, near and far. We have to be careful, both individually and collectively, not to lapse into despondency.
To remain strong through it all, we must turn to all that our Faith has to offer – to accentuate our prayer life with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through it all, we have the great assurance of Jesus that He has over-come the world, the flesh and the devil.
With these two major news factors in the background, we undertake the discipline of a further Holy Season of Lent. This Holy Season of grace can be positively seen as a source of spiritual solace for us, against such a background.
Certainly, we must pray for Ukraine – that it will survive as an independent entity and be rebuilt – despite what will clearly be an ever-growing list of “martyrs”, of all ages, to its cause. We have, and will continue to have, chances to support its brave people financially, according to our means. In time, one may even have the opportunity to offer them accommodation. Meanwhile, we can now seriously consider making them recipients of our Lenten almsgiving.
In reality, the pandemic may effectively end before the end of the war in Ukraine. At what “stage” will both of these factors be, come the end of Lent 2022?
Let us, both individually and collectively, commit to taking both factors into our daily prayer lives during this Lent.
Good Shepherd Catholic Church 