A happy and blessed Easter to all of you here at St Martin de Porres and beyond.
It has been a hectic week for those involved in planning and executing the liturgy (hopefully
without murdering it J), including the CWL, the altar servers and the musicians. My grateful
thanks go to all of them for the hard work which they put into it, as well as to all of you for your
participation.
Our Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday mark a strong inflection or transition point between the
dreariness of Lent to the joy of Easter, from death to life, from penance and self-abnegation to
what approximates normal.
It is useful, before we move on, to reflect on this period. What was Lent like for you, and now
that you have been through it, what does your life look like? What will it look like? The baptism
ritual at Easter reminds us that in baptism we die in Christ so that we might rise again with
Christ. It is about new beginnings, of a life free from bondage to sin, free to love and serve
wholeheartedly. Our very human temptation is to move on hurriedly with an eye on the next
thing without giving the learnings of our past 6 weeks the opportunity to deepen and sink in.
What I have realised yet again over the past six weeks is the importance of community and
team work. We have a large group of people who want to contribute to the life of the parish in
one way or the other. They have committed themselves to various ministries or support roles
in the community. I don’t think people would do that unless they felt some kind of connection
and thought that his connection was worth nurturing. A good experience of community is
evangelical in that it can transform people from disciples to apostles. There are also many
things that go into making a successful Lent and Triduum. A small parish doesn’t always have
support structures institutionalised, but when we work together the work gets done.
Old learnings which I have also been reminded of if the importance of good liturgy and being
welcoming. Both of these things are necessary for the feeding of the soul and the growth of
the Church. Our Triduum liturgies, up to the point of writing this, have been simple, dignified,
engaging and elevating. Many people have commented to me on the beauty of the liturgy and
how moved they have been. I suspect that more than a few visitors will become regulars.
Other people have told me that they are grateful for having discovered our parish. They have
found us welcoming, and they don’t feel as though they are lost or just a number as they may
be in a larger church. They will also be coming back.
None of these can occur in isolation. Community, teamwork, good liturgy and being
welcoming are all inter-related and mutually supportive. They are aspects of our common life
that all of us contribute to in one way or another. By smiling and saying hello, by giving
someone a hymnbook, by singing your lungs out (hopefully in tune), by staying after mass for a
coffee and conversation, by attending church social events, by praying for one another, by
taking communion to others in the community, by participating in a ministry or group… when
we do all of these things we make this place a home where all feel welcome and eagerto
contribute to our common life.
These have been some of my relearning’s, which I hope resonate with you in some way. What
you do is important, and I want to thank you for it.
