Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

August 27th, 2022 by Dave Heywood

Thursday 1 September 2022

World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation

“Today we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and the beginning of the Season of Creation, which will conclude on 4 October, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

May this year’s theme, “Listen to the voice of creation”, foster a concrete commitment in each person to take care of our common home. Prey to our consumerist excesses, our sister, mother earth, weeps and implores us to put an end to our abuses and destruction” (Pope Francis).

 

Wednesday 31 August 2022

At a funeral today, I was reminded of this saying I came across a few years ago:

BUT… the last line is just wrong and totally out of keeping with the rest of the saying.  It would have been better to put:  “He wept because knowing the end of the story… doesn’t take the hurt away… (or) because he loved and lost in that moment… (or) because tears are part of love…”

How would you finish the saying?

 

Tuesday 30 August 2022

“Let us pray for the people of Pakistan, hit by floods of disastrous proportions. Let us pray for the numerous victims, for the wounded and those forced from their homes, and that international solidarity might be prompt and generous” (Pope Francis).

 

Monday 29 August 2022

 

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) – 28 August 2022

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Mass Sheet (22C)

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (22C)

Reflection on the Readings:   prego-sunday-22-otc-2022

 

CAFOD’s Prayer for Ukraine

Loving God,
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

 

Some Funnies

 

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

August 20th, 2022 by Dave Heywood

Wednesday 24 August 2022

Today, 24 August, is Ukraine’s Independence Day.  To mark the occasion, Fr Taras Khomych (from Liverpool’s Ukrainian Catholic Parish) and Bishop Tom Neylon will lead an Ecumenical Prayer Service at 3.00 pm in the Cathedral.  It is hoped to have a live link to Bishop Gregory Komar from Drohobych Cathedral, Ukraine, during the service.  See yesterday’s post for more details.

Russia has threatened attacks on civilian targets.

This war has been going on for six months – thousands have been killed, tens of thousands have been wounded, and 21,000 war crimes are being investigated.  I find it unbelievable, after all the resolutions made after the Second World War, that the rest of the world has not stepped in to stop the war.

You can watch the service on YouTube:

Part 1:    Wednesday 24th August 2022 – Ecumenical Prayer Service to mark Independence Day in Ukraine – YouTube

Part 2:    Wednesday 24th August 2022 – Ecumenical Prayer Service to mark Independence Day in Ukraine – YouTube

Let us pray.

CAFOD’S Prayer for Peace

Loving God,
we pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them
and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength
and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality
for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

 

Tuesday 23 August 2022

Prayer for Ukraine

An ecumenical prayer service for Ukraine will be held in the Metropolitan Cathedral tomorrow, Wednesday, at 3.00 pm to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day.  The service will be led by Bishop Thomas Neylon, auxiliary bishop of Liverpool, and Father Taras Khomych, chaplain to the Ukrainian community, together with ministers from Churches throughout Liverpool.  It is also hoped to have a live link to Drohobych Cathedral in Western Ukraine with Bishop Gregory Komar, who has close links with the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

Father Taras said:  “We will gather on our Independence Day to pray for peace in our country and will remember all those who have died and all who suffer as a result of the ongoing conflict.  It is appropriate that we will join together in the Metropolitan Cathedral, dedicated to Christ the King, the Prince of Peace, and in Liverpool where I see this outpouring of love; where people give the impression they just want to embrace us Ukrainians.  I see this terrible evil but also the grace which expresses itself in human faith and all those people around us.  I am grateful for all the people who pray for Ukraine.”

Members of the local Ukrainian community will be taking part in the service together with the Ukrainian choir ‘Svitoch’ under the direction of Mrs Inna Ruzheva, accompanied by organist James Vowles-Wang.

Bishop Tom Neylon said:  “This is a welcome opportunity to join with the Ukrainian community who have suffered so greatly in recent months and who continue to experience the horror of war.  This year Ukrainian Independence Day must rightly be focussed on prayer for peace, for an end to this conflict and for all affected in any way.”

(Source: Independent Catholic News)

 

Monday 22 August 2022

This is worth watching.  It’s trending on Twitter today.

Sir John Major spoke eloquently last month before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee.  I applaud his words:

 

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) – 21 August 2022

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Mass Sheet (21C)

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (21C)

Reflection on the Readings:   prego-sunday-21-otc-2022

 

CAFOD’s Prayer for Ukraine

Loving God,
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

 

Some Funnies

I thought you might like to know that…

 

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

August 13th, 2022 by Dave Heywood

Thursday 18 August 2022

When we’re lost for prayer

“How do we pray when we are paralyzed by senselessness and tragedy, either in our own lives or in the world?  St Paul tells us that when we don’t know how to pray, the Spirit which “groans too deep for words”, prays through us.  What an extraordinary text!  Paul tells us that when we can still find the words with which to pray, this is not our deepest prayer.  Likewise when we still have the heart to pray, this too is not our deepest prayer. Our deepest prayer is when we are rendered mute and groaning in exasperation, in frustration, in helplessness.”

Fr Ron Rolheiser, OMI

 

Wednesday 17 August 2022

 

Tuesday 16 August 2022

The Closeness of God

“How can God be as close to us as we are to ourselves?  Partly this is mystery, and wisdom bids us befriend mystery because anything we can understand is not very deep!  The mystery of God’s intimate, personal presence inside us is beyond our imaginations.  But everything within our faith tradition assures us that, while God may be infinite and ineffable, God is very close to us, closer than we imagine.”

Fr Ron Rolheiser, OMI

 

Monday 15 August 2022

Image of the Statue of the Visitation by Luca della Robbia. Public domain.

Whereas we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary yesterday*, other countries celebrate it today.

Reflecting on Mary’s song of praise in the Gospel, Pope Francis said:

Mary “announces a radical change, an overturning of values.  While she speaks with Elizabeth, carrying Jesus in her womb, she anticipates what her Son will say, when he will proclaim blessed the poor and humble, and warn the rich and those who base themselves on their own self-sufficiency… She prophesies that it will not be power, success and money that will prevail, but rather service, humility and love will prevail.  And as we look at her, in glory, we understand that the true power is service – let us not forget this: the true power is service – and to reign means to love.  And that this is the road to Heaven.  It is this.”

*In England and Wales, when a holyday falls on a Saturday or a Monday, it is transferred to the Sunday.

 

Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary – 14 August 2022

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Assumption Mass Sheet 2022

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (Assumption 2022)

Reflection on the Readings:   prego-assumption-2022

 

CAFOD’s Prayer for Ukraine

Loving God,
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

 

Some Funnies

 

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

August 6th, 2022 by Dave Heywood

Thursday 11 August 2022

 

Wednesday 10 August 2022

Lord Jesus Christ,
all I am and all I have is yours.
So use me this day
to be your gentleness in the world,
to bring hope to people’s hearts,
and to do everything with such kindness.

 

Tuesday 9 August 2022

Today is the Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein).  She was born into a Jewish family at Breslau in 1891, the youngest of seven children.  In 1922, she became a Catholic and a Carmelite nun.  Captured by the Nazis, she died in a gas chamber in 1942.

Let us pray for an end to the evil of war.

“Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil
graciously grant peace in our days.”

 

 

Monday 8 August 2022

Yesterday, Pope Francis said: “The departure of the first ships loaded with grain from the ports of Ukraine is a sign of hope. I sincerely hope that, following in this direction, there might be an end to combat and that a just and lasting peace might be reached.”

Let us not tire in praying for peace for the people of Ukraine.

 

Feast of St Oswald, King & Martyr – 7 August 2022

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) 

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Feast of St Oswald Mass Sheet 2022

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (19C)

Reflection on the Readings:   prego-sunday-19-otc-2022

 

CAFOD’s Prayer for Ukraine

Loving God,
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

 

Some Funnies

 

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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