The Five ‘C’s for Lent

Mar 21, 2014

By Valerie Angu
During the season of Lent, we, the faithful are reminded to lead a life that Jesus asks of us, which He affirms in Matt 25:40.

At the start of the Mass on this 1st Sunday of Lent, Fr Jude Miranda the Parish Priest smilingly asked his flock, “Have you been tempted by the Devil?... In today’s Gospel (Matt 4:1-11), Jesus ,the Son of God was tempted. You and I are surely easily tempted. Today we are reminded to remain faithful to Jesus otherwise we cannot come face to face with Him. We need to strengthen our commitment to follow and love Jesus. For the times we failed, we seek forgiveness and mercy.”

In his sermon, Fr Jude said that blessings from God will lead us to holiness; to be blessed is to be favoured by God. Therefore we express our blessings through doing good deeds. “Can the Devil give you what you want? To differentiate whether it’s from God or the Devil, we need to discern.”

He further reminded that blessings are to be shared. “If you do not share with others the good things that God has given you, you will not have inner peace.”

Then Fr Jude launched the Lenten Campaign 2014. The Love Squad had prepared two big cut outs of the palms of the hands which they carried ceremoniously into the Church followed by a Cross bearer and a big box for the Lenten envelopes
or cash donations.

Fr Jude explained what the Palms depict:
• The open palms that give, will receive blessings.
The palms also symbolise the works of our lives.
• The nerves (in red neon) of the hands need repetitive movements to complete our works of good deeds.
• In order to give, we need the hands where the blood flows through the nerves (in red neon) from the heart.
• The five fingers symbolise the five Cs for this Lent:
• To be Caring
• To be Courageous
• To be Charitable
• To Comfort
• To Cherish

The 5Cs come from our loving heart, from which the blood flows towards the hands which will then be able to reach out and touch a person and to give life. Hence Charity... is the Light of Faith.

The five selected Leaders of the Church namely, the Communion Minister Chairperson, the BEC Coordinator, the Chairpersons of the two chapel committees and the Coordinator of the Catechetical Committee, led the different categories of the needy which were acted out by the Love Squad:
1.The Lonely
2.The Homeless
3.Drug addicts/ Aids victims
4.Migrant workers
5.The Poor.

These groups will be visited by the parishioners throughout the year in line with our 2014 Diocesan Thrust: Called, Chosen, Sent.

The other Palm was decorated with colourful stickers on which were words like rice, cooking oil, milk, canned food etc. Each parishioner was to take one sticker each week and then get the ration written on the sticker. Big baskets would be placed near the palms to store the rations which would be distributed to the poor and needy later.