Lent 2010

 

Easter Sunday - 4th April 2010

Reflection by Margaret Twomey rsm, Rosscarbery, Co. Cork

Easter is the great Christian feast that marks the culmination of Holy Week and it begins a period when resurrection stories, which are found in all the gospels, come to the fore.
There are stories of the disciples on the road to Emmaus being joined by a stranger and some kind of recognition dawning in the breaking of bread...
There is Thomas in the upper room being invited to believe...
There is breakfast on the shore of Lake Tiberius and in the sharing of food some connection is made...
In the Easter Sunday gospel itself we find Mary of Magdala going to the tomb, followed later by Peter and John. There is a sense of newness in the air...

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Palm Sunday - 28th March 2010

Reflection by Margaret McConalogue rsm, Maynooth, Co. Kildare

This is the sixth and last Sunday of Lent. It also begins the most solemn of all weeks of the entire liturgical year.

Today we have two gospels, each with a distinct “feeling” – the purpose of the first gospel and the procession is to ready us in a most profound way to hear the Proclamation of the Passion, and to celebrate well the Triduum.

The procession of the palms is a way to engage our whole selves – involving actual bodily movement from one place to another. The journey can symbolize the paschal journey of our whole lives in Christ, ranging from our “Hosanna” experiences to those of “crucifixion”! Not an easy thought, however real!

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Fifth Sunday of Lent - 21st March 2010

Reflection by Eileen Rafferty rsm, California, USA

We continue on our journey of transformation in the desert of our hearts, stopping at an oasis here and there to commune with our God, who has a message from the Readings of today for us:"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies, it produces much fruit."(John 12:24).The grain of wheat has to be buried in the cold damp earth. It has to die.If it didn't die no new life would come forth but when it dies, a shoot of new wheat springs forth -life coming from death.

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Fourth Sunday of Lent - 14th March 2010

Reflection by Veronica O'Brien rsm, Belfast, Northern Ireland

‘Yes it is the Fourth Sunday already!’ I hear you say. A time to look back, but just a glance, always with a forward movement towards the light of Easter just around the corner. This Sunday is a milestone. How are we doing? Are we getting there? Today’s Readings are a reminder and a challenge to us to step aside, ponder and reflect on a marvelous gift freely given, the gift of Salvation and Reconciliation; the Gift of God’s Mercy and Grace. What a combination!

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Third Sunday of Lent - 7th March 2010

Reflection by Jean Evans rsm, Mmakau, South Africa

In the third Sunday of Lent, we have what David Stanley calls one of Jesus’ “prophetic charades.” This moment, like the foot washing of his disciples at the last supper, announces something unheard of, something entirely new in the ordinary script that religion followed. How could someone destroy a temple that took forty-six years to build and then raise it up in three days? Absurd. How could someone who says he is the saviour of the world do something so menial as to wash the feet of his disciples? Is he mad?

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Second Sunday of Lent - 28th February 2010

Reflection by Sheila Curran rsm, Lima, Peru

“How will we engage with others around the questions and struggles of our time?”
(Chapter Statement 2006).

The Gospel reading of the second Sunday of Lent raised similar questions for the disciples. The reading of the Transfiguration comes just after Peter’s confession about who he thinks Jesus is. He sees Jesus as the Messiah but he does not fully understand what this means in practice and for his life. There are the rumors that Jesus will be put to death. The disciples are sad and frustrated. They are wondering where God is and who God is now. It is in this context that Jesus takes Peter, James and John and they go up the mountain, a place for an important revelation.

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First Sunday of Lent - 21st February 2010

Reflection by Coirle McCarthy rsm, Congregational Leader

I offer the following words to you as an invitation to you to take time apart during the season of Lent:-
to reflect on the meaning of lent,
to find your soul in a new and different way,
to rediscover the gift of God at this time.
I invite you to spend some time in deepening your understanding of and seeing with new eyes what God is asking of us as we contemplate his word in the Gospel of Mark and particularly in the Desert experience as described in Mark 1:12- 15, which is the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent.

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