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On The Journey This Week: Sr Katherine Stone MGL says Jesus is very clear that following him means taking the road to the cross. Mother Hilda says God’s protective concern for us abounds when we face challenges in life. Plus, Fr Tony Percy, and from the Pietà Lenten Series, Fr Antony Jukes, and Fr Sean Cullen with their Lenten reflections.

Gospel Reflection–Sr Katherine Stone MGL–Lessons in Love (Sr Katherine Stone says that we discover as adults that all the lessons that we have imbibed about selflessness are actually lessons in the logic of love.

Wisdom from the Abbey–Mother Hilda–The Native American. Mother Hilda says that is just like God’s protective concern for us when we face challenges in life.

The Word–Fr Tony Percy–Act of Love. Fr Tony Percy says that the Letter to the Hebrews is magnificent – a fascinating piece of history and literature, arousing curiosity.

Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Antony Jukes–The Kingdom of God is Very Near. Fr Antony Jukes says that regardless of whether the Gospel message is well received or not, the kingdom of God is still very near to the people.

Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Sean Cullen–Master of My Life. Fr Sean Cullen says that we are all enslaved to something and the truth of the Gospel lets us face the truth about ourselves.

Pietà Lenten Series–Darren McDowell–Divine Consolation (Darren McDowell says that Lent can sometimes feel like a wilderness—a time of desolation and loss.)

Pietà Lenten Series–Trish McCarthy–Standing in the Breach (To stand in the breach is a divinely inspired call: to pray with the heart of God for what is on the heart of God, through the power of the Spirit.)

On The Journey This Week: Sr Katherine Stone MGL asks do we truly believe that: “God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.” Mother Hilda tells what really happens when we pray for somebody else. Plus, Fr Tony Percy and from the Pietà Lenten Series, Darren McDowell, and Trish McCarthy.

Gospel Reflection–Sr Katherine Stone MGL–Loving to Death. Sr Katherine Stone says that the Cross gives us a powerful image of both the natural consequences of our sin, but also of just how much God loves us.

Wisdom from the Abbey–Mother Hilda–Praying for Others. we pray for somebody else so that the grace to shore up the foundations of the other person is there.

The Word–Fr Tony Percy–Rest (Fr Tony Percy says that the fourth week of Lent brings us into a very interesting reading from the second book of Chronicles )

On The Journey This Week: Sr Katherine Stone MGL says that sometimes burdensome details can seem to overtake the relationship we have with God. Mother Hilda says not all obstacles in life are bad, some are God saving us from ourselves. Fr Tony Percy says the 10 commandments promote and protect fundamental human values, and from the Pietà Lenten Series, Fr Sean Cullen on concern for people and commitment to the Law, and Fr Chris Sarkis on searching for God.

Gospel Reflection–Sr Katherine Stone MGL–Wisdom Breaking Burdensome Detail (Sr Katherine Stone says that often, we are subsumed by details that seem far away from the heart of what we are doing. Jesus is protesting just such a dynamic in today’s Gospel. From the moment people set foot within the Temple precinct, the details seemed to overtake the relationship they have with God. As human beings, we put together systems to make our lives easier, but after some time, we can find ourselves spending more time and effort on the system than on the good it was designed to achieve. Surely it doesn’t need to be this complicated! Each Lent, we are invited to come back to the heart of our relationship with God. But it’s easy to get distracted from this profound truth of who we are, especially in today’s busy and demanding world so that our living relationship with God is pushed to the periphery while the money changers and livestock sellers absorb our attention. Maybe the wisdom we need from God is about which things we

Wisdom from the Abbey–Mother Hilda–Obstacles (Mother Hilda says that a recent incident of a slow driver in front of her, being an obstacle to her desired actions, saved her from a speeding fine. How many times does that sort of thing happen for you? And I not just on the road, but how many times is somebody in our life an obstacle? How many times are they impossible to get around? How many times does situations turn up and there are obstacles? Well, we can't do anything about things that we can't do anything about and we're stuck. We can either rant and rave and carry on, or we can say is here it is, this is what the father has allowed in my life. Now I might not like it, but here is God caring for me. I don't know what it is that God's saving me from. I don't know what it is God's doing, but I know that I am in God's care. I know that God again is looking after me. This week, what is it that the father will allow in your life? Don't go looking for the big things, they're all in the little things. What is it

The Word–Fr Tony Percy– Great Modern Tragedies (Fr Tony Percy says that the third week of Lent leads us into the great gift of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20). So many of the young – and not so young – have never heard of the Decalogue. This is truly one of the great modern tragedies, for the commandments promote and protect fundamental human values: God, Respect, Rest, Family, Life, Sexual Fidelity, Property, Speech, These values are objectively true. Observe two points. First, an experiential truth: We learn about evil by not doing it. We learn about good by doing it. For instance, we only understand the evil of gossip (‘talking behind a person’s back’) by not doing it. The experience of the absence of evil confirms why we should avoid such behaviour. Likewise, we only understand the goodness of rest by entering into it. The experience of the presence of good confirms why we should pursue such behaviour. Second point: Receiving truth and making it our own forges our personal and collective identity: When I

Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Sean Cullen–Law and Love (Fr Sean Cullen says that in the Gospel for this coming Wednesday Jesus gives us his version of the law-and-order debate that the leadership were having with the people of God. This debate has been going on for a long time. Jesus assures his disciples that he has come, not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. On one side were the scribes and Pharisees, to them, the Law was everything. On the other side was Jesus with his concern for people. How could concern for people and commitment to the Law come together? Which was valid? For Jesus, both. As he saw it, the Law was intended for the protection and enrichment of life. We need rules. We need precedents. We need guidelines if we are to live authentically in this morally confused world. But people must remain primary creating a beautiful blend of law and love.)

Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Chris Sarkis–With All Our Heart (Fr Chris Sarkis says that the young scribe in the Gospel for this coming Friday was clearly searching for God and seeking him with all his heart by asking Jesus “which is the first of all the commandments?” It is a question that flows from the heart of every sincere believer who is genuinely seeking God. The command to love God is not a duty that can be forced upon us, or something we do because we have been told to. Loving God is a privilege freely offered to us when he embraces us in a personal relationship with him and will only grow and deepen when we freely accept his words and teachings, and open ourselves to his love and grace in our lives. This will only happen as we gradually align our will to his will through the countless and often small decisions we make in our daily lives, seeking him “with all our heart.”)

On The Journey This Week: Sr Katherine Stone MGL says all the readings this weekend helps us with our struggle to know God as our loving Father and ourselves as beloved sons and daughters. Mother Hilda says God put little things into our life so that we might just see God saying I love you. Fr Tony Percy says that Jesus is transfigured immediately, not so us, however as we offer ourselves to God, we are slowly, but surely transfigured. Sr Anastasia Reeves OP reminds us that we, too, much practice what we preach, and Fr Antony Jukes says our prayer this week can be: Lord, help me to recognise your infinite love and mercy.

Gospel Reflection–Sr Katherine Stone MGL–Beloved Sons and Daughters (Sr Katherine Stone says that the two sons who sit at the centre of today’s readings, Isaac, the son in the first reading and Jesus, the Beloved Son of the second reading and the Gospel point us to a third beloved child—you and me! Most of us struggle to know God as our loving Father and ourselves as beloved sons and daughters. Stories like the one about Abraham and Isaac today, let us know God as our loving Father and ourselves as beloved sons and daughters. The disciples’ experience of the Transfiguration was a crucial moment that helped them to understand that the man, Jesus, wasn’t just another prophet, but God himself come among us. As both God and man, he reveals to us both what God is really like, and who we really are. If we “listen to him”, as today’s Gospel asks us to do, we will notice that every word that he speaks, every miracle, every action, shows us one, or both, of these things. In him, we experience both the compassion of th