Eighty – the magic number
No, I am not talking about my age (although with all the pains and aches I have, I sometimes feel like I am indeed eighty!) but rather this is the number of Parishioners and visitors at the Vigil Mass for the first Sunday of Lent. It has been a long time since we had this number of people at a Saturday Vigil and Randy noted that it must be a sign of people’s Lenten commitment. If this is the case, then what a beautiful commitment it is.
I try to get to Mass every Friday during the year, however, every year, without fail, I find that getting to a weekday Mass during Lent, quite challenging. Something always seems to come up at the last minute or I am unable to get out of a work commitment. Well, true to form, on the Friday after Ash Wednesday, I could not make the 8am Mass as I had an overseas call which was cancelled at 8:10am because the person could not make it. I had anyway planned to go to the 12:10pm Mass. At 12pm as I was heading out the office, a colleague stopped to ask me about something which then left me with 5 mins to get to the Chapel. As I was about to cross Molesworth Street, I bumped into a former colleague, we got chatting and before I knew it, it was 12:20pm so I decided it was too late to get to Mass and went back to the office.
All was however not lost, because there was still the 5:15pm Mass at St Mary’s. At 4:30pm, my daughter called to let me know she has finished work and would like to get lift home with me. The opportunity to drive home with her does not come along often so I instead opted for this and got to spend some time with her. So it was not a good start to my Lenten commitments and some forces were certainly working against me. I did however manage to make it to Stations of the Cross at 7pm which was led by Sr. Marie. While it was not the same as Mass, I did at least get some time to reflect. During Lent, and in fact throughout the year, our Parish offers many opportunities for prayerful reflection, this includes (full details are on page 2 & 3): Divine Mercy Devotions (Sundays), Rosary (Mondays), Scripture Reflection (Tuesdays), Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (Thursdays), Stations of the Cross (Fridays during Lent followed by an opportunity for Reconciliation), Lectio Divina (Thursdays during Lent), Reconciliation (before the Vigil Mass), Sr Marie’s Prayer Group – meets twice a month on a Monday
In today’s Gospel on the Transfiguration, we see how Jesus invited three of his disciples to go up the mountain to pray with him. Although they were afraid, they were also in awe of God through what they experienced. We, too, are invited to take up this invitation to spend time with Jesus, and there is no better time to be doing this than during Lent. So, take up the opportunities in the Parish to do so and not only get time for reflection but also to meet your fellow Parishioners as we look at returning to the Cathedral later this year.
So while 80 may be a magical number, 120 will be awesome even if it is spread across all these opportunities.
Clint Ramoo – Finance Committee Chair
