21st Week in Ordinary Time

August 26th, 2023 by Dave Heywood

Monday 28 August 2023 – St Augustine

 

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) – 27 August 2023

 

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Mass Sheet (Sunday 21A) 2023

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (21A) 2023

Reflection on the Readings:    prego-sunday-21-ota-2023

 

Some Funnies

 

 

Click on image to enlarge:

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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20th Week in Ordinary Time

August 19th, 2023 by Dave Heywood

Wednesday 23 August 2023

 

Tuesday 22 August 2023 – Our Lady, Queen and Mother

“I renew my appeal to stop using religions to incite hatred, violence, extremism and blind fanaticism, and to refrain from using the name of God to justify acts of murder, exile, terrorism and oppression.”

(Pope Francis, 22 August 2023)

 

Monday 21 August 2023 – St Pius X, Pope

Today, Pope Francis announced that he is writing a second part to his 2015 encyclical, ‘Laudato Si, On Care for our Common Home’ to update it on current issues.

To a delegation of lawyers from the Council of Europe, he said:  “We must never forget that the younger generations have the right to receive a beautiful and liveable world from us, and that this implies that we have a grave responsibility towards creation which we have received from the generous hands of God.”

 

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) – 20 August 2023

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Mass Sheet (Sunday 20A) 2023

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (20A) 2023

Reflection on the Readings:    prego-sunday-20-ota-2023

 

Some Funnies

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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19th Week in Ordinary Time

August 12th, 2023 by Dave Heywood

Wednesday 16 August 2023

Photo (c) Born to Explore

In what’s considered one of the best photos that conveys an animal’s capability of feeling emotions:  this man released a swan that was hooked to a net.

Before letting him go, he momentarily held him in his arms to feel his heartbeat.

Then he was surprised:  Gradually, the swan wrapped his neck to his and held his embrace.

How precious it is to feel the trust of an animal.

 

Tuesday 15 August 2023 – Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

Today, we keep the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.  We celebrate the day Mary was welcomed into the glory of heaven at the end of her life on earth.  Where she has gone, we hope one day to follow.

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Assumption Mass Sheet 2023

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (Assumption) 2023

 

Monday 14 August 2023 – St Maximilian Kolbe

I was horrified to hear a phone-in conversation on the radio the other day.  The caller said that if we stopped asylum seekers coming ashore it would solve the problem.  The radio host was stunned and, after a moments silence, replied by saying that if we did that people would die.  The caller responded by saying, “Well, that would be their fault!”

This is simply shocking to me – it’s callous and inhumane.  It’s the result of some MP’s and others in the media stoking the fires of indifference, intolerance and hatred.  As many others have said, “our country is better than this”.

In his ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) comment for today, Pope Francis said:  “Love alone extinguishes hatred.  Love alone ultimately triumphs over injustice.  Love alone makes room for others.  Love alone is the path towards full communion among us.”

 

Feast of St Oswald, King & Martyr – 13 August 2023

(Transferred from 5 August)

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Feast of St Oswald Mass Sheet 2023 (StO)

Bidding Prayers:    Bidding Prayers (19A) 2023

Reflection on the Readings:    prego-sunday-19-ota-2023

 

Some Funnies

 

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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18th Week in Ordinary Time

August 5th, 2023 by Dave Heywood

Thursday 10 August 2023 – St Lawrence

Image (c) Christine Pagel

A Prayer for Inner Peace

Lord, please put Your peace in my heart.
I’m worried and anxious.
My mind races and obsesses.
I can’t help thinking about my problems.
And the more I think about them,
the more depressed I become.
I feel like I’m sinking down in quicksand
and can’t get out.
Calm me, Lord.
Slow me down, put Your peace in my heart.

No matter what problem I have, Lord,
You are bigger,
You are more powerful than it is.
So I bring my problem to You.
I know what I want.
I know my will.
I do not know Yours.
I do not know how You will use this problem for my salvation.
I do not know what good You will workout from this evil.
But I trust You.
I trust Your goodness and Your wisdom.
So I place myself in Your hands.
Please fill my heart with peace.

– Author Unknown

 

Wednesday 9 August 2023 – St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Today’s First Reading (Hosea 2: 16-17, 21-22)

The Lord says this:

I am going to lead her out into the wilderness
and speak to her heart.
There she will respond to me as she did when she was young,
as she did when she came out of the land of Egypt.
I will betroth you to myself for ever,
betroth you with integrity and justice,
with tenderness and love;
I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness,
and you will come to know the Lord.

 

Tuesday 8 August 2023 – St Dominic

Not in our name

The Government’s newly passed Illegal Migration Act goes against everything that Pope Francis has called us to be.  The Holy Father has implored world leaders to ‘build bridges, not walls’, and show compassion for those fleeing their homes, whether it’s because of war, persecution or poverty.  This new Act will cause immeasurable harm to people seeking sanctuary.

CAFOD has written an open letter to the Prime Minister and invites us to sign it.  PLEASE sign this letter by going to CAFOD’s website:  www.cafod.org.uk (click ‘Get Involved’ to find the letter).  It took me less than a minute to sign the letter.  Think of the impact we could make if all the Catholics in the UK did the same.

Image courtesy of CAFOD

 

Monday 7 August 2023

Pope Francis to 1.5 million young people at World Youth Day yesterday:

“I want to look each of you in the eye and tell you: Do not be afraid …. Shine with the light of Christ. Listen to Him that you too might be light to the world. And be not afraid, for the Lord loves you and walks by your side.”

Earlier in the week, the Pope made this impassioned plea to Church leaders:

“Please, do not turn the Church into a customs house: there the righteous, peoples whose lives are in order, those properly married, can enter, while everyone else remains outside. No. That is not the Church.”

 

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (A) – 6 August 2023

Mass Sheet we will be using in church:    Mass Sheet (Transfiguration A) 2023

Bidding Prayers:    Transfiguration Bidding Prayers

Reflection on the Readings:    prego-transfiguration-sunday-2023

On this day, 6 August, in 1945, that the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and, three days later, on Nagasaki.  So, today, let’s join the people of Japan in prayer as they remember the tens of thousands who were killed and the many who survived with injury and sickness.

 

World Youth Day

Today, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass with young people from all over the world who have gathered in Lisbon, Portugal.  You can watch the Mass and catch up on all the other events for World Youth Day here:  https://www.lisboa2023.org/en

 

Some Funnies

 

 

 

God bless,
Fr Dave

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