In his Pastoral Letter for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (22 February 2009) Bishop Christopher looks ahead to the Season of Lent (which starts on 25 February) and writes:

‘My dear friends

‘I invite you to enter Lent this year under the guidance of St. Paul. Today we have a short passage from his second letter to the Corinthians in which he proposes that Christ's unequivocal "Yes" to his Father be the model of the Christian life. Christ is the one in whom we say "Yes" to God. We are carried by Christ in making our submission to the Lord. Because of what Christ has done for us, we are enriched with the Spirit that we carry "in our hearts". In the words of the first reading this is the new deed that God does for us - dealing with our sins.

'These are positive and challenging thoughts with which to embark on our annual Lenten Renewal. Lent is a time during which we not only clean up our lives because of our ambiguities (our "yes's" and our "no's"), but we also clarify our vision. Our minds need to be sorted out by contemplating the person of Jesus and everything he stands for. He stands for the big "Yes" to God. He endorses it throughout his ministry and particularly his journey to Calvary and his breaking out of the grip of death to live to God and to enable us to do the same. The Christian life is about that. Being the body of Christ, his Church, we are called to live his "Yes".'

You can read the full text of Bishop Christopher's Letter by downloading the file below.