Of course it's the Chinese New Year. But it's also the beginning of the Lenten season! It is a season of reflection, withdrawal, penitence, and of receiving the forgiveness of God. It is a call for us to return to the presence of God in response to his invitation of love.

So after all the New Year celebrations and the red packets and the Chinese festivities, today I've returned to the Lenten mode. This morning, I accompanied a minister to bring the Sacraments and the Word to a group of foreign people in a very interior area.

We walked in the blazing heat through this...

and this.

It was a two-kilometre walk, going through high and low, jungle and quarry, before we arrived and spent some two hours with these people:

It's the Chinese New Year, but don't forget, it's Lent. It's a good time to be honest with ourselves about our failings, and also a good time to come to terms with the love of God which conquers all human failings... if we care to receive it and to be embraced by this love.