In the 70s when I was parish priest we held several penitential services using the 3rd Rite.
On each occasion there was a theme with appropriate readings, songs and prayers. The homily was more or less a series of questions based on the theme inviting the congregation to consider what they, both as individuals and as a community, had failed and thought would be the right thing to do.
One purpose of all this was to help us broaden of what the Lord might be asking us to do and become.
I believe that from such a service two benefits can emerge; one a deeper sense of how easily we all fall short of what the Lord is asking of us, our need to be forgiven and to be given the grace to forgive others and secondly that we can never stand still, we have to be prepared to change and be changed.
The joy of the Gospel is not transitory but an ongoing peace as long as we respond to the Lord's call at each moment of our lives.
Alec Fraser, Faygate, West Sussex
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