Editor’s Choice

Today we begin the journey of penance and reflection that will bring us to the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter time. Let us pray for the grace to keep Lent faithfully..

‘Whatever you do at all, do it for the glory of God.’ The words are St Paul’s, from today’s second reading. We gather here to give glory to God, marking the Day of Prayer for Temperance — and preparing for the online Lenten Spring of 2021, a Lent like no other.

As we come together for worship, each of us brings worries, anxieties and fears, made worse by the pandemic all around us. We gather our concerns together and entrust them to the one who heals his suffering people.

We come together [on-line] this Sunday to listen to God’s word, believing that Jesus teaches us with authority: we have been rescued from sin and darkness, and given the hope of heaven.

Now that the Christmas season is behind us and we are moving into the New Year, the liturgy challenges us to reflect on what following Christ means. In the light of the Mother and Babies Home report published this week, there is sadness in our hearts as we gather, as well as an awareness of the suffering COVID-19 is causing in our communities. We pray the Lord to be close to the broken-hearted.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord: it’s the last day of the Christmas season. The baptism of Jesus marked the end of his quiet years in Nazareth and the start of his public ministry.

On this feast of the Epiphany we celebrate the revelation of who Christ is. The visit of the Magi from foreign lands reminds us that Jesus came as the Saviour of all nations, including ours. We worship God who wants all people to be saved.

Opening Comment We gather to celebrate the first Sunday of 2021, moving with gratitude into a new year of God’s grace. We thank God for the vaccines developed to protect…

Happy New Year! On this first day of the Year of Our Lord 2021, we acclaim Mary as Mother of God and ask her to mind us and those we love during this new year. We pray that the world may be freed from COVID-19 through a global programme of vaccination. And as this is also World Peace Day, we pray for peace.

On this first Sunday after Christmas Day, we honour the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We entrust our families to their patronage, and pray for all who have been part of our families, those still alive and those whom we hope have joined the great family of God in heaven.

We celebrate today an amazing mystery — God is born in time. The eternal God shares our nature, he has pitched his tent in the midst of humanity. With joy in our hearts, we contemplate the mystery of the Word made flesh.

We gather with joy in our hearts to celebrate the birthday of our Saviour. The rising sun of this winter morning reminds us that Jesus, who is born for us, rose from death as our undying light, our hope and our salvation.

Opening Comment In the dark of this winter night, we proclaim the new light that has shone on the world: Jesus Christ is born! With the angels, we worship God…

This feast had its origin in the East as the “Conception of Mary by St Anne.” It spread through the West during the Middle Ages as the “Immaculate Conception” and was extended to the entire Western Church in the eighteenth century. The feast celebrates Mary, preserved from sin from the moment of conception; she is the first-fruits of her Son’s redemption and a prophetic model of what the Church is called to be.

John the Baptist is the focus of the liturgy on the Second Sunday of Advent each year. His challenge to us to ‘prepare a way for the Lord’ is at the heart of the Advent message. We worship the one who will surely come to us.

Advent begins today, and with it a new year in the Church’s life. We look forward with hope to the end of time, when Christ will come in glory — and with joy, even in the midst of pandemic, we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. At the end of time, this king will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. He will ask how we treated the hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the naked, those sick or in prison. But in the meantime, he will bind our wounds and revive our sometimes-drooping spirits, like a Good Shepherd.

The end of this year and the beginning of the Advent season is coming closer, and the Liturgy invites us to look further into the future, towards the end of time, to be ready when the Day of the Lord comes.
• Today has been designated by Pope Francis as the “WORLD DAY OF THE POOR”

At this time of year, our deceased relatives and friends are often in our minds. Our faith tells us that we needn’t grieve over them like people with no hope. We remember them with love, and entrust them to God’s care.

On All Saints Day and today, we remember all the dead, those in heaven and those still be on the way there: God alone knows where each soul is. Today we pray for all souls, for the faithful departed still on the journey to their heavenly home.