Sacrament of the Sick during Mass on the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle
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As usual Mass will be offered at 1800 on Thursday but there will also be an opportunity during this Mass for people to receive the Sacrament of the Sick & be anointed with Holy Oil which is the outward sign of this Sacrament.
The Church “believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, the Anointing of the Sick” (Canon 1511). Anyone who is being “tried” by illness of body mind or spirit may wish to consider receiving this sacrament. And of course we are more aware now that not all suffering or disability is necessarily able to be seen.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that: “By
the grace of the sacrament the sick person receives the
strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to
Christ’s Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to
bear fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemptive
Passion” (Catechism 1521).
Just as the members of the Church are praying for the sick person, they help others through their suffering. “By celebrating the sacrament the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part, through the grace of this Sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself, through Christ to God the Father” (Catechism,1522).

Last Sunday Pope Leo …
…..celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Holy Trinity and the Jubilee of Sports.  During part of the Homily he said
“This combination of Trinity and Sport is somewhat unusual, yet the juxtaposition is not inappropriate. Every good and worthwhile human activity is in some way a reflection of God’s infinite beauty, and sport is certainly one of these. For God is not immobile and closed in on himself, but activity, communion, a dynamic relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which opens up to humanity and to the world. Theologians speak of perichoresis: the life of God is a kind of “dance”: a dance of mutual love.
Let us reflect on three particular things that make sport, nowadays, a precious means for training in human and Christian virtues.
First, in a society marked by solitude, where radical individualism has shifted the emphasis from “us” to “me”, resulting in a deficit of real concern for others, sport – especially team sports – teaches the value of cooperating, working together and sharing. These, as we said, are at the very heart of God’s own life (cf. Jn 16:14-15). Sport can thus become an important means of reconciliation and encounter: between peoples and within communities, schools, workplaces and families.
Second, in an increasingly digital society, where technology brings distant people closer together, yet often creates distances between those who are physically close, sport proves a valuable and concrete means of bringing individuals together, providing a healthier sense of the body, of space, effort and real time. It counters the temptation to escape into virtual worlds and it helps to preserve a healthy contact with nature and with real life, where genuine love is experienced (cf. 1 Jn 3:18).
Third, in our competitive society, where it seems that only the strong and winners deserve to live, sport also teaches us how to lose. It forces us, in learning the art of losing, to confront one of the deepest truths of our human condition: our fragility, our limitations and our imperfections. This is important, because it is through the experience of these limits that we open our hearts to hope. Athletes who never make mistakes, who never lose, do not exist.
Champions are not perfectly functioning machines, but real men and women, who, when they fall, find the courage to get back on their feet. Saint John Paul II hit the mark when he said that Jesus is “the true athlete of God” because he defeated the world not by strength, but by the fidelity of love”. 

Pope Leo’s Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
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June is traditionally a month dedicated to the Sacred Heart to Jesus.  Pope Leo XIV's monthly prayer intention for June is "that the world might grow in compassion", and he has written and issued a new prayer to the Sacred Heart, the text of which is below
Lord,
I come to your tender heart today,
to you who have words that set my heart ablaze,
to you who pour out compassion on the little ones and the poor, on those who suffer,
and on all human miseries.
I desire to know you more,
to contemplate you in the Gospel,
to be with you and learn from you
and from the charity with which you allowed yourself
to be touched by all forms of poverty.
You showed us the Father’s love
by loving us without measure
with your divine and human heart.
Grant all your children the grace of encountering you.
Change, shape, and transform our plans,
so that we seek only you in every circumstance:
in prayer, in work, in encounters, and in our daily routine.
From this encounter, send us out on mission,
a mission of compassion for the world
in which you are the source
from which all consolation flows.  
Amen.

Pope Leo’s Prayer intention
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Pope Leo XIV's monthly prayer intention for June, the month traditionally dedicated to devotion to the Heart of Jesus, is "that the world might grow in compassion."