Parish of Our Lady, Star of the Sea
Lent 2025
Diocese of Plymouth - Jubilee Lenten Offerings: Week 5
6th April – Fifth Sunday of Lent
Is 43:16-21; Ps 125; Ph 3:8-14; Jn 8:1-11
A Reflection on the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
by Monsignor Robert Draper
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For the people of Israel the Exodus was the primordial act of salvation. It was the Lord who acted to enable the Hebrews to escape from Egypt and the clutches of pharaoh at the Red Sea, and that event was foundational to their covenant relation with God. Addressing a people caught up in Exile and diaspora, Isaiah offers a provocative vision: what God will do for his people now will outshine even the great event of the Exodus! God will restore his people to their land, and bring back all the exiles and refugees to the Land promised to their fathers. This will be something new which will reveal God’s gracious generosity to his people and fulfil all the covenant promises, however impossible it might seem.
The beautiful gospel passage we are offered today almost certainly was not an original part of John’s gospel – there are good reasons to suggest it could have an origin in the Lucan tradition. Nonetheless the church has venerated it as canonical, and it offers a wonderful opportunity to reflect on judgement and mercy – which are important Lenten themes. At one level it is a scene of bustle and violence as the shouting crowd drag the woman before Jesus baying for her blood. At another level there is a serenity and calmness as Jesus writes silently on the ground and utters only the briefest comment to the mob, while the woman stands silent throughout. There is no suggestion that by dispersing the mob with his words Jesus regards her sin as insignificant, rather the emphasis is on the fact that the only one who is able to judge is the one who desires only to be merciful. The Lenten practice of celebrating the sacrament of penance invites all of us to stand silent before the Lord charged with unfaithfulness to the covenant and hear not words of condemnation, but mercy.
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Diocese of Plymouth - Jubilee Lenten Offerings: Week 4
30th March – Fourth Sunday of Lent
Josh 5:9-12; Ps 33; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32
A Reflection on the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
by Monsignor Robert Draper
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Although its now a few years ago, I suspect that one of the many things that people – like me - really missed during the pandemic, due to regulations and guidelines, was the experience of gathering as family and friends and sharing a meal – especially a celebratory meal, when normally there would have been many gathered at the table. Meals and eating are not just occasions where we take in energy for our physical life, but they are also opportunities to express essential human truths such as belonging, rejoicing, sharing and much more. When the Hebrews arrive in the promised land of Canaan at the time of Passover- the time when they left Egypt - they eat the produce of the land, and so the promise made to them more than forty years earlier, is fulfilled, and it is the eating of food that expresses that fulfilment. After the trials and tribulations of the Exodus and the wandering in the desert, their liberation is finally realised by the arrival in the land, and it is signified by eating.
The parable of the ‘prodigal son’ is very familiar, and rightly so, as a parable of God’s mercy and love, but it is significant how the return of the errant younger son is celebrated by his prodigal father: “we are going to have a feast because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life”. It is also significant that the elder – dutiful – son is the one who misses out on the celebratory meal because he is not able to share the merciful stance of his father.
Every day Christians gather for a celebratory meal to express the fulfilment of God’s promise of liberation to his people – liberation from sin and death; and that same meal is also a celebration of the prodigal mercy of God, and the only ones who are excluded are those who refuse to share in the mercy of God.
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Diocese of Plymouth - Jubilee Lenten Offerings: Week 3
23rd March – Third Sunday of Lent
Ex 3:1-8, 13-15; Ps 18; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Lk 13:1-9
A Reflection on the readings for the third Sunday of Lent
by Monsignor Robert Draper
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“What’s in a name? A rose by any name would smell as sweet” asks Juliet all the while knowing that it is precisely Romeo’s name that is the problem, and it is his name that will inevitably bring about a tragic result. The reality is that names are very important – that is why we hate the idea of simply being ‘a number’ in society. The passage from Exodus of Moses at the burning bush is significant precisely because the revelation of God’s name changes the relationship between God and his people. Much has been written by scholars about the actual way of understanding the enigmatic name that God shares with Moses, but the importance is that knowing God’s name puts the people in a unique relationship with him. All human relationships are different when we know the name of the person we encounter, and often we will adopt nicknames or pet names which express something special about that relationship. In the scriptures Abram, Sarai, Simon, and Saul are all given new names to express their new identity as those entrusted with God’s work. So, we should recognise that when we begin Mass or prayer, we begin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – something which expresses the very nature of our relationship with the God who comes to us as Trinity.
The gospel is one of the teachings of Jesus in the gospels that is unique to Luke. It is a very appropriate text for Lent as it challenges its hearers to take the call to repentance seriously. At the same time, the parable of the fig tree offers hope that there is still time for that repentance to be effective and produce the fruit required.
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Diocese of Plymouth - Jubilee Lenten Offerings: Week 2
16th March – Second Sunday of Lent
Gn 15:5-12, 17-18; Ps 26; Ph 3:17-4:1; Lk 9:28-36
A Reflection on the readings for the second Sunday of Lent
by Monsignor Robert Draper
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Just as the readings for the first Sunday of Lent always lead us into the wilderness, and just as the wilderness is always the place of the Exodus, where God liberates and accompanies his people, and feeds them with manna, so the readings for the second Sunday of Lent always lead us up a mountain, and the mountain is always a significant theological as well as geographical location. There are many mountains referred to in the scripture, but they always carry a connotation of meeting with God. Mount Ararat where Noah first offers sacrifice to God after the flood, Moriah where Abraham goes to offer Isaac as sacrifice, Sinai where Moses receives the Law, Horeb where Elijah encounters God and is commissioned to carry out God’s work, and mount Zion where David establishes Jerusalem and Solomon builds the Temple. So it is noteworthy that on the mount of Transfiguration two of those key figures, Elijah and Moses, join Jesus and they speak of his “passing (passion) which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem”.
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Moses who received the Law on Sinai and Elijah the great prophet, are presented as representing the Law and the prophets – the whole teaching of the Old Testament. The Sunday readings at the beginning of this calendar year gave us three epiphanies – the revelation of Jesus’ identity to the magi, at the baptism in the Jordan and at the wedding in Cana. Today’s gospel is another epiphany – Jesus is revealed as the fulfilment of Law and the prophets, and the voice from heaven reiterates the words spoken at the Baptism. This incident is unlike any others in the ministry of Jesus, but it is recorded to emphasise the identity of Jesus, and it does so by picking up the scriptural theme that God is encountered on the mountain and when, as disciples, we follow the Lord where he leads, we too will hear the voice of the Father.
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Diocese of Plymouth - 2025 Lent Course
by Fr. Mark Skelton
The talks themselves will begin at 7pm but the Zoom call will be open as from 6.45pm.
Each evening is an independent and free standing talk given by 5 separate individuals and so although you can attend all 5 they are not linked other than seeking to reflect on some of the Holy Father's signs of hope in this Jubilee Year.
This is the 5th year of the Series and it is always lovely to welcome back the virtual family for the 5 weeks we are together and to welcome new members of our extended family.
As we prepare to enter into the wonderful season of Lent I do hope it will be a truly blessed and holy time for you and your parish families.
13th March:- Commitment to others.
20th March:- Debt cancellation.
27th March:- Recognizing Hope.
3rd April:- Peace.
10th April:- Jesus's last Pilgrimage.
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Time: Mar 13, 2025 06:45 PM London
Every week on Thu, until Apr 10, 2025, 5 occurrence(s)
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84052447850?pwd=MmPzcp911dTsGJWDxR0vH5H9zYS4e6.1
Meeting ID: 840 5244 7850
Passcode: 043004
A Series of Lenten Reflections
Starting 13th March 2025 - 19:30 – 20:30
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Parish Passover Meal -
Monday 25th March at 7pm -
St Joseph's Parish Hall
Booking Required
SACRED PASCHAL TRIDUUM -
17th-19th April 2025
Children's Stations of the Cross
Good Friday - 11am
Diocese of Plymouth - Jubilee Lenten Offerings: Week 1
9th March – First Sunday of Lent
Dt 26:4-10; Ps 90; Rom 10:8-13; Lk 4:1-13
A Reflection on the readings for the first Sunday of Lent
by Monsignor Robert Draper
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One can make a case for reminding ourselves that we should think of geography in theological terms when we explore the scriptures. The readings of Lent are a case in point. There are of course many areas of wilderness or desert in the middle east, and yet for the scriptural tradition, the desert is always the desert of the Exodus, the place where, above all, God journeyed with his people and the people learnt of God and the things of God. That means if we think of the desert as a place simply of absence, we miss an important point – the wilderness is a place of presence – God’s presence. That is helpful when we reflect on Lent as a journey into the desert – we go there in order to spend time with the God who journeys with us.
We can also use this reflection to explore the places where the three temptations of the Lord take place in today’s gospel. The first temptation is in the desert, and it is, of course, about bread, which resonates with the manna in the desert in the book of Exodus. For the second temptation Jesus is taken up a mountain – and if the wilderness is always the desert of Exodus, a mountain is always Sinai – the place of encounter with God, and there are many instances in the scriptures where the patriarchs and prophets encounter God on a mountain. And finally, the devil tempts Jesus on the parapet of the Temple – the place above all where God had chosen to dwell with his people.
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It is worth reflecting that the temptations of the devil are futile ultimately because their locations are resonant of the presence of God. That should be something which should encourage all of us through Lent. When we are tempted, it is not because God is absent. God is always present, and the gospel today reminds us that such is certainly the case when we too meet with temptation.
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Stations of the Cross and Lenten Lunches
Ash Wednesday
5th March 2025
Lent Retreat - "Who Am I? A Tourist or a Pilgrim?"
Saturday 15th March 2025 - St. Rita's Centre
LENT 2025 - RESIDENTIAL SILENT RETREATS
St. Rita's Centre
Light of Truth - Online Lenten Retreat: The Sacrament of Hope
Starting 6th March 2025 - 19:30 – 20:30
6 Lenten sessions to reflect together on the Sacrament of reconciliation as the Sacrament of hope, to mark the 2025 Jubilee 'Pilgrims of Hope'.​
Mar 6, 2025 07:30 PM
Mar 13, 2025 07:30 PM
Mar 20, 2025 07:30 PM
Mar 27, 2025 07:30 PM
Apr 3, 2025 07:30 PM
Apr 10, 2025 07:30 PM
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Register below to attend the online course.
Suggested donation: £5 per session per person.
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https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcodOioqzMqEtRSwTVbmGB0dGAHitoIReVy#/registration