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LETTER FROM THE RECTORY
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LLYTHYR O'R RHEITHORDY

March 2010

I’m writing only a very short letter this month as you’ll find quite a few other contributions from me in the March edition of the Parish Magazine.  May I simply take this opportunity to encourage you in your keeping of Lent and to ask that everyone makes worship a real priority as we draw near to Holy Week and Easter.  It is so important that we experience the commemoration of Our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection together as a Christian family.  All of us who are responsible for worship over this period, work very hard to make Holy Week and Easter as memorable as possible but we need you to be there to experience it all.  More of these things next month.

Fr John

February 2010

Rector of Llandudno
If you attended the Sung Eucharist on the Feast of the Presentation (kept on Sunday January 31st) you may remember taking part in the following dialogue just after we extinguished our candles at the end of the service:

Here we now stand near the place of baptism.

Help us, who are marked with the cross, to share the Lord’s death and resurrection.

Here we turn from Christ’s birth to his Passion.

Help us for whom Lent is near, to enter more deeply into the Easter mystery.

The commemoration of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple marks a transition in the Christian Year between the ‘Incarnation cycle’ (Advent, Christmas & Epiphany) and the ‘Easter cycle’ (Lent & Eastertide). Our thoughts move from the events surrounding the birth of Jesus to those surrounding his death and resurrection.

What sparks-off this transition is the moment in St. Luke’s account of the Presentation when Simeon, holding the infant Jesus in his arms, says to Mary:

‘This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ (Luke 2:35)

So from the ‘tidings of comfort and joy’ of Christmas we turn towards the austerity of Lent and Holy Week. If we meant what we said on the Sunday of the Presentation, and really want to ‘enter more deeply into the Easter mystery, then we must use the opportunity which Lent and Holy Week provide to grow in our faith and in our commitment to the Lord.’

Ash Wednesday falls on the 17th of this month. On that day we are marked with a cross of ash, and invited by the priest to ‘the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance, by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.’ Of course each of us will interpret this invitation in our own way, using those Lenten disciplines which we find most helpful in our particular circumstances. They might include being more regular in our church attendance, more disciplined in our times of prayer or bible reading, behaving more charitably to someone we don’t like, taking on a commitment to voluntary work, eating less or giving up a luxury etc. etc. As we do these things we will be aware that they won’t in themselves bring us closer to God or make us better Christian disciples. Rather they will hopefully be outward signs of an inner desire to love Him better, to make ourselves more open to His grace working within us, to become more like Christ in all that we do.

The Church can of course help us in our Lenten endeavours. At the time of writing (early January) the details of our parish Lenten program had not been finalized so full details are not available in this edition of the magazine. There will certainly be the usual Wednesday evening services of Compline and Address at the Hospital; I hope to be giving some Lenten talks at Sunday Evening Prayer and the Thursday Eucharist; there will be the usual Quiet Day at the Loreto Centre; and I am planning to have Stations of the Cross throughout Lent now that we have some permanent plaques. Full details will be given in the weekly bulletin (available in the church).
 
But now ‘as we turn from Christ’s birth to his Passion’ at the Presentation of Our Lord, we have a couple of weeks to prepare for the season which has so aptly been called ‘the Springtime of the soul’.

Fr John


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Previous letters:

January 2010 January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
Aug 2009
Sept 2009
Oct 2009
Nov 2009
Dec 2009
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June / July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
Debember 2007

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