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My Lord and my Count, I firmly 
believe that you are here, that 

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you see me, that you hear me. 
I adore you with profound 

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reverence. 
I ask you for a pardon of my 

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sins and grace to make this time
of prayer fruitful. 

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My mother, Immaculate St Joseph,
my father and Lord, and my 

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guardian Angel in deceitful. 
Well, here we are in our last 

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day of preparation for Lent. 
That's Wednesday tomorrow and 

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there's two things I think we 
could examine and pray about to 

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prepare ourselves for for Lent. 
And the first is our the most 

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importantly is our heart, 
because maybe in a way, the 

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greatest danger when we come to 
Lent is that we approach it in a

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superficial way. 
This was most of us when we were

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kids. 
We gave up sweets, which for our

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kid is really quite heroic, at 
least I, I'm sorry, heroic. 

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I said he gave giving him sweets
and and that was great for a 

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little kid. 
But the danger is that the 

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danger is that we don't really 
go any deeper than that. 

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We did when we were 10 years old
because when we were ten, it was

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really just you give up 
something for Lent and, and that

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was it. 
And there's a danger for us that

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we might approach it. 
And it kind of not much deeper 

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than that. 
I give up something for Lent. 

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And actually, we're still and, 
and, and certainly not even as 

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as admirable as when we were 
little children giving out 

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sweets is that we're giving out 
things and treating Lent like 

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just 40 days of a health farm 
because, well, I'm gonna, yeah, 

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I'll lose a couple of kilos or 
I'll give up the smokes or I'll 

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do something healthy. 
And therefore what's kind of the

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real pity about it is then I'll 
make, I'll make Lent useful. 

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It'll actually serve a purpose. 
And I'll, I'll end up, you know,

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trimmer or whatever. 
And we, and I think there is a 

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change. 
I think a lot of people actually

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tend to approach it like that. 
And even we have Ash Wednesday 

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as a very clever campaign, give 
up smokes for Ash Wednesday. 

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And you see these photographs of
the, the ashes and A and a 

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cigarette, which is kind of 
clever, maybe a little bit, a 

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little bit cheeky, but but 
they're kind of saying, look, 

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you know, obviously last 
Wednesday means nothing. 

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So let's make it, make it let 
let us make it mean something 

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and something useful. 
And what's useful is that we 

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look after health, we get more 
healthy or even even kind of, 

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you could say more lifestyle 
healthy. 

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I say no LES, or I'll cut down 
on the phone. 

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And because I realise I have to 
do that and I, I, I watch too 

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much YouTube videos or I'm 
addicted to shorts and, and 

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therefore, yes, I'll, I'll use 
lent to help me to cut down. 

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And then something that's said 
actually in the liturgy on Ash 

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Wednesday could certainly be 
said of us. 

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In that case, let your heart be 
torn, not your garments. 

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This, this tendency obviously 
that the Jews had in certainly 

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their Old Testament that that 
they're very superficial about 

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this. 
The the rending of the garments 

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was a sign of penance. 
It was a sign of kind of 

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reparation and seeing something 
as we see Jesus, of course, that

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at various times the Pharisees 
rent their garments when, when 

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you said that you were equated 
with God the Father, things like

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that. 
They rent the garments and well,

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they had a little, a little hem 
that that was easy to RIP. 

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They'd kind of lightly stitched.
They could stitch it back 

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together kind of early Velcro 
you could say. 

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And that was what that's what 
they were doing. 

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But the God gives out that 
you're you're you're big into 

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tearing your garments, but you 
don't tear your heart. 

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Let your heart be broken, not 
your garments rent might be 

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another way of putting it. 
Let your heart be broken because

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the garments are the epitome of 
superficial on the surface 

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superficia, our superfacia, so, 
so on the face, but on the 

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surface of things is our 
garments and for the Pharisees 

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or, or not just the viruses and 
gotta say, it's all on the 

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surface for you and you, you 
know, I know what I'm interested

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in is your heart and let your 
heart be broken. 

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Contrition is the breaking of 
heart. 

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And, and so there, you know, you
know, let your heart be, be 

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taken care of, not your not your
mental hygiene or your physical 

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hygiene. 
It's about your heart. 

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It was much deeper. 
So and it's just that it's a 

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little warning, I I suppose that
we could approach Lent in this 

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kind of very utilitarian kind of
way. 

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And there's nothing wrong with, 
with cutting down on, on our 

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Internet coverage kind of usage 
or, you know, this slimming down

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or whatever it might be. 
But that is not what it is 

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about. 
And you can do that any day of 

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the year, whereas that's not 
what Lent is about in the 

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slightest. 
And so there is a kind of danger

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for us, this danger of being 
quite superficial. 

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And that and, and, and again, 
and you see it in, and I think 

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it's again and tomorrow in the 
readings. 

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Isaiah, look, you do business on
your fast days. 

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You oppress all your workmen. 
Look, you quarrel and squabble 

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when you fast and strike the 
poor man with their fist. 

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Very dramatic image. 
The guy's fasting and whatever 

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rigorous, probably very rigorous
fasting, and yet at the same 

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time quarrelling, squabbling and
even striking people with their 

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fist. 
Now we don't do that by much 

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anymore, primarily because the 
rules about this kind of thing 

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are very, the laws are very 
strict and we'll end up in in 

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prison if we if we strike 
someone with our fist. 

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However, we've no problem 
striking people with our words. 

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And now it's our words and even 
our mental words, our thoughts, 

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which become our fist. 
And we can strike people all we 

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like on, on, on non fast days 
and and also on Ash Wednesday 

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and every other day of Lent. 
And our fists can be hard at 

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work striking people and where 
where is the heart? 

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So the person fasting again, God
completely look, this does this 

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fast doesn't get to to your 
heart. 

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It doesn't change anything. 
And and and that that is seen in

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using these mental fists of of 
ours to strike people again. 

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Again, we can be pummeling 
people all day long with these 

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mental fists of ours. 
And so it's something in fact, 

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that Pope Leo in his message for
Lent, he's he's come up with, he

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said, you know, we don't 
normally think of of a fast of 

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our words, but but he suggests 
that we do this. 

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He says I would. 
I would like to invite you to a 

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very practical and frequently 
unappreciated form of 

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abstinence, that of refraining 
from words that offend and hurt 

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our neighbour. 
Let us begin by disarming our 

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language, avoiding harsh words 
and rash judgement, refraining 

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from slander and speaking out of
those who are not present and 

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cannot defend themselves. 
That's much more the heart and, 

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and even just kind of even rash 
judgement. 

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So things that are never even 
spoken out loud. 

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They're mental words that are 
formed at the fist at the 

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striking. 
But it's all in in our in our 

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mind. 
And you know, it's very 

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interesting, this 
underappreciated or 

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unappreciated form of 
abstinence. 

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Let's abstain. 
Let's just try because that's 

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directly the heart and and we 
can imagine the new Lord could 

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see us otherwise we could be 
fasting away and feeling very 

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kind of happy with ourselves. 
Tommy rumbles and Ash Wednesday 

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and oh, look at that. 
I'm going to die. 

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Great. 
And yet our our fists are hard 

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at work in, in, in striking 
people. 

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And again, our Lord went to say,
well, that kind of fast is 

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nothing. 
Nothing. 

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It's not reaching the heart. 
In the Old Testament, in 

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Deuteronomy, it talks about the 
testing in the desert, the 40 

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years in the desert, and God 
explaining why they spent 40 

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years in the desert. 
You should remember all the way 

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which the Lord your God has LED 
you these 40 years in the 

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wilderness that He might humble 
you, testing you to know what 

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was in your hearts. 
It's kind of very interesting 

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testing you so that you would 
know what's in your heart. 

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And there also, I suppose with 
that, that you wouldn't be very 

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impressed with what's in your 
heart and that your heart would 

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be broken as a result. 
Contrition, because there's no 

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contrition, obviously, but we 
don't see anything to be 

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contrite about. 
You know, that's obviously very 

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much expressed when we come to 
confession that, well, you know,

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I'm not very contrite and, and, 
you know, actually just going 

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through the motions here. 
I'm not actually sorry for 

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anything. 
And that that might be it. 

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And, and the 40 years of testing
that you might know what is in 

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your hearts. 
And I think that's something 

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that we could certainly ask you,
Lord, on this eve of Ash 

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Wednesday, let me to know what's
in my heart. 

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So it's such a very crucial 
thing. 

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Let me to know what's in my 
heart that if I were to see it 

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now, it would not be such a huge
surprise for me. 

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Oh my gosh, look what is in my 
heart. 

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That's why examination of 
conscience, of course, is so 

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important for us because it's 
quite, I think it's quite hard 

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to know what's in our heart. 
And the 40 years, basically 

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Deuteronomy is saying there was 
40 years was like a big 

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examination of conscience for 
the Jewish people to know what 

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was in their hearts. 
And when you look at it, what 

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was in their hearts. 
It's kind of interesting because

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one of the things that was in 
the heart was a hankering after 

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slavery. 
This already comes from bread. 

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The second kind of theme, 
they're hankering after slavery 

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because remember, certainly at 
least twice when there there are

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things that get fed up with the 
manna and there's a word 

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nauseated by this manna, which 
is amazing. 

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Heaven comes from heaven. 
We're nauseated by this, this 

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manna and they start hankering 
after, which is kind of funny, 

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the cucumbers and the onions of 
Egypt. 

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It's kind of a funny thing. 
I wouldn't hanker after 

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cucumbers and onions, but 
they're hankering after those, 

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those things. 
Oh, you know, why do we ever 

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leave Egypt? 
Why don't we just stay there 

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with those wonderful cucumbers 
and, and, and onions and 

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whatever else they had there. 
And it's an amazing thing 

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hankering after just the the 
food they had. 

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And they would they would gladly
exchange their freedom for for 

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the slavery as long as they had 
that food, that interesting food

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and not this boring manner. 
And that's kind of like for for 

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us too, that the bread part of 
of of Lent, if you like, again, 

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Deuteronomy and he humbled you 
and let you hunger and fed you 

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with manna, which you did not 
know. 

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So that's kind of mysterious 
thing. 

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You did not know, nor did your 
father know that he might make 

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you know that man does not live 
by bread alone, but that that 

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man lives by everything that 
proceeds from the mouth of the 

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Lord. 
It's kind of interesting what 

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it's kind of hard. 
What does that mean? 

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And of course, there's something
that that's repeated those, 

197
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,840
those words verbatim are 
repeated and that other 40, 

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00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,960
which is the 40 days of Jesus in
the Lent in, in the, in the the 

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00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:01,560
wilderness, which is the first, 
you know, archetypal Lent. 

200
00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,520
And, and very didberly, Jesus 
refers back to that. 

201
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:11,880
Did the devil's temptation turn 
these stones into loaves and and

202
00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:16,280
and Jesus rebuts them with you 
don't live by by by bread alone 

203
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,640
alone we need bread but our our 
great temptation. 

204
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,000
This is a thing and and and 
clearly some of the the 

205
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:29,240
Israelites have to learn which 
you Jesus had to rebuff the 

206
00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:36,160
devil with and which we have to 
learn that bread is not enough. 

207
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:44,560
The delights that come from 
bread, which represents, you 

208
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,840
know, it's very such a basic, 
basic, basic thing and it 

209
00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,560
represents all, the kind of 
every, all the contents of the 

210
00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,520
garden of earthly delights. 
Because God has given us so many

211
00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,720
earthly delights from bread and 
other kind of food. 

212
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,920
I know you can think of our, 
our, our favourite food, which 

213
00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:07,840
we miss so much, especially 
tomorrow, you know, Oh, I would 

214
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love to have a big cappuccino 
tomorrow morning. 

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00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:18,960
You know, I, you know, I'd love 
to have a great big dessert, 

216
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,080
great things. 
But you know, we're not going to

217
00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,520
have a great big dessert to 
we'll have a bit of a dessert 

218
00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:28,360
tomorrow or whatever. 
We're not going to start listing

219
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off the things you're not going 
to have tomorrow. 

220
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But but, and through, through 
Lent, you know, the sense of the

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earthly delights which kind of 
present themselves as their only

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source of real happiness. 
So food, drink, entertainment on

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my phone and popularity in some 
way on, on, on online, all those

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things which are kind of are 
everybody differs, you know, 

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more kind of the, all the 
earthly delights, but not all 

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my, you have a, you know, kind 
of a smoke. 

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That's, that's my, you know, 
that's my real, that's my 

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earthly delight. 
People talk in terms now of 

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dopamine. 
That's kind of the currency, you

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could say, but all the dopamine 
producing delights and the and 

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again, the problem that the 
thing we have to learn, like the

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Israelites have to learn. 
You don't live by them alone. 

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They're they give you this rush 
of dopamine and you think that's

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enough for my happiness, but it 
is not. 

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And we have to learn that and 
how do we learn it is what what 

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our Lord is telling us. 
How do the how do the Israelites

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learn to escape from slavery? 
It wasn't running out over the 

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over the Red Sea. 
And you know, when Moses they 

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had another 40 years to go to 
learn that that had been 

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slavery. 
It's funny, funny that they 

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didn't know and it and it takes 
them all that under hankering 

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and and Moses doesn't allow them
to give in to their hankering 

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and return to slavery, which 
might have done. 

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And so the same thing with us. 
We have to go to, you've got to 

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say, cold Turkey and kind of 
reveal or expose that cappuccino

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00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:25,880
or that cigarette or that great 
dessert or that YouTube short or

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00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:31,520
that purchase or whatever it 
might be in this vast garden of 

248
00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:37,280
earthly delights which kind of 
wants to present itself as your 

249
00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:41,200
God. 
Well, little G, but still, you 

250
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:48,120
can't live without me. 
Saint Agustin in his confessions

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when he is really on the road to
conversion, but he's not there 

252
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:55,480
yet. 
I don't have the passage, but 

253
00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:01,000
it's very memorable because he 
of course worries his things and

254
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,040
probably not the only one, but 
his sensuality, especially in 

255
00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,600
sexual matters. 
But he, he's, he's, he's, he 

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00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,000
does not have the, the virtue of
holy purity and he doesn't want 

257
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,080
it, you know, like maybe pure, 
but not yet. 

258
00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:18,640
But then he has this kind of 
vision, the way he sees it. 

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He, he's, he, he, he says that 
these things, his sensuality 

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00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:29,560
comes plucking at the garments 
of his flesh, saying, do you 

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00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:31,800
really think you can live 
without us? 

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00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,560
And so that's the that's the 
scene that you, all of us have 

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00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:39,160
to go. 
And he was going to do in a cold

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00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,640
Turkey and the and the garments,
the the the sensuality coming 

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00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,640
along, plucking at his flesh as 
he says, saying, don't don't 

266
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,280
dare think you can live without 
me. 

267
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Don't dare think you can live 
without the dopamine rush that I

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00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,880
give you. 
And that wouldn't be for us. 

269
00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:03,400
You know, that just might be the
well the the the big dessert are

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00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,920
are the Netflix series that 
comes plucking at our flesh. 

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00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,120
Do you think you can live 
without watching the next 

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00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:15,560
episode? 
So all that kind of stuff and 

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00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,720
our so our flesh has been 
plucked at the whole time in. 

274
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,800
In other words, I'm a little God
for you. 

275
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You can't really live without 
me. 

276
00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,920
And that's why Jesus, you quote 
that line. 

277
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:33,360
Of course, Lord, we man does not
live by and you can fill fill 

278
00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:36,560
in. 
I can fill in X alone. 

279
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,840
There may be various exes. 
There's cappuccinos, desserts, 

280
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:45,680
Netflix series, YouTube shorts, 
9 hours in bed. 

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00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:51,440
Whatever it is, you can fit it 
in my utter necessity. 

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00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,560
I can't live without that. 
And so this is a liberation from

283
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,200
slavery when we see it and and 
again, you know, 40 years of 

284
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,920
Moses, it's very deliberate. 
Jesus in goes in into the 

285
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,640
wilderness himself for 40 years.
Because he's showing you, Lord 

286
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:15,920
are are Moses Ledius out not for
40 years, but for 40 days out 

287
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:20,520
into a wilderness where we don't
have, you know, any, any 

288
00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,880
Internet connection, where we 
don't have cappuccinos, where we

289
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,320
don't have lovely delicious 
food, that kind of wilderness. 

290
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:32,480
Not saying that we don't do any 
of those things obviously in 

291
00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:38,000
Lent, but certainly that they 
all take a hit or whatever is in

292
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,120
my little God, we'll take a hit,
a big hit. 

293
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,880
And that is you, Lord, leading 
us out into the desert and not 

294
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,360
just saying to the devil, but 
kind of reminding us, hey, look,

295
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,000
you know, one of the reasons 
you're out here in the desert 

296
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,760
with me for 40 days is I'm 
freeing you from that slavery 

297
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,960
sling you from your Egypt and 
your Pharaoh. 

298
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:07,320
But that that hold that these 
things have over us very subtle 

299
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,680
and we don't even realise it 
until we try to tug away. 

300
00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,760
Remember, this is our father 
quoting St. 

301
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:19,320
John of the Cross. 
Perhaps the eagle is fettered by

302
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:24,400
an iron chain or fettered by a 
thread. 

303
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:29,240
Makes no difference if there if 
the eagle is not going to break 

304
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,200
the thread, it's as good as an 
iron chain. 

305
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,000
And we might say, well, that 
thing that my my attachment, 

306
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,200
that bread for me is not very 
big. 

307
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:40,720
I couldn't break it whenever I 
want. 

308
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,760
Well, until you do, it's an iron
shame. 

309
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:50,440
It's kind of it's it's it's one 
free reason free is that the the

310
00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:54,520
eagle feathered by an iron 
chain. 

311
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,120
So our Lord is coming and 
saying, well, break your I'm 

312
00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:00,120
going to break your chains. 
The chains of slavery have you 

313
00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:05,240
to get freedom from this idea 
that you do live by bread alone 

314
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:10,960
that these things are utterly 
indispensable for your happiness

315
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:16,560
and our refusal to leave or 
Egypt or or hankery after going 

316
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:24,160
back like the Israelites 
grumbling excuse me Cassian, one

317
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,320
of the fathers church. 
He says we must weaken the flesh

318
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:35,160
so that the soul may recover. 
It's freedom and it's funny. 

319
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,640
I think we do have that bit of 
that sense, you know, as lend 

320
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:43,240
goes on, you know, and we've 
kind of and again this not again

321
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:48,480
just kind of lifestyle hygiene. 
It was much deeper than that. 

322
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,040
That what what starts happening.
I think I think we all have this

323
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,320
experience with that. 
I think we begin to take more 

324
00:22:55,320 --> 00:23:02,080
delight in things of our Lord, 
more delight even in our prayer 

325
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,120
and more delight in liturgy. 
I think of Holy Week, you know, 

326
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:13,840
as soon as we get there, kind of
you kind of, yeah, this is, this

327
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:18,400
is as good as all that bread. 
This is a delight, a very a 

328
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,280
different delight. 
And we have to remember that is 

329
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,080
the focus. 
Lent actually ends not on Easter

330
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,040
Sunday. 
It ends on Holy Thursday. 

331
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,000
It's kind of very interesting. 
We got there. 

332
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:34,440
That's that's, that's our 
destination. 

333
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,680
Holy Thursday, Easter Trichium, 
the Paschal mystery, because 

334
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,280
that is what is that's what our 
our Lord is saying. 

335
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:47,160
Look, you know, I'm leaving you 
out into this wilderness, but so

336
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:52,680
that you would be with me in my 
Paschal mystery, my death, 

337
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,680
suffering, death and 
resurrection, you would join me 

338
00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:02,040
and we will be inseparable. 
But we can't be inseparable at 

339
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,920
the moment because your heart is
all over the place. 

340
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:10,440
You don't desire it, you don't 
want it. 

341
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,480
You want these other things. 
So it's very important that we 

342
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,000
do have that, you know, very 
clear in our mind. 

343
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,680
Lent leads us to the Paschal 
mystery. 

344
00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:24,680
That's where we're going. 
And we go through the death. 

345
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,080
You're with you, Lord, through 
your death on Good Friday to the

346
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,600
resurrection on Sunday. 
But the whole Paschal mystery is

347
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:37,640
where Lent is leading, which is 
why I suppose you know, things 

348
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,760
like meditating the way of the 
cross one way or another, you 

349
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:43,960
know, whether we may be bringing
up enough prayer and do it on 

350
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,000
Fridays or something. 
We're important now that as the 

351
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,720
focus. 
And again, there's not this 

352
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:55,760
naturalistic kind of Lent 
slimming lifestyle hygiene, no, 

353
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:57,640
because that's got nothing to do
the past chemistry. 

354
00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:04,400
So something very different. 
The one aspiration, I think that

355
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,680
we could perhaps say, because it
kind of sums it all up in a way,

356
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:15,960
is that aspiration that our 
father put on those, that those 

357
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:23,880
kind of little tiles on the, on 
his bedroom wall, quoting maybe 

358
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,000
it's Saint Francis, the sails, 
but it's a it's a quote from 

359
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:31,800
some St earlier. 
Separate me, Lord, from anything

360
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:36,600
that separates me from you. 
So it's in Spanish on the on the

361
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,320
wall, but there it is. 
And you obviously see that very 

362
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:44,440
often separate me, Lord, from 
anything that separates me from 

363
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,480
you. 
And I think that's a good way to

364
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,400
approach Lent because we don't 
know what our little gods are. 

365
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:57,680
Again, that's part of our kind 
of, you know, exposing to the 40

366
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,760
days of, of Lent that we 
actually see where, where a 

367
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,680
heart is, is, you know, gosh, I 
never realised it was so 

368
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:10,840
attached to whatever. 
I never realised this meant so 

369
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,520
much to me that I'm hankering 
after onions, you know, who 

370
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,680
would have thought? 
But I've got a big thing about 

371
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,560
onions and who would have known,
you know, and this kind of 

372
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:25,760
embarrassing, gosh, such a a 
kind of thing about onions is 

373
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,120
kind of embarrassing. 
Take away from you, Lord, 

374
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,840
Whatever takes me away from you.
We could say that, Lord, because

375
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,320
I'd I'm not really sure what are
the what are these little gods 

376
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,880
that do take me away from you? 
I'm not sure. 

377
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:51,040
My sensuality, my laziness, my 
whatever and I and I'm not even 

378
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,520
sure what they are, but I'm 
giving you a blank cheque. 

379
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:56,360
Especially, you know, Ash 
Wednesday. 

380
00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,120
We we tried to write that blank 
cheque. 

381
00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,360
Lord, I, I don't know what 
figure to write in there in 

382
00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:05,080
little gap when back when we 
used to write cheques, right, 

383
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,000
sell them now. 
But you know, there's, there's a

384
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,080
I'm not writing in the number 
because I'm not really sure what

385
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,720
the number should be. 
But here's a blank cheque, Lord 

386
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:15,800
and help me over the course of 
lent. 

387
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:20,040
I'm going to see, you know what 
it is that you or maybe it's 

388
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,400
very several things you want me 
to eventually put in the in in 

389
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,720
in there or Lord that you write 
or whatever it is and even the 

390
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:29,920
things could be attachments to 
things. 

391
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,960
My little God, you know, there 
are possessions. 

392
00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:36,840
And again, we kind of made 
daring and say, Lord, if you 

393
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,760
don't want that me to have that 
little possession, take it away.

394
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,440
It's yours over the course of 
the Lent, take it away, 

395
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:46,400
whatever. 
But if you don't want me to have

396
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:52,960
this little delight, take it 
away, whatever separates me from

397
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,240
you, so that by the time we come
to the Paschal mystery, I will 

398
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,400
really be so close to you. 
And again, I think we do have 

399
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,680
the joy of that. 
And then obviously the great joy

400
00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:06,520
of the resurrection and Easter, 
that we've really gone through 

401
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,400
it, not just the Paschal 
mystery, but this whole 40 days 

402
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,240
with our Lord. 
It's very important with our 

403
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:17,600
Lord anyway, we, since we're 
refugees in a way, we're like 

404
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:23,800
the the Israelites are refugees 
from slavery, from Pharaoh, from

405
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,560
the, the flesh pots of Egypt. 
They're refugees. 

406
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,480
And then likewise, we want to 
start being refugees tomorrow 

407
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,800
and taking refuge from our our 
sin from us and those, those God

408
00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,880
gods that are plucky in our 
flesh saying you can't, you 

409
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:42,840
can't really don't think you're 
going to leave me. 

410
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:48,240
And then as refugees, we go to 
Our Lady refuge of sinners and 

411
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,760
ask her, just help us because we
are, we are very small. 

412
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,160
We are little children, really. 
We are very weak. 

413
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,200
And you know, sometimes we find 
it very hard to even the 

414
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,600
simplest things. 
You know, it's sometimes it, 

415
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,320
we're kind of surprised. 
God, Lord, you know, even our 

416
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,160
father said that at times, you 
know, that his, his love for 

417
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:06,920
chocolate and things like that, 
you know, he's amazed. 

418
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,600
So anyway, we ask Our Lady, 
refugees, sinners, help us as we

419
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:20,440
begin this Lenten campaign. 
I give you thanks, my God, for 

420
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,800
the good resolutions, 
affections, and inspirations you

421
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,120
have communicated to me in this 
meditation. 

422
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:29,840
I ask you for help to put them 
into effect. 

423
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:35,480
My mother, Immaculate St Joseph,
my father and Lord, my guardian 

424
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,240
Angel, intercede for me.