Lent is moving on! Next Sunday, 3 April, is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, when the Church enters the period of Late Lent or Passiontide.
These last weeks of Lent are when we focus on the events of Christ’s suffering, passion and death for us and for our salvation. It is the Fifth Sunday of our Lenten pilgrimage with Christ in the desert en route to Jerusalem, and the Readings from Mass focus us on God’s mercy, and on the death and resurrection of Christ and how through his death on the Cross, He has opened for us the way to eternal life.
It is the custom in many churches from next Sunday to cover crosses and images. Crosses remain covered until the end of the Liturgy of the Passion on Good Friday and images remain covered until the Easter Vigil. Sunday 10 April is Palm Sunday when the Passion Narrative is read and when we commemorate the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem for the events of Holy Week.
So this week and next, let’s try to get to the Sacrament of Penance. Often in life, we can get tightly bound up, imprisoned in the tombs our sin and selfishness have created. This is the time Jesus wants to set us free. Let’s ask Him for grace to make a good confession, that we may be set free from whatever holds us back from more truly loving God and our neighbour, and from becoming the kind of person the Lord wants us to be.