Repent, and believe in the Gospel.
This week I collected your palm crosses and burnt them to make the ash for Ash Wednesday.
There were only a few in the collection basket in church, and it’s something I notice each year.
We are reticent to give up those beautiful palm crosses that we took home from church last Palm Sunday.
They adorn our halls, our studies, our offices, our bedrooms, and we become used to their reassuring presence.
Each time we walk past them we feel safe and soothed.
This is a wonderful and good thing.
But, they are transitory. They are given to us so that we may return them.
We must pick up our crosses and bring them to church so that they may be burnt and may act as a sign of our sin.
They must be burnt so that we can start Lent with our focus on the cross of our our own sins.
It is uncomfortable. We don’t want to remove them from our homes. They are OURS.
Sin is much the same. It is hard to put down, it is hard to put away, it is OURS and if we’re not careful we start to hold onto sin in much the same way as we hold onto our palm crosses.
But sin must be put down, it must be put away.
Don’t keep it at home, bring it to church. Lay it down at the altar, lay it down in confession, lay it down in prayer, that it may be taken from you, that you may be forgiven, that you may know the full and awesome mercy and love of OUR God.
Fr. Matthew
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Thank you to all who helped with the concert last Saturday – we raised over £500 for the good works of the church.
Our Lent Course – Holy Habits – will start on March 17th. You can take part in person on Thursday mornings after mass (with a lent lunch served afterwards) or online on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm. More details on the website – www.stanselm.co.uk/lent
Lent is a very good time to make your first confession. If you’ve not come to confession before, or if you’re worried about how it works and what it is for – please speak to Fr. Matthew.
This week we’ve had the final go ahead to advertise and employ a Mission Priest for Hayes. It’s very exciting news. We’ll be advertising the role after Easter, interviewing in June and we hope to have the new Priest in post by September. If there is something you feel this new role should focus on, do speak to Fr. Matthew.