Forty days of Lent begin with Ash Wednesday this week and Bishop Smith is encouraging parishes to support the annual Trócaire appeal. “Reaching out to our brothers and sisters in need is a visible expression of faith”, the Bishop explains.

Last weekend, the Diocesan Office received a surprise telephone call from Sister Mary Hardiman, who is working in Haiti. The Bishop’s appeal for help for Haiti has hit over € 200,000 and funds have already been sent to support Sister Mary’s projects on the ground. Much of her convent’s work in Haiti involves providing the homeless with the basic one meal a day, on which everyone survives. She says that the only aid reaching her area has come from various Irish charities. Trócaire continues to work in the country and Trocáire boxes will be distributed in many parishes and schools this week.

Bishop Smith hopes that the forty days of Lent can be a time for reflecting on our spiritual lives. “The Sunday Gospels during Lent this year were written by Saint Luke, who highlights the sensitivity and compassion of Christ” says the Bishop. “There is a great gentleness in Jesus, who is totally in the business of lifting the burden of sin, not adding to it. Lent gives us an opportunity to humbly recognise our failings and to experience the gentleness of God.”

The diocese of Meath has launched its own Lenten web resource for 2010: www.dioceseofmeath.ie/lent will be updated each Wednesday.

A new website for the Cathedral www.mullingarparish.ie will also go live on Ash Wednesday.