St Peters RC Church Hamilton

Not forgetting to give thanks for the discovery of vaccine.

To have so quicky inoculated 15 million people,

Here in the UK already, is a phenomenal feat.

Let us offer all thanks for this, the hard work of scientists.

Plus all the medical services looking after the sick.

We must pray and offer sincerest thanks,

Whilst also asking for help, comfort for all who suffer, including the bereaved. “Loving Father, may my Lent overflow with prayer, fasting and almsgiving – all performed in holy hiddenness. Sanctify the hidden things in me that cry out for You.” (Father Peter John Cameron O.P)

Pray too for those who have lost their livelihood or home,

And the long term sick as a result of the Pandemic.

Oh that we as a nation could pray together,

All eyes fixed on the world’s Saviour, Christ Jesus.

The same power and authority over all evil,

That ever was, is now or will continue to be, is significant.

For it is when we call on Christ Jesus’ name

We can rightly claim to overcome all evil.

What better time to do this than now during Lent.

Lent is a time sent for us to repent of all the errors of our ways,

Including any failure to pray asking for help and healing.

“ ‘And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’.” (John 8 v 32)

The repealing of evil is available to us through the Passion and the †.

It is up to us as believers, to focus on the Lord Jesus,

The living, abiding Word of truth, of wisdom,

Of God’s power, our hope for a brighter, calmer future.

All our hope is in Christ Jesus, ours to name,

Ours to claim as a family made righteous,

Able to pray and seek God’s mercy.

This is our entire need currently, we need mercy!

Mercy added to life not in genteel teaspoons,

But heaped upon us in wheelbarrows emptied out over us.

Praying for the good of each other, for every community.

Lent is the penitential season calling for our concentration upon cleansing and healing.

“Blessed (are) all those who love their brother as much as he is far away from them or when he is with them.” (“Fratelli tutti I” Pope Francis’ latest encyclical)

“A fraternal openness allows us to acknowledge, appreciate and love each person, regardless of

physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives.” (“Fratelli tutti I”)

Dearest Father, may this season of Lent be earmarked by earnest prayer, seeking Your mercy for everything

that has gone wrong personally, in society and universally. We are in a sad and sorry state.

Currently, in the midst of this worldwide Pandemic, we are in dire need of Your help. We seek cleansing of

our wounded sinfulness, that we may be healed. Please help us through Christ Jesus.

Thank You for gifting us a Healer, always striving to purify and sanctify us by the Holy Spirit, that we Your

family, having gained a right standing in Your eyes, can be consecrated to You.

If more people were consecrated by their faith in Christ Jesus put into the daily routines of life, then there

would be far less sinfulness. Is it not the moral decline of society that is behind the global Pandemic?

Thankfully we do have an answer when we pray, the tensions of the world undergoing a release from sin’s

captivity and thereby a healing. The world always competes for our attention. Let us become more aware of

this by our Lenten observances.

The Lord Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to prayerfully pray for the most significant moments He

knew were to follow. Let us each enter into the daily silence of personal prayer to really learn to focus fully

on Christ Jesus.

If we do not pray, we will be in imminent danger of missing what it is You are saying to us, Father God, or

showing us through Your offer of love and mercy at the †of forgiveness. A new life is being opened up before

us.

May we pray, listen, learn, then go forwards strengthened and supported in our efforts to overcome all that is

evil, which of course, includes the Pandemic. Thank You that prayer opens up the storehouse of blessings.

Thank You that “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure” we need cleansing; “then peace

loving” we need our fears allayed “considerate, submissive” we need to aspire to greater obedience, “full of

mercy and good fruit...” (James 3 v 17, 28 NIV)

Let us pray for the fruit of the Spirit to better develop, as we pray and support the needs of the hurting

world, damaged by the Pandemic and the death toll amounting daily. We face a tsunami of mental health

disorder.

We need to know how to tackle this effectively, so must ask to receive, seek to find, not being self-centred, but “Impartial and sincere.” (Cont) And let us always acknowledge that “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness,” (v 18 concluded) Oh that this will happen!

The Lord Jesus lived and died to gain us a sense of peace. We will not have this peace with You, Father God, unless we are at peace with all others and with ourselves. Please send the Spirit of peace to teach us, to

correct all the errors of our ways.

When You say “ ‘Comfort, comfort My people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days have gone and her sins are pardoned’,” (Isaiah 40 v 1 NLT) this promise was to include us and hence the Passion of the Lord Jesus.

May the Holy Spirit as Instructor, help none believers come to faith by convincing them of our Saviour’s atonement. The Lord Jesus bought our peace with His life sacrificed at the †.

The Spirit of Lent will be prompting us to spend extra quality time in prayer, to fasting, to stem the onslaught of our self will seeking satisfaction, and almsgiving, that we focus more on others than ourselves.

In all of this we find our peace, thank You.

Peace arises out of doing what we know is right in Your sight. Or if we stumble and fall, seeking repentance with the firm resolve not to fail again. Our need of the Holy Spirit is like our need of the Lord Jesus, urgent.“

“‘ Y our God is coming! Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm,” (Isaiah 40 v 10) those very arms that were outstretched on the † for us, still shield and defend us from satan.

How blessed we are to have a Brother, who is the finest example of how we must live to delight and honour You, Father God. Jesus is our Redeemer forever claiming us as His own. How incredible that we, a family set free from sin, should be His reward for the †.

What an immense honour! What an incredible privilege! What a life giving, love enhancing act which we can come to understand and appreciate by means of learning from the Holy Spirit, He who clarifies what Christ Jesus and salvation mean to us.

“Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD?” (Isaiah 40 v 13 NLT) No one, because this is not necessary, as the Holy Spirit has no equal amongst mankind. We praise and offer thanks for the Third Person

of the Trinity, the Helper the Lord Jesus promised to send to us.

Let us then live as a redeemed family, making this season of Lent a season of joy, because we devote more time to prayer and deepening our faith, walking with Jesus, talking with Him as the Holy Spirit enables us.

May we not “Accept this marvellous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it.” (2 Corinthians 6 v 1 NLT) This gift is our salvation won by Christ Jesus’ Passion and the †, an act inviting us to come back to You, our sins forgiven and forgotten.

“ ‘At just the right time, I heard you’,” You tell us. “ ‘On the day of salvation, I helped you.’ Indeed, the ‘right time’ is now. Today is the day of salvation,” (v 2) this day in the year 2021. Let us turn back to You

with all our heart, no longer allowing fear to keep us apart. For we have a Saviour who wins peace for us.

Praise be to the utmost glory of the wondrous Trinity. Amen.