In his reflection this week, Fr John Walshe speaks of what the Second Vatican Council says on the Season of Lent in the document on liturgy. It says that it is a time of a closer listening to the Word of God. God speaks whenever we open our Bibles. As Fr Walshe also says, Christ speaks to us by both His word and His action. Nothing written in the bible is wasted and cannot help us today. Even the simple phrase of “Christ went up to Jerusalem” has meaning.

As Catholics, we are often accused of not knowing our bible. Of not reading it. This of course is not true in one sense, as we hear the word of God at least every Sunday. In the first week of our  online Advent retreat we spoke about how it is important to not only read the word of God but the hear it as well, since spoken words actually become a part of us, part of our being. You would be surprised as to how much of the bible you have internalised from just going to Mass every Sunday.

However, it is important that we do turn to our bibles more than we do. Why would we not!? The very Word of God is sitting on our bookshelves! Perhaps it would be better if we tried to bring that word inside of our heart. To learn and meditate on what it is that Christ is saying to us. Let us take the bible off the shelf (or buy one) and put it in our reach so that when we suddenly find that we have the time, we can sit with his Word.

 

Gospel Reading Audio 

Reflection on the Gospel by Fr John Walshe

reflection sheet

We have provided a number of reflection questions based on the video above. You don’t need to answer them all. They are just a guide to help you reflect on what was said. You can pick as many or as few as you wish. It really depends on the time you have through the week and what really spoke to you. Click the image to download the sheet.

Further reading

Here we are listing a number of other resources that you might like to look at. Of course you don’t need to use any at all or even just in Lent! It is mainly for those who wish to delve more deeply into themes or ideas that have been looked into this week.

Scripture Readings 
Click here for the other reading from Mass today.

Prayer
As mentioned in the introduction for this week it is important during Lent to read more of God’s Word.

In 2010 Pope Benedict wrote an Apostolic Exhortation entitled Verbum Domini (The Word of the Lord) which are his reflections after the World Synod of Bishops met to discuss the topic “On the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” If you would like a shorter summary of what was said this article is helpful. 

There are so many Christian bible studies out there, but finding a Catholic one can be a little harder. There is a relatively new group, Take up and Read,  created in the USA who create journals for you to go through and mediate on the Word of God. They have a study for this Lent but they also have other ones that can be read at any time of year.

Divine Office is another way to make sure you are reading scripture in your prayer life. Priests and religious have to do this every day. This form of prayer is broken up into sections called “Hours” where there are psalms, readings  and prayers for different times (hours) of the day. The laity are encouraged to maybe choose one or two hours to help enrich their prayer life and to pray with the Universal Church. Buying the full books can be a little pricey, but you can buy some with just Night Prayer, or Morning and Evening prayer and there are also apps and  websites  which make it cheaper.  This book, The Little Oratory, looks at this kind of prayer in detail and is a fabulous resource for setting up a prayer life in your home. It is aimed at families, but really it is worth the read if you are married or not.

Books
(You can buy these books from anywhere you like –  links are given just for information)

If you are looking for a Bible to buy and the idea of a journaling bible interests you, Our Sunday Visitor created one with Blessed is She.  Please do go and visit your local Catholic bookshop too, they will have a range of Bibles and other books to suit you!

On our blog this week we have a (very entertaining!) book review from Angela Schumann on the book “Hard Sayings – A Catholic Approach to Answering Bible Difficulties.” by Trent Horn. It is one of those books that basically  does what it says on the cover!

We had some of these books below in our online Advent retreat book section – but the are worth the repeat here as they are so helpful with guiding and encouraging us with reading the bible.

– Walking with God – A Jouney Through the Bible, By Tim Grey and Jeff Cavins
– Bible Timeline Chart – By Jeff Cavins and Sarah Christmyer
– The Bible Compass – By Edward Sri

Articles/Blog Posts
This is an article which gives us a comprehensive look at the tradition of the Church on the contemplation on the Holy Face of Jesus.

Edward Sri – author of The Bible Compass in the above  book section – has a great article on anger and when it is appropriate. Seems to be fitting with this week’s Gospel!

Mother Angelica was a force of nature. Here is a reflection on examining  your conscience which she refers to as “sweeping the temple clean” and a biblical examination of conscience that she wrote.

This is a really interesting article on why we have forty days in Lent and what significance this number has had throughout the Judaeo-Christian tradition. It shows that nothing in the bible is by accident. Not even the numbers that appear.

Sometimes, there are seasons in our lives which are just difficult. Sometimes these seasons overlap with Lent. In a way, it is actually God choosing your Lent for you. 

Still looking for ideas to bring your children and family life into the season of Lent? Young Catholic Mums, a great website for Mothers in Australia (and anywhere really!) has some ideas for Lent with your family. It is never too late to start! Or you can just tuck it away for another year.

Audio
This is a really interesting video series giving an outline of the Bible from a Catholic perspective by Mark Hart and it even has a downloadable user guide for you to use at home, and a different one if you wanted to do it in your parish. 

This is a podcast from Danielle Bean who is chatting to Elizabeth Foss (the founder of Take Up and Read mentioned above) about abiding in God’s word as well as the importance of friendship and community amoungst other women.

We keep talking about examining our conscience, but what IS sin? Do we know? Could we help someone else understand what it is? Fr Mike, as ever, can help with that. 

The first piece of music in our selection for this week of Lent is James Mcauley’s hymn Jesus in Your Heart We Find  as mentioned by Fr Walshe in his refection. The version we have chosen is actually sung by an Australian vocal group Prima Luce.

Lenten Music

Click here for a YouTube playlist of Lenten music for this week. It is meant to be a tool for prayer, but also can be played through your day to help keep the season in mind. Apologies for any advertisements that may interrupt your listening!