When I first heard of Lenten Reflections, a programme for us to journey together in these 40 days of Lent,  I did not hesitate to be a part of it. As a cradle catholic I had never participated in such a programme before in Church and all my previous lent experiences have been disorganized and did not provide any change, conversion or a new beginning. For the most part of my life from a young child I could remember being told by my mother that we had to fast and be holy during Fridays during lent. Until I went to school and got married and became a parent I was still on a journey to nowhere though being a catholic and living in this worldly life.  Yes today we are called to do a pilgrimage and no longer a journey. I am glad I have chosen to be a  part of this Lenten reflections as I never have experienced the our Father, Son and Holy Spirit before in previous Lents or in any season for that matter. What led me to this was the Holy Spirit as previously I would just shy away.

So from the day after Ash Wednesday, when we got together to participate in this Lenten reflections I felt Jesus love even more than I had ever before.  Fr Terence had shared with us numerous reflections from the “wilderness” we are living-in in the world, to how to confront our sins and how as a community we can grow together in our holiness, and without us doing our part the community we have will not be able to grow as one. Also that we need Jesus to be a center in our lives and know what he came to this world was to save us from our sins, and we should also understand how we should forgive others.  Being a part of this reflection has started my growth in our community and doing my part in our community.

These sharing, readings, psalms and reflections have given me so much richness of love and desire for more than I wished and because of that I wanted to be a part also of the Repentant experience from Maundy Thursday to East vigil. 40 hours to experience Jesus life in his last 40 hours here with us in the world.  I have already started to feel a new sense of conversion to our catholic faith through these events, Eucharistic celebrations and many other experiences in CSM.  A new beginning for me and all of us as one community.

By Joseph Yzelman