DUCCIO di Buoninsegna, Raising of Lazarus (1308-11), Tempera on wood, Kimbell Art Museum

SUNDAY 12th March – Second Sunday in Lent

We go to Mass at Bad Homburg.

Of course I cannot understand the sermon, but Universalis is to hand. The reading is from Matthew 17:1-9, the Transfiguration.

MONDAY 13th March

I attend a debate to liberalise abortion laws. We lose of course, as we always have done for fifty years.

Today’s Psalm is number 78
“… let your strong arm reprieve those condemned to die”.

TUESDAY 14th March

I speak in the budget debate supporting the Government’s difficult decision to balance the books through raising national insurance contributions. The very next day, the Government does a U-turn and reverses the policy. I make no friends by saying the present funding formula of the NHS is not sustainable with an ageing population. We have to get people to put more of their own money in through social insurance.

Matthew 23:1-12
“… do not be guided by what they do, because they do not practice what they preach”.

In the evening we have our last Mindfulness session.

We need it.

At dinner afterwards, Father Christopher of Worth Abbey comes up and I introduce him to our teacher. He says “we have been practicing mindfulness for fifteen-hundred years” and my teacher says later that the Buddhists have been practicing it for two-thousand years.

WEDNESDAY 15th March

I ask a Northern Ireland Question urging a deal on power sharing. Ten days after the election it is still not there.

Today’s Psalm is number 30
“Save me in your love, O Lord
Release me from the snares they have hidden
For you are my refuge, Lord
Into your hands I commend my spirit”.

THURSDAY 16th March

I take part in a statement on the takeover of Sky urging non-interference by politicians and later I chair Westminster Hall.

The reading is the one about Lazarus, the most difficult of all:
“They will not be convinced, even if someone should arise from the dead”
Luke 16.

FRIDAY 17th March – St Patrick

A day driving up to Lincolnshire.

“Above all, never let your love for each other grow insincere, since love covers over many a sin”.

SATURDAY 18th March

Psalm 102: “The Lord is compassion and love”.