Fr La welcomes you this evening to a new Pause and Ponder series for Lent. “I hope you might join us week by week on this pilgrimage journey in the company of Jesus, as he makes his way to Jerusalem and the great event that is his death and resurrection. There is so much that the Master can teach us along the way.” Let us pause and ponder the Gospel word tonight: ‘You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’ Blessings
Hello again from Lough Derg and welcome to a new Pause and Ponder series for Lent. I hope you might join us week by week on this pilgrimage journey in the company of Jesus, as he makes his way to Jerusalem and the great event that is his death and resurrection. There is so much that the Master can teach us along the way.
In the Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent, we read how Satan tempted Jesus when he went out into the wilderness. Across the centuries, Lough Derg has supported pilgrims in answering the call of the Spirit to join Jesus in his wilderness experience.
Against the temptations of the Evil One, who is ever resourceful, we learn from Jesus to stand firm and renounce the Evil One, and to respond as he did: ‘We do not live on bread alone.’ This is our experience in the fast of the Three Day Pilgrimage, and in whatever form of fasting we choose to undertake for Lent.
Like Jesus in the wilderness, many of us have learned on Lough Derg to put our faith in God alone in the times of testing that have come our way, and we have experienced how true it is that he has ‘put his angels in charge of us to guard us.’
During the testing time of these past two years, many aspects of our lives had to change and adapt, as Lough Derg itself has had to do over the centuries. Lent offers a good time for us to ask ourselves which of these changes have brought us genuine progress on our pilgrimage of life and which, if any, may have led us a bit way from the path of life.
In any case, Lent is always a time of grace – an “acceptable time” to begin anew.
Let us pause and ponder the Gospel word: ‘You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’
Keep up to date regularly with Lough Derg here