Presider’s Page

From the days when the Jewish people wandered in the desert to this very day, God has been food to the hungry and meaning to those who lose their way. We celebrate our Lord’s loving-kindness.

United with Christians all over the world, we acknowledge one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God as our Father. We worship as one family, and pray for greater charity and love among all the baptised.

Our God is like a shepherd who always looks after the flock: the Lord cares for us in all our needs.

God has blessed us in very many ways: God has showered grace upon us. During today’s gathering, we give thanks to the Lord for all we have received.

This is the first Sunday on which green vestments have been worn at Mass since last February. Green is the colour of growth: the Kingdom of God grows slowly in our world and in our hearts…

Today we honour the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, the food which sustains us on our journey through life

Today is Trinity Sunday. We worship God who creates, redeems and sanctifies: three persons, one God.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the second climax of the Easter season. We celebrate ‘the great beginning of the Church’, the day the Holy Spirit first came to confused and frightened disciples.

The Ascension of the Lord is celebrated today. The Church also calls this Sunday ‘World Communications Day’.
As he left his disciples, Jesus sent them out to spread the Good News. This is our task too. We ask for the grace we need.

We gather in the love of God this Sunday, redeemed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are people with a mission, challenged to grow in love each day. We ask God for divine help with this mission, today and during the coming week.

Like branches of one tree, we are held together by our faith in Christ. Because we are all part of this one living plant, we come together in thanksgiving and praise.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is often called Good Shepherd Sunday, because the readings are about the care we receive from Christ, our true shepherd — a care Christians are invited to copy. Today is also the Day of Prayer for Vocations.

Throughout the Easter season, the Church continues to announce and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Opening Comment (for Mass without Procession or Solemn Entrance) Today’s liturgy gives a preview of the events we will celebrate between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday: the passion, death and…

In just over ten days time, the Easter Triduum will begin, at sunset on Holy Thursday. Today we pray for all the adults and children who will be baptised at Easter. And we ask that we may be fit and ready to renew our own baptismal promises.

Today we in Ireland pause from our lenten penances to honour Patrick, the apostle of the Irish. In our celebration of this solemn feast, we worship God, creator, redeemer and sanctifier, who brought our ancestors into the Christian fold through the preaching of St Patrick.

This Sunday we come to the midpoint of Lent. The season is half over, and the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus is nearer to us. On this midway Sunday, it is traditional to honour mothers, praying for those still with us and remembering those who have died.

The Lord has the message of eternal life: in Lent we come to know this message and deepen our relationship with the Saviour of the world.

As we continue to celebrate Lent, it’s important that we keep the goal of our journey before us. The gospel of the transfiguration is read on this lenten Sunday each year, to remind us to hold firm to a vision of glory, on dark days. Easter and its joy will follow this season of penance, just as the resurrection followed the passion and death of Jesus.

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent. All over the world today, people of all ages are beginning their preparation period for baptism at the Easter Vigil. Like them, we begin our own preparations for Easter, looking forward to renewing our baptismal vows and being blessed with Easter water.