Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin our journey to the great feast of Easter.

The Jubilee is a time for putting things right. Paths that have become crooked can be made straight again.

You can download and save the scripture texts, reflections and prayers for Lectio Divina for each day of this month. Lectio Divina is a traditional way of praying the Scriptures. Visit our Lectio Divina page for more information about how to pray using Lectio Divina. Join our Lectio Online group. We meet every Friday at 10am (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) [You are welcome to join from other time zones, eg. Perth/Singapore/Philippines: 7am; Timor-Leste/Tokyo: 8am; New Zealand: 12pm; Los Angeles: Thursday 4pm; New York/Toronto: Thursday 7pm] to prayerfully reflect on the Gospel of the coming Sunday. 

We live in a world of words thanks to modern mass media and, particularly, social media. We have seen the extremely harmful way in which words can be used in harsh judgement against other people, and the sheer vitriol of some on social media gives us pause for thought.

This week, Jesus’ radical teaching focusses on lavish generosity in human relationships.

It’s a great blessing to have an abundance of vocations, at least until you run out of room for any more!

Over the next three Sundays we will listen to almost the whole of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain.

As if to balance the rejection Jesus experienced in last week’s Gospel, this week’s episode tells two stories of people who welcome his message.

Firstly, an enthusiastic crowd has gathered on the shore of the lake, eagerly pressing forward to hear Jesus’ teaching. Jesus seems to be in danger of being crushed or at least being pushed into the sea! He takes the unusual step of teaching from Simon’s boat.

You can download and save the scripture texts, reflections and prayers for Lectio Divina for each day of this month. Lectio Divina is a traditional way of praying the Scriptures. Visit our Lectio Divina page for more information about how to pray using Lectio Divina. Join our Lectio Online group. We meet every Friday at 10am (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) [You are welcome to join from other time zones, eg. Perth/Singapore/Philippines: 7am; Timor-Leste/Tokyo: 8am; New Zealand: 12pm; Los Angeles: Thursday 4pm; New York/Toronto: Thursday 7pm] to prayerfully reflect on the Gospel of the coming Sunday. 

Today’s Gospel tells us the story of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. During the presentation, two holy people, Simeon and Anna, witness to Jesus as the “light of the nations”. So, it is the Church’s custom to celebrate this feast with the blessing and lighting of candles - a reference to the Christmas theme of light. The candles can serve as a reminder that Christ, our Light, is always present with us.