There are great evils in this world. Events that have taken place over the past week are evident of that. Three attacks, three stabbings, three acts of terror. Innocent lives have been taken. 

A teenage boy in Doonside in Sydney’s west had his life cut short by another teenager in a fatal stabbing. His older brother was also injured in the attack.

People who were just out for a day at the shops were terrorised. Six of them, who would have never imagined it would be their last day on earth, were murdered. More were injured, including a nine-month old baby. It really makes you wonder what would possess someone for them not just to go on a killing spree, but to stab an infant. The infant’s mother, in the most selfless act a mother could every carry out, that no mother should ever have to carry out, handed her precious bundle of joy over to a stranger in the hope that at least her child would survive after she herself was fatally injured.

Just as Sydney was reeling from the shocking attack at Bondi, a third attack, this time in a religious setting. As Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was delivering a sermon at Christ The Good Shepherd church in Wakeley, another teenager walked up to him and attacked him, launching the church into chaos with worshippers swarming and causing havoc. Four individuals were injured, including the Bishop, who was taken to hospital. Thankfully, Bishop Emmanuel is in a stable condition and is resting in hospital.

Three days, three attacks. If this isn’t a sign of the presence of evil in this world, I really don’t know what is.

It seems that Satan is working overtime lately.

It is understandable that there is a significant amount of fear in the air at the moment, particularly in Sydney where these attacks took place. Fear is a natural human response to acts of terror. We fear what we know to be dangerous. We fear what we know can kill us. Many of us likely fear death.

So when we see an act of terror take place, it is only human that we fear that something might happen to us, that we might end up being the victim of a similar act.

Some, including Christians, may now fear that they will be attacked in their place of worship. No individual should have to fear going to worship God. No Catholic should have to fear going to church, attending Mass, receiving the Sacraments.

And no one should stop going to church out of fear. This is exactly what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to be afraid. He wants you to focus on that fear, to let it overcome you, to allow it to keep you away from the church, from the Sacraments and, ultimately, from God Himself. If Satan can prevent you from going to church, he can prevent you from receiving absolution for your sins and keep you away from the nourishment of the Holy Eucharist.

We must not fear. We must not leave the Lord nor the Church out of fear that someone may try to attack us when we are worshipping. If anything, we should run to Him and ask for His protection. We must put on the full armor of God as we are told in St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:10-18)

We should not fear, but pray for those who would seek to persecute us. We should pray for those who launch such disgraceful attacks. When Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked, he did not hold it against his attacker, but forgave him and even prayed over him just after the attack occurred. We should follow his example. It is not for us to seek vengeance against such individuals. Vengeance is for the Lord, not for us.

The only fear we should have is the fear of the Lord.

Now more than ever, the world needs prayer. We need to be warriors in prayer, to be bold in our faith, not to cower but to stand strong in the Lord.

If you are on the fence, it’s time to make a decision and get off it. Being lukewarm is not an option. Satan owns the fence, and being lukewarm is not going to lead you on the narrow path to salvation. The only thing that can give this world hope is the faith. That much is clear. No human effort alone can ever hope to bring about peace. Only through God can we achieve such a feat.

This is no mere worldly fight against the forces of evil. It is no mere war on terrorism. We are in a spiritual battle. Satan is doing all he can to draw as many souls as possible away from God. He is attempting to take as many people as he can down with him to the fiery depths of Hell. And He will not target those who are already wallowing in a life of sin. Those individuals are already his (unless, of course, they repent, turn away from their sins, and run back to the Lord).

No, the Evil One has his sights set on those who are still in God’s hands. He seeks to knock down those who are lukewarm, the fence-sitters, onto his side of the fence and keep them there. He will go after those who are getting closer to God, who are growing in His graces. He will offer them temptations, attempting to lead them down a path where they will stumble and fall and, rather than taking the hand of the Lord and getting back up, lie there on the ground and wallow in self-pity.

Here’s the crux of it, and this is particularly important for those who are lukewarm. Satan hates you. He despises you. He has the utmost contempt for humanity. It is what contributed to his fall from Heaven. The Angels of the Lord were not created without free will. So, when the they were shown God’s plan, His wondrous plan for mankind, some of them, led by Lucifer (‘light-bearer’), rebelled and were banished by St Michael and the Angels of Heaven to the depths of Hell, a place of torment where all the souls present must contemplate for eternity their separation from God, the loss of the ultimate love that they will never get back, that they will never again be able to attain.

Satan hates you. He always has.

But God loves you. And He always will, no matter what. It doesn’t matter what you do, what you have done – He will always be there waiting for you to run back into His loving arms (note: this is not an open invitation to just go on committing sins. Just because God will welcome you back if you repent of those sins does not mean you should be doing whatever you want if it is sinful).

Now I think that when it comes to deciding who to side with, the choice is pretty obvious, right? You’d pick the guy who loves you unconditionally over the guy who absolutely hates you with a passion and wants to lead you into an eternity of torment, suffering, and anguish with him.

And let’s get real for a minute. No one really likes a fence-sitter. No one likes something that is lukewarm. Even the Lord says as much through Sacred Scripture:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)

Being lukewarm is not going to do you any favours. It’s not going to lead you to eternal paradise. If you leave this world and you are lukewarm in your faith, you cannot just turn up for your final judgement with God and say “well, I wasn’t sure…”. That’s not going to cut it. You either choose Heaven (possibly with some time in Purgatory beforehand for final purification of any temporal punishment from sins that have been forgiven), or Hell. There is no limbo. There is no second chance. You don’t get to go to God and suddenly start believing just because you see that He’s real. You need to make that decision while you’re still here living out your earthly life.

We are in a spiritual battle and we need solid, faithful warriors of Christ. We need good, holy, dedicated Christians who have put on the full armor of God and are ready to fight back against the wiles of the Evil One. 

Yes, the ultimate battle, the war against sin and death, has already been won by Our Lord. But the battle for souls continues. Each of us are called to play our part in leading souls to Christ, helping them on their journey. At the very least, we must work to keep them out of the hands of Satan.

And so we must not be afraid. No matter what Satan tries to keep us away from the Church and the Sacraments, to remove us from the Lord’s graces, to tear us from the loving arms of the Father, we must stand firm in our faith. If we are becoming affected by fear, we should pray for an increase in fortitude. And we should continue to pray for those who would seek to commit grievous acts and cause terror. Because those are the people that Satan is dragging down into Hell with him.

Be fearless, fight for the Lord, and pray like the world depends on it. Because it does.

Violence will only be overcome by virtue. Fear will be overcome by fortitude. Persecution will be overcome by prayer.

Do not be afraid. The Lord is with you always.

May the souls of all those whose lives were cruelly taken from them in these stabbings rest in the peace of the Lord.

It’s time to get real. Us Catholics can easily become far too reserved and complacent when it comes to dealing with this world, attempting to catechise and bring all that is secular in line with the values of Christianity. We can fail to be advocates for what is right, and in doing so allow that which is wrong to fester and continue to spread like a disease throughout society.

I get it – sometimes it can be incredibly daunting to go out into the world and evangelize it. When the weight of the world is crashing against you, it can feel incredibly overwhelming. Every attempt to make a change can feel like a huge task, an uphill battle that you’re not sure you can even come close to winning.

But that’s just it. It’s not about winning. It’s not about being hugely successful. It’s not even about changing the entire world.

It’s about bringing about change one small step at a time. It’s about having a series of little wins, small successes, along the way, that can all accumulate into creating a greater change down the track.

Just look at Jesus. When Christ was on Earth, He did not change the world overnight with His teachings. Some people understood what He was saying, and yet many did not. The Bread of Life discourse in John 6 is a good example of how even those who had been following Him deserted Him, struggling with what He was teaching them.

While Jesus did change the world through the great sacrificial offering He made of Himself on the Cross, there were still many – especially those who had pushed for His crucifixion – who did not believe in Him or His teachings.

I mean, just consider this – even after Jesus rose from the dead in His glorified Body, there were still many who did not believe. 

The world is never going to listen completely. But we can bring about change and help to improve the morality of this world over time, even if it is going to present challenges and challenge us.

When Jesus began His public ministry He called Twelve individuals, Twelve ordinary men who would become His Twelve Apostles – Twelve of the most famous individuals in the history of the Church. These men were not just called to follow Jesus. They were also called to bear witness to the Truth, and to share what had been taught them and bestowed upon them by the Lord, their Master, Teacher, and Friend.

See, Jesus could not remain here on Earth in human form forever. His ministry is one that transcends. It is not a solo ministry. It is one that requires others – it is a shared ministry, first entrusted to the Twelve, then, through them, to us. The Lord needed to ensure this ministry that He began Himself would continue after He had ascended back to the Kingdom to take his rightful place at the right hand of God the Father. The men He chose were given a great gift and an immense responsibility all at once. And they would ultimately give their lives for the sake of carrying out that responsibility.

But they were not left to do it alone. Not only did they have each other and those who they themselves would teach and form into their successors, but the Lord sent another gift upon them following His earthly departure – the Holy Spirit. With the Spirit descending upon them, they were filled with all that they needed to carry out the mission begun by their Teacher.

We can see how, immediately following the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, the Apostles (the Eleven given Judas was no longer with them) went out and began preaching the Word of God to all who were around them. Much of this is accounted for in Acts, which details the ministry of the Apostles following the Lord’s Ascension. The Church reads through these accounts during the Easter season. We hear of the boldness of Peter and the Apostles as they preach to the people of Jerusalem, fearlessly defying the Sanhedrin. Where before they would have possibly cowered from doing such a thing, they now act as changed men – transformed, renewed and restored by the power of the Spirit.

Like the Apostles, we are called to carry on the mission of Christ in the world. It is all well and good to just be a Catholic who goes to Mass each week and prays every so often. But there is a world out there that is becoming increasingly secular, and those with the loudest voices are those who do not believe. Those who do not have the faith, and even those who are lukewarm in their faith, are incredibly vulnerable to the deceitful works, ideas, and narratives spread throughout the world by the prince of evil. They desperately need to hear the Word of God, to have the message of Christ brought to them.

We cannot just be complacent. We must rise to the occasion like the first Apostles of Christ. We must go out into the world and, each in our own way, using our own gifts given to us by the Lord, share the teachings of Christ with others. Each of us who have been baptised have been baptised priest, prophet, and king. We have each been filled with the Holy Spirit. We each possess the capacity to evangelise, to connect with others and help them to see the Truth.

There are great evils that abound in the world today. We face significant social issues and ideas that are at odds with the very nature of humanity and Creation. The world promotes ideologies that are the antithesis of life itself. It promises riches and glory that are nothing compared to the spiritual riches and eternal glory we can attain in the Kingdom of Heaven.

While we live in the world, we must not become corrupted by the evils that exist within it. Rather, we must make an effort to combat these evils – evils like abortion and euthanasia, the promotion of transgenderism, sexual sin. The promotion of many of these things are spreading faster and further in the age of social media. And given children are being introduced to technology at such a young age now, it is far easier for these evils to corrupt their minds and their souls.

It is so important for us all to be advocates of the Lord, advocates for our faith. We must harness every avenue, including social media, and turn it into a force for good. We must go out into the world like the Apostles did after receiving the Spirit and preach fearlessly in the name of Jesus Christ. We must preach the truth – that life is precious and sacred, that every human being is created lovingly and perfectly by God, that our sexuality was created for a purpose and points towards something far greater than can be imagined here on earth, that all that has been created in this world has been created for the glory of God.

But this will not always be easy. There will inevitably be times when we find it difficult to preach these truths in the face of an uncaring and morally bankrupt society. There may even be times when we are persecuted, even in small ways, for our faith and our witness to it. Yet in these moments we must not become discouraged, but take delight in suffering for Our Lord, just as the Apostles did after they were imprisoned and flogged by the members of the Sanhedrin for healing and preaching in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

It is important, to aid in our carrying out of this great mission, that we continue to devote ourselves to prayer and engage regularly with the Sacraments. If we are to be preachers of Truth, we must live that Truth. It is essential that we are regularly attending and actively participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There is great power in the Eucharist. This gift of Christ Himself is one which we are all incredibly privileged to receive. It will no doubt aid us in our mission and help us to live out the life of a disciple. But we should also ensure that we have prepared ourselves adequately to receive this wondrous and precious gift so that we may attain all the graces that come with it and flow from it into our hearts, minds, and souls. Therefore, we must not fail to regularly seek out the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation, that Sacrament, another gracious gift of Our Lord, in which we receive the great and all-loving mercy and forgiveness of God.

Without prayer and the Sacraments, we can easily fall into discouragement and despair when our efforts do not seem to be enough, when we are challenged and face trials and persecutions in bearing witness to Christ and His teachings. 

If we are to be advocates for Christ, if we are to fulfill the mission that has been bestowed upon us, to truly share in His ministry, we must remain close to Our Lord. We must allow Him to work through us and in us. For we cannot do anything without Christ. And through Him we can do all things.

And we must always remember those immortal words that Christ spoke to His disciples in sending them out to change the world:

“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Catholics, let’s go out and restore the world.

After the great festivities of Holy Week and the eight-day Solemnity of the Easter Octave, you’d be forgiven for being a little spiritually fatigued. But the celebrations get extended out one more day (although Easter does continue on for fifty days in total so we still have plenty of time for celebrating), with the great Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, the day on which we recall, reflect upon, and give thanks and glory to God for the great Fiat of Our Blessed Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary.

Now a little disclaimer – this Feast actually falls on the 25^th of March, nine months before Christmas. However, given the movable dates of Holy Week and Easter, this year the Annunciation had to be moved to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday). This is because no Solemnities can be celebrated in Holy Week – just as no ritual Masses (eg. Weddings and funerals) are permitted during this time. The more you know, right?

Anyway, getting back to the subject at hand.

The Annunciation is probably one of the greatest Feasts we have in the Catholic Church. It is a beautiful reminder of the beginning of the earthly life of Jesus Christ – the time of His Conception, which only took place after our beautiful Blessed Mother, visited by the Angel Gabriel, gave her fiat, her ‘yes’ to God, speaking those immortal and immaculate words:

“Let it be done to me according to your word.”

It’s quite incredible to think about Jesus Christ as one of us, going through the same developmental stages of growth within His Mother’s womb. He was not just an embryo. He was a human being, and even more – the Word made flesh – dwelling in the womb of the Virgin Mother. This reminds us of how sacred and precious human life is, not just from the moment of birth, but from the very moment of conception when that life is brought into existence in its most delicate form.

But I think what the Annunciation highlights most significantly is the glory in doing the Will of God.

This is something that challenges a lot, if not all, of us. We all wish doing the Will of God was easy. We all wish we could just say ‘ok God, you do what you want with me and I’ll follow along.’ But it’s never that simple. Our human nature often precludes us from making that perfect resignation to God’s Will that we might seek to enact.

Sure, we might reach a point where we are actively doing all we can to surrender our will to the Will of the Father, but we often struggle to maintain that act of surrender, that act of giving over our will to His. It is all to easy to falter, to not completely trust, to want to retain even just an inkling of control, just to make us feel like we have a little bit of power over our future and its outcomes. That control, however small a degree it may be, provides us with a little bit of comfort. It is something we crave, something we struggle to part with. Why? Because giving over full control can bring with it a feeling of discomfort, particularly in not knowing what may eventuate. That discomfort can be difficult to contend with. It can make us squirm a little. We may begin to wrestle with God for control.

But without that discomfort, without that suffering that we may endure, there is no glory. Because we know that the Will of God is always greater than our own will. We know that God brings about great things through His Divine Will. We know this because we have this great Feast of the Annunciation. That is truly was this Feast is all about – God’s Will being done.

When Mary, a humble and lowly handmaiden, gave her fiat, when she ceded her human will to the Divine Will of God, she allowed God to enact His great plan of salvation, a plan that had been in the works for thousands of years, since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. She gave herself over completely to God. She trusted completely in His Will, His Will not only for her, but for all of humanity.

And God’s Will is good. We know this because the Will of God for all our lives, for all of mankind, is for our good. He Wills the good of humanity. That does not mean it’s going to be easy all the time. It doesn’t mean that everything is always going to be sunshine and rainbows. We all must face our trials. It is through those trials that God purifies us, that He provides us with opportunities to trust in Him, to lean on Him, to draw closer to Him. It is important to recognise that these times of trial are not designed to hurt us, they are not allowed to exist as a means of bringing evil into our lives. They are designed or permitted for our good – to orient us towards a more glorious purpose, a purpose that God has for each of us.

It can be terrifying to give ourselves over to the Lord. Surrendering our will to His and saying ‘yes’ to solely doing His Will can induce anxiety within us. But I think that is where the Annunciation and the fiat of the Blessed Mother becomes a beautiful example for each of us. While it may be scary and difficult to give our own fiat, to place our entire trust in the Will of God, just look at what He did for the Blessed Mother, look at what He brought about through her fiat.

If God can bring about the salvation of the world through the surrender and fiat of one woman, just imagine what He can do if you follow her lead.

We don’t have to be perfect. None of us ever will be until we hopefully, one day, reach the Kingdom of Heaven. But we can certainly strive to be as perfect as we possibly can, to “be perfect just like my Father in Heaven is perfect.” And part of that striving for perfection consists in following the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and giving our fiat – telling God we are ready to do His Will for us and giving ourselves over to Him completely, just as the Blessed Mother did over 2000 years ago.

That great fiat led to freedom. That selflessness led to salvation.

But we must do more than just imitate that selflessness of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. We must do more than imitate Our Blessed Mother. We must give our entire selves as a gift to God. We must entrust ourselves entirely to Him and His Holy Will. We will do the same when we realise our vocation in life, be it marriage, priesthood, religious life or any other. At that time, when that vocation comes to full fruition, we must make a gift of ourselves, our entire selves, either to the person we are becoming one with in the Sacrament of marriage or, if we are entering into religious life, to God and the Church. 

Yet while we remain in the single life, we should give ourselves over to God, trusting in His Will for us. It may be difficult at times, but we should know that, no matter what, we can always lean on Him. We can always bring our anxieties, worries, doubts, fears, everything to Him. 

Just pause and consider for a moment how Mary would have felt when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her to tell her she would bear the Son of God. Keep in mind that the Blessed Mother had just as much free will as we do. She knew the Scriptures – she was well versed in them – and so she would have known what this immense responsibility entailed. She could have become overwhelmed with the thoughts of what she would have to endure. She could have said ‘no.’  Yet, in all her humility, she said ‘yes’ and demonstrated for all of us for all time the greatest act of faith, hope, and trust in God.

What Mary was given in being chosen to be the Mother of God was not just a gift, but a sacrifice. She would endure many trials, with her fiat ultimately leading her to the Cross alongside her glorious Son. She would endure the pain and suffering that He endured in her own heart.

And yet Mary dedicated her life to bringing into the world, nurturing, and supporting our salvation. She was given a gift and a sacrifice. And that gift she was given by God was a gift she bore to the world. That gift, Jesus Christ Himself, ultimately gave Himself as a the ultimate gift and sacrifice.

Only in submitting ourselves to the Will of God can we even hope to come close to imitating that immaculate and all-consuming faith and trust that Our Blessed Mother had. And while that submission is not easy, it can bring about beautiful and wondrous moments in our lives that we will recognise as coming from God.

It’s not easy. But then again, nothing worth doing is ever that easy. There’s always effort that needs to be put in to reap the rewards. And submitting ourselves to God’s Will, trusting entirely in Him, can be incredibly rewarding.

And remember, if you struggle, that’s normal. If you fail to surrender, to submit your will to His Will, try again. If it’s too difficult to surrender your entire self to God, maybe start by trying to surrender just a a part of yourself. It could be just one aspect of your life that you’re trying to control too much. Cede that control to the Lord and allow Him to take over the reins.

And when you do, ask Our Blessed Mother to grant you the graces to allow the Lord to take care of it. Draw close to her, for she is the greatest model of faith, hope, and trust in God. For while the Annunciation was the heralding of our salvation, while Mary’s great fiat was the birth of our great hope, it was through these glorious moments of love and humility that the Blessed Mother began a journey of faith that would ultimately lead her through suffering and salvation to the Queenship of Heaven and Earth.

The Annunciation of the Lord is a celebration of love, faith, trust, and surrender to God. With one ‘yes’, Mary changed the course of human history.

Just remember, if God can do all that for Mary, imagine what He is waiting to do for you if you would only give your own fiat, submit yourself to His Will, and allow it to be done in your life.

Sometimes as Christians we are asked how we know that God is really there, that He even exists. Honestly, it’s a valid question. There are times in the life of every Christian when we wonder if there is actually someone on the other end of all those prayers. Sometimes we can even venture into territory where we wonder if it’s even worth it at all.

Prayer can be a complicated subject. Sometimes we wonder if we are praying enough. Or we question if we are praying the right way. Are those prayers too self-centred? Is it wrong to pray the same thing over and over? Is it ok to pray for a certain outcome? Will praying for a certain outcome result in that outcome being taken off the table because we are too attached to it? Are we really praying well if we are just repeating the same routine-like set of prayers each day?

Once you really begin to pray and take prayer seriously, many of these questions and probably a whole lot more will begin to seek your attention. To be perfectly honest, it’s hard not to contemplate them. I wish I had solid answers for each one of them, but I don’t. I’m still learning and navigating these very questions myself.

Sometimes we pray the same thing over and over and we wonder if it’s even being heard. I think it is quite challenging to discern the voice of God in our prayer lives. Is it really God putting that thought into our mind, or is it just something we’ve thought up in response to our own question, our own prayer?

One day He gives us a moment, even if it is fleeting, that enriches us and nourishes us spiritually and mentally. He provides something of an answer to prayer in a small way, just enough to make us grateful for that small moment, a moment that brings us a happiness, a little joy. It’s a small mercy, I guess.

And while we are grateful for that beautiful little moment, the next day we are back to wondering if our prayer is going to be answered. We seek out the voice of God but don’t seem to hear anything.

It’s like a spiritual rollercoaster that never seems to end.

God is truly a mystery in the way He works. Sometimes He will surprise us. Other times, He’ll make us wait (for good reason, I’m sure). I think for many of us it can just be difficult to understand why at times. 

Why are our prayers not being answered? Maybe they are, just not in the way we hoped. This can be difficult to contend with, given we often hope for certain outcomes, for certain events to take place. And, when they don’t come to pass as we expected, we can become incredibly dejected.

Why are we being made to wait? Maybe it’s because God has something in store for us that He needs to perfect us for first. Maybe we are not yet at the point where we can take on what He has waiting for us.

Why can’t we seem to hear God’s voice? That’s a question I’m not really sure how to answer. Maybe God wants us to just sit in the silence and contemplate what is on our heart. Maybe He’s making us wait. I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure this one out.

I think it’s only natural that each of us should ask ‘why?’ within the context of the spiritual life. I’ve done it many times myself. Often God is working, we just are not yet able to see it. And yet we have to trust that He is. But that is not always easy to do. Sometimes it can be especially difficult to trust. 

I think sometimes we can pray every prayer under the sun and still wonder if we’re being heard. Sometimes we can even begin to think that if we don’t pray a certain prayer that we might usually pray as part of our ‘routine’ that those prayers won’t be heard or that our prayers won’t be answered as we are hoping they might be. 

Sometimes we go into a place of prayer, be it the church or an Adoration Chapel, we kneel there with the intention of praying, but then we don’t even feel like praying. Or we can’t seem to find the words to pray. 

Sometimes you just go into the Chapel, look at Jesus, and become filled or even overwhelmed with raw emotion.

And sometimes you just sit there in front of the Blessed Sacrament and look at Him in silence. All you can do is just look. Thoughts swirl in your mind and you just look at Him.

Sometimes you just want to sit there for hours. Sometimes you never want to leave. Because for that moment, that time that seems so short, you can just be there in the presence of God and put everything else aside.

I think when it comes to prayer, the best we can do is to be authentic. We have been gifted with many prayers and devotions from the Church and the Saints, and it’s still good to pray these prayers. They wouldn’t be there for us if they weren’t good.

But I think it’s so important to just be upfront and honest with God about whatever is on our hearts. Sure, He knows us, and He already knows what we are going through. But He can’t take our hearts from us. We need to bring them to Him freely. Whatever is on our hearts, that should be our prayer. Prayer should come from our hearts and our hearts should be our prayer.

If you’re struggling with something, just talk to God about it. If you’re dealing with uncertainty, talk to God about it. Bring all your anxieties, worries, fears and concerns to Him. Talk to Him about your hopes and dreams. Even if you can’t hear His voice, just talk to Him. Pour your heart out to Him.

To end this little reflection on prayer, I’d like to share a piece of Scripture that it close to my heart:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Well, we’ve made it through another season of Lent. Emerging from Holy Week, we now celebrate the glorious Easter Octave and, following this, the remainder of the Easter season, which lasts fifty days. But I think it is important to reflect on what we have learnt throughout the season of penance and sacrifice that we have all just endured. So consider this a little reflective piece on some of the lessons from the Lent that was.

Now I’m not sure how Lent was for everyone else. For some of us, it may have been a breeze. But, for most of us, I think it would be a pretty good guess to say that it was challenging. This penitential season is intended to be challenging. It is supposed to cause some discomfort, to bring to the surface those things which we have been struggling with that we might have been pushing down so that we don’t have to address them. If this did not occur then we would not be able to overcome them and be purified. That is truly what Lent is about – the purification of our souls. And purification of souls does not happen without some discomfort and struggle.

I think something that really took centre-stage this Lent, at least for me, was surrender. Throughout the Lenten season, I followed along with Hallow’s Pray40 challenge which centred on the theme of surrender. Each day for these 40 days, I placed myself in the presence of God and tried to surrender to Him all that I had, all that was on my heart, everything I was struggling or trying to contend with.

But this surrender is not easy. At times, I would question whether I was truly surrendering everything to the Lord. I wondered if I was going against the surrender in certain ways. To be completely honest, I’m not really certain that I did truly surrender all to Him. I think that, when it came to particular aspects of my life, I was really wrestling with God – attempting to surrender them but at the same time attempting to seek a particular outcome. 

I think we all struggle to give over complete control to God. Being human, we instinctively want to control everything, because it means things are less unpredictable, thereby providing a greater sense of comfort. But we need to be able to step away from comfort, to be challenged. If we aren’t, we will only remain in a place of deep complacency and our lives will likely become stagnant. We cannot possibly grow closer to God and deepen our relationship with Him if we remain in such a place.

We can look to the disciples of Christ to see how this works. Each one of these men would have been perfectly fine continuing to live as they were without following Jesus when He called them. Each one easily could have remained in the comfort of the place they were in. But each one chose to follow our Lord, each one wanted to go deeper. And in choosing to follow Our Lord, each one committed to facing challenges and being tested, to enduring hardships and placing their trust entirely in God. This culminates in Holy Week when the disciples face their greatest challenge of all – the Passion and death of their Master, Teacher, and Friend. 

And I think we see the struggle with surrender most poignantly in Peter’s denial of Christ. Peter told the Lord he would follow Him even to death, essentially saying he would surrender his own life for Jesus. But when he was challenged, he gave in to human instincts and went back on that surrender. And yet there is great consolation in knowing that Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to make up for his denial. Each of us is given that opportunity to try again, to make another attempt to surrender everything, including our heart and our will, to God. Everything in creation belongs to God, but our hearts are the one thing that He does not possess. We have a choice to freely give them to Him. He cannot take them from us. They are a gift only each of us can present to Him with great love and trust.

The power of prayer and fasting is also something to behold. As I mentioned in my Lenten reflection at the beginning of the penitential season, prayer and fasting help us to bring God into focus and strengthen our will so that we can better resist temptation. For me personally, this was the first time I really took this seriously. And while I fasted from the food of this world, I found myself craving and becoming more enriched by the spiritual food of the Holy Eucharist and Sacred Scripture.

The penitential season of Lent also draws our focus to certain prayers that we may not have considered at other times throughout the year. Each Friday, there were beautiful opportunities to focus on the Stations of the Cross and journey with Christ through His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross. The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary became more poignant, especially during Holy Week as we drew closer to the commemoration of the events of Christ’s Passion and death. And the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady provided a beautiful way of connecting more deeply with Our Blessed Mother and drawing closer to her in her grief and anguish of watching her Son endure His suffering.

I think the one other thing that we learn from the season of Lent, and probably the most important, is the value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As we make sacrifices, focus on fasting, and spend more time in prayer, we spend a significantly greater deal of time in self-reflection, examining ourselves and drawing our focus to sins we are struggling with and what we could be doing better to prevent ourselves from falling into sin. In engaging in such self-reflection, we understand that we need to seek the loving mercy and forgiveness of our Heavenly Father, and, in engaging with the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation, we develop a greater appreciation for this wonderful Sacrament that God has given us.

Yes, we realise just how sinful we are. But there is no need to despair. For despair darkens our souls and leads us into greater sin, just as it did to Judas. It is in this great Sacrament of Reconciliation that we find healing. And it is in the great Paschal Mystery, that great sacrifice on the Cross, where Jesus stretched out His arms wide and took on all our sin, that we find the greatest healing love of all. 

Lent may have been difficult. It may have presented some challenges that tested your limits. But we must all remember that there is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday. While there was pain and anguish on that first Good Friday when Our Lord was put to death, there was consolation and hope in His glorious Resurrection. As the Easter Sequence says: ‘Life’s own Champion slain, yet lives to reign.’

Without suffering there is no salvation.

And so, having endured and come to the conclusion of Lent, we can now celebrate with great jubilation knowing that Christ is Risen and reigns victorious over sin and death.

May the Risen Christ bless you all abundantly this Easter Season.

Viva Cristo Rey!