Dear friends in Christ

The Gospel for this Sunday’s Mass tells us about the cure of a man possessed by the devil. This victory over the unclean spirit is yet another proof of the coming of the Messiah, who arrives at length to free mankind from their most dreaded slavery: the slavery of the devil and of sin. The Church is always slow, however, to attribute many happenings to the direct intervention of the devil. But in principle we cannot deny that in his determination to cause harm and to lead us to evil, Satan can resort to these extremes in order to assert his superiority. He knows that as a result of original sin we have remained prone to evil, so we need to be on the watch so as to discern and reject the wiles of the Evil One. Ultimately God’s grace and power are all victorious and, provided we surround ourselves with prayer, we can be calm and assured of the protection we need. A very helpful prayer which has been used for many generations is to St Michael the Archangel, asking that he will protect us in the day of battle against the wickedness and snares of the enemy… try making that part your daily routine of prayer, especially at the end of Mass, as we go into the world, fortified for the Christian life.

This weekend we welcome to our Parish Mr Steven Webb, Director of the Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society. Each year the Crib Offerings go to this important Charity and Steven will be addressing some words to us at the end of the Masses about the work of the Society in our Diocese.

God bless you all!
Fr Kevin Hale