A Moment To Pause: Lent - Saturday 14th March 2026

Good morning and thank you for joining the Oblate Family Podcast: A Moment To Pause, for today's time of reflection and prayer during Lent. We listen to Anne Walker from Friends of Saint Eugene in Crewe for today's short 90 second podcast. Good morning and welcome to today's Oblate prayer and Reflection, on the Saturday of the third week of Lent. The Gospel today comes from Saint Luke chapter 18, verses 9 to 14. The Pharisees prayer in today's Gospel is rooted in score, keeping, evaluating his own worth by looking down on others. His pride blinded him to his need for God and created distance between him and his neighbour. The tax collectors simple plea of “God be merciful to me, a sinner” shows an honest acknowledgment of his brokenness. There was no list of accomplishments, but rather the opening of God's grace to him by being authentic. The parable teaches us that we cannot earn our standing with God through good works alone but by also being humble enough to admit that we cannot save ourselves. It also invites us to stop hiding behind our religious activities or social status. It challenges us to bring our failures, struggles, and weaknesses into the light of God's presence, where at last we can find peace and a new beginning. Thank you for listening to me. God bless.