Dear People of God in Hamilton Diocese,

Once again we prepare to begin the great penitential season of Lent. In Lent we embark on a spiritual journey that prepares us to relive the great mystery of the death and resurrection of our Saviour. Through our greater participation in this mystery we hope to die to sin and to share more fully in the resurrected life of the Lord. During this year, which our Holy Father Pope John Paul II has dedicated to the Eucharist, let us concentrate especially on the Eucharistic sacrifice and presence of our Lord.

It was at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday that our Lord took bread and wine and said, “This is my body – This is my blood – Do this in memory of me” thus instituting the wonderful gift of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a meal which nourishes us spiritually and is also the re presentation of our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross. In the Eucharist we have the real presence of Christ’s resurrected body. The Lord offered this magnificent gift to his apostles to strengthen them so they could survive the trials of Good Friday and be fortified in their experience and living out of the resurrection.

The Eucharist does the same for us today. It strengthens our faith and hope so that we can carry the crosses which we meet in our lives. It deepens our charity so that we can reflect in our daily living the love and concern of our risen saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hopefully we will never take the Eucharist for granted. Hopefully we will never allow our familiarity with the Eucharist to make us careless or disrespectful of this great sacrament. May we recall that in communion we truly receive the body of Christ and in worship, we adore Jesus truly present in the tabernacle under the appearance of the host.

During Lent we try through prayer, penance and almsgiving to convert our lives and encounter our Lord more fully. The Eucharist is our greatest prayer and our greatest source of strength. May the Eucharist truly enable us to live our daily lives in the charity of Christ and strive to bring all to him.

This Lent please try to assist at Mass as frequently as possible. Worship our Lord present in the tabernacle. May our Eucharistic Lord be our strength and our joy throughout Lent and always.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

BISHOP OF HAMILTON