Candlemas, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Normally we would mark this day with the traditional procession of candles before Mass. It is also the World Day of Prayer for those in the Consecrated Life, the 25th such observance since it was set up by St John Paul
Continue readingThe gospel reading today [Monday] is the account in Mark chapter 5 of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac. It’s rather scary story; we are meant to be terrified by the man possessed by many demons, ‘for they are legion’. Commentators have pointed out that Mark’s use of that word
Continue readingGiven the large numbers of people being admitted to hospital at this time, it is particularly important to be clear about what you should do if you or a friend or family member is admitted and seriously ill. The most important thing to do is to get a message to
Continue readingAs we mark Racial Justice Sunday this weekend it has been announced that the Archbishop of Southwark has set up a new Commission for Promoting Racial Justice and Cultural Inclusion. Details at: http://rcsouthwark.co.uk/indexold.html God bless and take care Fr Ashley l
Continue readingThe Salesian Sisters at Village Way ask you to join them in prayer as they celebrate the feast of their founder, St John Bosco. He entrusted all to Our Lady. She guided his life’s work especially that of helping the young know Jesus and live full and happy lives.
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of students. He once wrote that through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ ‘humanity knows from this how much God loves us; so that we are stirred by this to love him in return. This is the perfection of
Continue readingThis Sunday we keep the second annual Sunday of the Word of God, a special observance for this Sunday set up by Pope Francis in September 2019. I have written about the importance of this in our parish newsletter for this weekend. One opportunity the pandemic has given us is
Continue readingToday the Church honours St Vincent of Saragossa, the first martyr of Spain. Like St Agnes whom we recalled yesterday, he was martyred at the beginning of the fourth century in the persecution of Diocletian. In the early Church deacons had a particularly close relationship with the bishop, and in
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Agnes, Virgin and Martyr, one of the best known of the saints of Rome. On this day in one of the churches dedicated to her in Rome, run by the Canons Regular of the Lateran, lambs are normally blessed at Mass, and then again
Continue readingI expect many of you watched the inauguration this afternoon. The prayer led early in the ceremony by the Jesuit priest who in the past was President of Georgetown University (a Jesuit university) was very moving; he quoted Pope Francis’ recent encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’, which we will be looking at
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