In excess of 150 were present each week for the 2008 Lenten Mission, sponsored by the little servants of Christ The King prayer community, and held over a period of five Saturday mornings at Our Lady of Hope Parish in Sudbury. Each Saturday morning a guest speaker gave a talk, which was followed by Mass.

Quoting from ‘Ordo‘, the official book of the Church outlining the liturgical calendar for each year, Father Larry Rymes opened the Mission: “Lent is a yearly celebration by the Church of its corporate conversion in Jesus Christ”. Expanding on the topic ‘Come Back To Me’, he reminded the assembly that during Lent Catholics recall their Baptism, at which time they were claimed for Christ. “Lent is an invitation to enter into a spirit of penance“, Father said “which should be looked on, not as punishment, but rather as spiritual exercises, the purposes of which are to transform the heart and to heal the spirit“.

Father Larry’s talk consisted of a series of five questions, with the answer to each based on one of the Gospel Readings for the five Sundays of Lent. Beginning with “Why do we need to come back” and concluding with “So, what’s the point?” Father made the connection between the stories told in the Gospels and the present day Lenten journey each Christian is asked to take.

'Forgiveness - Given and Received' was the theme of the second talk in the Lenten series, given by Deacon Pat Raymond. Speaking of the condition of today’s society Pat observed, “So much of our world is enveloped in hate and vengeance it’s almost like we can’t breathe, for the air is polluted, not only with gases and toxins, but with sin. It’s almost like a stone is pressed upon our chests and we can’t breathe. The world in which we live is having a major heart attack. We’ve forgotten that only God has the power to give life and we refuse to call upon Him even though there is a code blue, as they say in the hospitals. But nobody is answering the call, it would seem. I think the whole world in general has fallen out of love with God”.

“You can‘t really talk about forgiveness without talking about love,” Deacon Pat said, and interwove throughout his address the connection between love and the seeking, not only of God‘s forgiveness when we offend Him, but also the giving and receiving of forgiveness between individuals.

This purpose of the next talk was to present a history of Eucharistic Congresses and their purpose and to provide a synopsis of the 49^th International Eucharistic Congress to be celebrated in Quebec City in June of this year. Father Tony Man-Son-Hing began his presentation with a summary of the tradition of Chinese New Year and the customary great feast which is part of the celebration. This led him into teaching the Refrain to the hymn ‘God’s Gift‘, which echoes the theme chosen for the forthcoming Congress - ‘A gift for the life of the world‘. He explained the significance of a Eucharistic Congress and provided a detailed description of what will take place this June in Quebec City.

Referring to the Eucharist, Father ended his presentation with, “If we prepare with our hearts open, if we come thirsting for God’s gift, if we allow God to speak to us, if we take time to listen, if we take time to allow God to mold us and to take us deeper into this mystery, then perhaps we will begin to understand the gift that God has given to us.”

Speaker for the fourth Saturday morning of the Mission, Father Tony Bidgood, began by reading John 6:28-40, 'The Bread Of Life Discourse', in which Jesus states: “I am the bread of life”. Asking those assembled what Eucharist means to them, and receiving many, varied responses, Father Tony summarized them, “We know in faith that Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, the Son of God, God made flesh and human…it’s everything”. Father continued, “In Eucharist we literally take God inside of us and He becomes part of our physical bodies as well as our souls and spirits“.

Having offered much insight into Eucharist, Father Tony closed with a quote from St. Ignatius of Antioch “In the Eucharist we break the one bread and that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ“.

In his homily during Mass Father Bidgood spoke of the challenge we, as followers of Christ, have of ensuring that all are welcome in the church, all are welcome to come to the table of the Lord. Referring to Mary‘s title of ‘Theotokos‘, meaning ’The God Bearer’ Father reminded his listeners that when we receive Eucharist we, like Mary, bear God in our bodies, we bear Christ in our bodies and it can’t just stay our personal gift. We must reach out to all who wish to come to the Lord and make them welcome that they, too, might have life and have it to the full.

‘God’s mercy - Intimacy with God’ was demonstrated by Msgr. Norm Clement through numerous anecdotes; some humorous, some serious, others heart-wrenching, all of which served to illustrate the woundedness of God’s people, which is touched and healed by the love, mercy and compassion of the Lord.

As final speaker in the Lenten series, Msgr. Clement thanked the participants in the five-week Mission for their attendance, while at the same time acknowledging the presence of the Holy Spirit “because the Spirit is always, always there, always in us, giving us the gift we need at any time. And all we have to do is take the risk, say I believe, say I love and say, yes, yes, yes“.

This is but a small synopsis of the teachings and insights given by the excellent speakers. All five talks and the homily given during each Saturday morning Mass were taped and are available as a set of 5 CD’s. These may be ordered at the prayer meeting on Thursday evening or by mailing a cheque or money order payable to 'CKPGroup' to Box 1001, Station B, Sudbury, On. P3E 4S4.  The cost per set is $10.00, plus an additional $7.00 for mailing. Please be sure to include your name, mailing address and telephone number when ordering by mail.