Following on from Light in the Desert, the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s 2025 Lenten resource, we are now excited to offer We Are Witnesses, our 2025 Easter resource.
When it comes to the formation of our people, Easter is a season we often neglect. This is a shame because while it is wonderful to see the abundance of Lenten resources made available every year, Lent is a preparation for Easter. It doesn’t make much sense without it.
Recognising this, we wanted to offer a small-group resource that invites people to reflect on key weekly Scriptures readings and, in the same manner as Light in the Desert, select readings from the Second Vatican Council—in keeping with Pope Francis’ desires for this jubilee year. The theme of We Are Witnesses is mission: the mission of the whole church with all of her gifts and charisms. It invites people into the truth that the Council wanted to make so plain: that no matter what our vocation, we are called to be hope-filled witnesses to the resurrected Christ.
This resource is perfect for any level of formation. Those unfamiliar with Vatican II will discover a gentle ‘taster’, while those more familiar will have an opportunity to see with fresh eyes these important documents.
Each week includes an excerpt from a Sunday passage of Scripture (predominantly the Acts of the Apostles), a short reflection introducing key themes, an excerpt from a Vatican II document, and questions to prompt deeper thought on the topic and how it might empower us to live out our Easter calling. This resource runs from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.
There are two ways you might want to use this resource in a small group setting, one more informal and the other more formal.
For small groups wanting to meet, or continue doing so, in households, it may be a good idea to encourage participants to read the week’s pages ahead of time. That way, when coming together everyone will be prepared and ready to engage.
A good idea may be to have weekly ‘mini retreats’ in the evening at your parish. Setting aside two to three hours every week, participants can come together for time that is equally devoted to quiet prayer and conversation.
For Jubilee 2025, the opportunities to receive the great mercy of a plenary indulgence have been increased. Among the many works one might do to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence, the Holy See has decreed that ‘the faithful will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if, with a devout spirit, they participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, held in a church or other suitable place, according to the mind of the Holy Father’.
The usual conditions for receiving the Jubilee Plenary Indulgence remain in place. They include:
You can read more about how people can receive one here.
As your journey with your people for the coming Easter season, we pray it is a time of renewal and growth, and that everyone who participates can discover anew the joy of their missionary calling in the world.
This jubilee year, Pope Francis has explicitly emphasised the importance of formation on two fronts: the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Mindful of this, the Archdiocese of Melbourne is delighted to announce its 2025 Lenten resource: Light in the Desert.
Modelled after our popular RCIA Exploring the Word series, this weekly small-group resource is designed to bring people together in prayer and conversation around key passages from the Second Vatican Council, both to show its deep spiritual relevance and accompany them through the graced, though sometimes difficult, season of Lent. This is not an academic or historical study of the Council: covering topics from the universal call to holiness to the liturgy, the purpose of Light in the Desert is to kindle a fire in people’s hearts and help them fall in love anew with Jesus Christ and his Church.
This resource is perfect for any level of formation. Those unfamiliar with Vatican II will discover a gentle ‘taster’, while those more familiar will have an opportunity to see with fresh eyes these important documents, especially how they connect with the Gospel readings and the path of Christian discipleship.
Each week includes an excerpt from the Sunday Gospel, a short reflection introducing key themes, an excerpt from a Vatican II document, and questions to prompt deeper thought the topic and how it might nourish our Lenten journey.
There are two ways you might want to use this resource in a small group setting, one more informal and the other more formal.
For small groups wanting to meet, or continue doing so, in households, it may be a good idea to encourage participants to read the week’s pages ahead of time. That way, when coming together everyone will be prepared and ready to engage.
A good idea may be to have weekly ‘mini retreats’ in the evening at your parish. Setting aside two to three hours every week, participants can come together for time that is equally devoted to quiet prayer and conversation.
For Jubilee 2025, the opportunities to receive the great mercy of a plenary indulgence have been increased. Among the many works one might do to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence, the Holy See has decreed that ‘the faithful will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if, with a devout spirit, they participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, held in a church or other suitable place, according to the mind of the Holy Father’.
The usual conditions for receiving the Jubilee Plenary Indulgence remain in place. They include:
You can read more about how people can receive one here.
Lent is, above all, a time of intense preparation for Easter. It is an opportunity to go back to basics, to rediscover who we are and who Jesus is. We pray Light in the Desert will be a fruitful resource in this regard.
In order to accompany our people through the Easter season as well, a similar resource to Light in the Desert will be released, this time looking at what the Second Vatican Council has to say about the mission of the Church in the world.
Luke 2:32
Alleluia, Alleluia!
This is the light of revelation to the nations,
and the glory of your people, Israel.
Alleluia!
On this feast of the Presentation, we consider what it means to be consecrated to God. We offer these prayers, recognising that our gifts are expressed most fully when they are used in your service.
We pray for Pope Francis and all those in ordained ministry. May they serve your people in a spirit of charity and love.
Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for all national leaders. In the spirit of justice, may they make their mark as peacemakers in our world.
Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for all who have responded to the Lord’s call, whether married, single, ordained to the priesthood or in religious life. May they grow in the grace of their vocations.
Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
As we begin a new school year, we pray for all teachers that they may be blessed in dealing with our young people, encouraging them to work to the best of their abilities and to enjoy success in their studies.
Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for our faith community as we share in this Eucharist. May we strive to use our God-given gifts in the service of others.
Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for …
Lord hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
We pray for sick parishioners, family members and friends, that they will find healing.
We pray for those who have died recently and those whose anniversaries we recall at this time. May they enter into the eternal life of God’s kingdom, as promised to us all.
Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Father in heaven, hear the prayers of all of us gathered here as we seek to more fully serve you. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Malachi 3:1–4
The Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple.
Psalm 23(24):7–10
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Hebrews 2:14–18
He took to himself descent from Abraham.
Luke 2:32
This is the light of revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people, Israel.
Luke 2:22–40
My eyes have seen your salvation.
In [the celebration of the Mass] is found the high point both of the action by which God sanctifies the world in Christ and of the worship that the human race offers to the Father, adoring him through Christ, the Son of God, in the Holy Spirit.
—General Instruction of the Roman Missal, §16
In the Mass, we have both the consecration of the world in Christ and the world offering acceptable worship to the Father in Christ. On this feast of the Presentation, we name both these mysteries: of the world being consecrated by the presence of Christ and of the world returning to the Father with acceptable worship. So we, too, come into the temple of the Church to allow God’s action in our lives and to offer our lives as acceptable worship to the Father.
‘Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple. Your praise, O God, like your name, reaches the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with saving justice.’ —entrance antiphon
Jerusalem Bible © 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Company Inc.
When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord,—observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord—and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected—and a sword will pierce your own soul too—so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.
(Luke 2:22–40)
Points of interest and Catholic lore
This gospel text is another example of the ‘manifestation’ of who Jesus is. Luke sets his action in the heart of Judaism, in the temple itself. Mary and Joseph are pious Jews doing all that the Law requires of them. The two characters who are introduced—Simeon and Anna—are both also depicted by Luke as pious Jews. Simeon is ‘an upright and devout man’, while Anna ‘served God night and day with fasting and prayer.’ They would both have seen many first-born sons presented at the temple in consecration to the Lord. But they see something in this particular child that goes beyond the expected. They recognise this child as ‘the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations’, and Anna speaks of the child ‘to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem’.
The reaction of the parents is natural under such circumstances: ‘They stood there wondering at the things being said about him.’ Mary is warned that being the mother of such a child will not be easy for her: ‘a sword will pierce her soul.’ For Mary, adherence to the will of God will come at a price.
Opportunities for group discussion and personal prayer
The tradition of Christian life, prayer and worship has developed many, many rituals over the centuries. Some rituals are understood as being timeless and unchangeable. One example of this is the ‘taking, blessing, breaking and giving’ of the eucharistic bread.
Other rituals may have developed out of local custom or usage in particular eras or locations.
While Mary and Joseph are unfailingly presented as pious, practising Jews by Luke, this text takes the promise of salvation far beyond the Jewish nation. Jesus is destined to be the bringer of salvation to all the nations and a light to the pagans, as well as the glory of Israel.
Written by Fiona Dyball
This Sunday marks the beginning of the season of Advent, a joyful but also quiet and contemplative season of waiting before the full joy of Christmas is revealed and celebrated. In our troubled world where busyness and domination can be understood as virtues, making space and taking time to prepare hearts and minds to fully receive the peaceful, transforming light of Christ is a countercultural and much-needed grace.
Advent has a twofold character: it is a time of preparation for the commemoration of the First Coming of the Son of God at Christmas, and also a time of looking forward in hope to the eventual Second Coming of Christ that will come at the end of time. The readings for this week speak of trust, awareness, memory, and mercy. This is nourishing food for both body and soul as we continue to walk forward together.
As we move into Advent, we also recognise the ongoing journey of the Synod in the Church for all the People of God. The call to conversion present in the Synod and in this season of Advent remains: we pray that our Church is a sacrament of unity in a world thirsty for hope. With the Psalmist, and as Pilgrims of Hope in this newly begun Jubilee Year, we lift our souls to the God who offers us faithful friendship and love in all seasons of our lives.