Rev. Dr Elio Capra SDB talks about the period of mystagogy, which takes place during the fifty days of Easter. "For those who have gone through the RCIA journey, this is the period for ‘mystagogy’. It is a time for mystagogical catechesis, not only for the ‘neophytes’ (the newly baptised), but also for the rest of us, the ‘old-phytes’. We are all on a mystagogical journey which only finishes ‘when our lives return to their source in the inexhaustible mystery of God’ (Nathan Mitchell, in Assembly: A Journal of Liturgical Theology, 2000). This is a theological way of saying that we all need mystagogical catechesis until the day we die and meet Jesus Christ face to face."

'From the moment we hear the cry from the book of Joel on Ash Wednesday, "Now, now—it is the Lord who speaks—come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning" (Joel 2:12), we are invited to plunge into a different world, a different way of being. Cathy Jenkins writes about the "Australian colour of Lent"—a Lent that, in this part of the world, takes place amidst the changing of seasons from summer into autumn, thus encouraging an invitation to 'cultivate a Lenten spirit'. She offers insights into the colours, symbols, prayers and sounds of Lent.

This Advent, as the church embarks on a new liturgical cycle, we turn our attention to the Gospel of Luke. It is timely, then, to pause and reflect on some of Luke’s rich insights, and to acquaint ourselves better with a gospel that speaks directly to our humanity, consistently reminding us of the joy and mercy to be experienced not only during Advent and at Christmas, but throughout our journey of discipleship. On a rainy October evening, parish and school liturgy teams from across the Archdiocese of Melbourne gathered to do just that in the first of two Advent preparation sessions. Their guide was Ria Greene.