Prayer Pope Leo XIV

"Peace be with you all.
Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts, to reach your families: to all people wherever they may be, to all nations, to the whole earth: peace be with you. This is the peace of the Risen Christ: a disarmed peace, a disarming peace, humble and persevering, it comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.”
Words spoken from the balcony after his election
 
Almighty God, shepherd and guardian of all,
we pray for your servant Pope Leo.
Grant him grace to follow in the footsteps
of the Good Shepherd,
to preach the Gospel with boldness,
to build up your people in unity and peace,
and to serve them with humility and love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

​The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
 
May 13 is the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917.   An apparition of ‘a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun’ presented itself to the three children saying “Please don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to harm you.” Lucia asked her where she came from and she responded,  “I come from Heaven.”  The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. The woman asked them to pray and devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to “say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” She also revealed that the children would suffer, especially from the unbelief of their friends and families, and that the two younger children, Francisco and Jacinta would be taken to Heaven very soon but Lucia would live longer in order to spread her message and devotion to the Immaculate Heart.  In the last apparition the woman revealed her name in response to Lucia’s question:   “I am the Lady of the Rosary.” Perhaps the most well known utterance of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima was her confident declaration that  “My Immaculate Heart will triumph”. 
 
Reflecting on this Pope Benedict the 16th wrote “The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.

The Paschal Candle
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The Paschal Candle is one of the most sacred and enduring elements in Christianity. Made of beeswax to represent the purity of Christ, the candle’s wick signifies Christ’s humanity, and the flame His Divine Nature. It is adorned with one or more Christian symbols, often the cross to represent His redemptive sacrifice; the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - Alpha and Omega – to signify that He is the beginning and the end;
The Paschal candle is a rich symbol of our faith. It reaches its pinnacle at Easter. Each year during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday a fire is kindled and blessed and from this fire the Paschal candle is lit and carried in procession into the dark church. The “new” fire serves as an image of the Resurrection. The candle, which represents Christ himself, is placed on a special Paschal candle stand near the altar. Five grains of incense are inserted into the candle to recall the aromatic spices that were used to prepare Christ’s body for the tomb, and the wounds in His hands, feet and side, which remained after His resurrection.
The Paschal candle remains in the Sanctuary during the full 50 days of the Easter season. After Pentecost the candle will be placed next to the baptismal font. The candle is lit during all baptisms throughout the year, passing the light of Christ to each person baptized. The candle is also used at funeral services, and placed next to the coffin during a funeral Mass, a reminder that the sacrament of Baptism is itself a death and resurrection in Christ, and testifies to Christian certainty in the resurrection of the dead and life with Christ in the world to come.
This candle, also called the Easter Candle, originated in the earliest days of Christianity, when evening prayer began with the lighting of a candle. This practice was probably inspired by the Jewish custom of lighting a lamp at the conclusion of the Sabbath. Historical references mention the Lucernarium, the evening prayer rite with which the early Christians began each Sunday vigil. The lighting of the candle dispelled the darkness and represented Christ – the Light of the World.
This solemn rite was carried out with even greater reverence during the Easter Vigil. In the time of Constantine we are told by the historian Eusebius that the emperor "transformed the night of the sacred Easter Vigil into the brilliancy of day, by lighting throughout the whole city pillars of wax, so that this mystic vigil was rendered brighter than the brightest daylight.”
In Italian basilicas the paschal candle stand was made of marble and designed as a permanent attachment to the ambo. Several of these candle stands still survive, as in the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (Saint Lawrence outside the Walls) in Rome, which was built in the 3rd century.
By the second half of the 4th century, a hymn in praise of the candle and the Easter mystery was sung, as referenced by Saint Jerome in 384 AD. Saints Ambrose and Augustine are known to have composed these hymns of praise.
 The precise use of the Paschal candle has varied over the centuries. Initially it was broken up after the Easter Vigil and fragments were given to the faithful, but from the 10th century onward it was kept in a place of honour near the Gospel until the Feast of the Ascension, 40 days after Easter. By the 12th century, it was common to inscribe the candle with the current year. Over time the candle grew in size to merit the description of “pillar”. By the mid-sixteenth century, some Paschal candles weighed as much as three hundred pounds, and, after use, were melted into tapers to use at the funerals of the poor.
The word "paschal" is the equivalent of the Greek paschs, derived from the Aramaic pasḥā and Hebrew pesaḥ, meaning the passing over. In the Old Testament it refers to the night the Israelites left Egypt for the Promised Land, when God struck the houses of the Egyptians but left the Israelites untouched, thus “ passing over” or sparing them.With Christianity the word “paschal” took on a new meaning, referring to Our Lord’s passion, death, resurrection, and glorification. These events stand at the center of our faith. God's saving plan for us was accomplished by the redemptive suffering and death of Jesus. His resurrection and glorification are our assurances of eternal life - if we follow His words and His way.

Memoria of St Joseph the Worker.
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The feast of Saint Joseph the Worker which is celebrated on Thursday was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955. This feast extends the long relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers in both Catholic faith and devotion. Beginning in the Book of Genesis, the dignity of human work has long been celebrated as a participation in the creative work of God. By work, humankind both fulfils the command found in Genesis to care for the earth (Gn 2:15) and to be productive in their labours. Saint Joseph, the carpenter and foster father of Jesus, is but one example of the holiness of human labour.
Jesus, too, was a carpenter. He learned the trade from Saint Joseph and spent his early adult years working side-by-side in Joseph’s carpentry shop before leaving to pursue his ministry as preacher and healer. In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II stated: “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”
Saint Joseph is held up as a model of such work. Pius XII emphasized this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Savior of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work.”

We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ…

During the Stations of the Cross in Lent we have used the traditional prayer “We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world”. 
 
However this isn’t the complete prayer which was actually composed by St Francis of Assisi who whenever he caught sight of a Catholic church in the distance, would kneel down and give praise to God. We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this church and all the churches of the world, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen
 
He  encouraged his followers to clean up churches physically and to ensure that the Blessed Sacrament and the Scriptures were reserved reverently, while also “not neglecting to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, work to alleviate the suffering of people suffering from leprosy, and engage in every possible corporal and spiritual work of mercy—never with the assurance that their best efforts would be enough to wipe out these and other pressing human needs. They did these things always with the confidence that their small contributions are precious in God’s eyes”
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In all of this, vowed Franciscans and admirers of Francis have been mindful over the centuries of our need to give the good example that God rightly expects of us. The “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you” prayer has kept them focused both on current needs and the heavenly banquet “where God will be everything in all of you,” as Saint Paul wrote

“Give hope, sow peace”
the Good Friday Collection 2025
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Hope is the central message of Jubilee 2025, the living and personal encounter with the Lord. A concrete gesture of hope is represented by the Good Friday Collection, also known as the Colletta pro Locis Sanctis, one of the collections in aid of the places and needs of the Holy Land. To know more about how it works, and to give straight away, the site www.collettavenerdisanto.it is available where, alongside materials and guides, the reader can also find the text of the Via Crucis prepared by the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, with the meditations and testimonies of the “Living Stones” of the Holy Land.
Now more than ever, the suffering populations of the Holy Land, the few remaining Christians, the religious communities, young people and children, who are the future of those communities, but also the sick and the elderly, are in need of concrete and immediate help, even just to “maintain their positions”, thus mitigating the damage that continuous conflicts are causing to the daily life of the people.
The Collection, which takes place on Good Friday, this year on 18 April, the day that commemorates the Passion of the Lord, has its origins in Saint Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Nobis in Animo, of March 1974. The Collection was established with the intention to strengthen the bond between Christians around the world and the Holy Places, and it is one of the official collections of the Catholic Church.
This collection represents the main resource for supporting the activities and life around the Holy Places. The donations gathered by the parish communities and the bishops are transferred, via the Commissioners of the Holy Land, to the Custody of the Holy Land. These funds are used to preserve the sacred sites and to support the local Christian communities, often defined as the “living stones” of this region.
The territories that receive support from the Collection include those where the Custody has been present for centuries: Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, along with countries where the eastern Christian communities are present: Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq and Türkiye.  The Custody has 270 missionaries from over 30 nations. The friars take care of the Holy Places and welcome pilgrims 
The Christian communities have been left without employment and the entire economy linked to religious tourism. As a result, most families suffer from the economic crisis and struggle to pay school fees. Schools, however, remain the place where the friars build Peace every day.
The Good Friday Collection, together with pilgrimages, therefore represents the main source of funding. The Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Francesco Patton, writes: “Thanks to your generosity, we will be able to care for and make the Holy Places places of prayer and welcome for the faithful and pilgrims; respond to emergencies; support schools, clinics, dispensaries, homes for the elderly and for young families; and promote humanitarian works for migrants, displaced persons and refugees. Help us to Give Hope and Sow Peace!”.

The celebration of Holy Week
 
Wednesday 16th April
1800     Confession & Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, concluding around 1845
 
Maundy Thursday 17th April
1900     Mass of the Lords Supper & watching at the Altar of Repose
2055     Night Prayer
 
Good Friday 18th April
0900     Children’s Stations of the Cross
1000     Morning Prayer
1030     Confessions
1200     Stations of the Cross
1500     Liturgy of the Passion & Veneration of    the Cross. 
 
Holy Saturday 19th April
1000     Morning Prayer
1900     The Easter Vigil
 
Easter Sunday 20th April
1100     Sung Mass for Easter Sunday
1800     Mass for Easter Sunday

The Prodigal Son
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“So it was that after he came to his senses the younger son set out on a new journey ….  he had realised that it is precisely work, humility and daily discipline that create the true feast and true freedom. So he returned home, inwardly matured and purified: he had understood what living is. Of course, in the future his life would not be easy either, temptations would return, but he was henceforth fully aware that life without God does not work; it lacks the essential, it lacks light, it lacks reason, it lacks the great sense of being human. He understood that we can only know God on the basis of his Word.
 
We Christians can add that we know who God is from Jesus, in whom the face of God has been truly shown to us. The young man understood that God’s Commandments are not obstacles to freedom and to a beautiful life, but signposts on the road on which to travel to find life. He realized too that work and the discipline of being committed, not to oneself but to others, extends life. And precisely this effort of dedicating oneself through work gives depth to life, because one experiences the pleasure of having at last made a contribution to the growth of this world that becomes freer and more beautiful.”
Pope Benedict 16th

“Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth
            Who we are
            Where we come from
            Where we must go
What path we must take in life”

​Pope Benedict the 16th

Lenten Joy
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“In the short chapter on Lent in St Benedict’s Rule he twice mentions the joy of the Holy Spirit, once by making an offering to God “with the Joy of the Holy Spirit” and once by waiting for Easter “in the joy of holy desire”.  For St Benedict Lent is now a season of torture but a season of joy.”
Dom Henry Wansborough OSB
May our Second week of Lent be a joyful time of restraint and preparation for the Easter mystery

The Prodigal Son
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During Lent this year we will hear the Gospel of the Prodigal Son which Pope Benedict 16th said “constitutes one of the peaks of spirituality and literature of all time”.   Part of the famous Rembrandt painting of this parable will accompany our journey in the Church, with the Father embracing his repentant child - as Pope Benedict put it “our Father who out of love created us to be free and endowed us with a conscience, who suffers when we get lost and rejoices when we return”.
 
The Holy Father went on to write “For this reason, our relationship with the Father is built up through events, just as it happens for every child with his parents: at first he depends on them, then he asserts his autonomy; and, in the end if he develops well he reaches a mature relationship based on gratitude and authentic love.
In these stages we can also identify moments along man's journey in his relationship with God. There can be a phase that resembles childhood: religion prompted by need, by dependence. As man grows up and becomes emancipated, he wants to liberate himself from this submission and become free and adult, able to organize himself and make his own decisions, even thinking he can do without God. Precisely this stage is delicate and can lead to atheism, yet even this frequently conceals the need to discover God's true Face.
Fortunately for us, God never fails in his faithfulness and even if we distance ourselves and get lost he continues to follow us with his love, forgiving our errors and speaking to our conscience from within in order to call us back to him”
 
During these Lenten days may we hear the voice of the Father, who is ever merciful and compassionate, speaking to our hearts that we may grow closer to him each day.