Lenten Message 2017
Make a difference this Lent.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord,
The season of Lent is a favourable time for conversion. The Church recommends the three pious acts of praying, fasting and almsgiving as the way to conversion.
Pope Francis has added another important dimension. He said that we should also fast from indifference. The Pope said that there is “a globalization of indifference to God and to our neighbours. Due to indifference, there is no more room in our hearts for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard and the desire to do good fades.”
The Pope added that “we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the cry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.”
This Lent, I appeal to all of you to make a difference in someone’s life. Look around, starting with your own inner circles of family, relatives and friends for that one person to whom you can make a difference. A kind word, a smile, an extra effort, patience, forgiveness, reconciliation, financial help and the gift of time and presence – all these will definitely make a big difference in that one person’s life.
May God bless you and your family for making a difference this Lent.
Bishop Richard
4th March 2017
