Dear Friends in christ
As the summer holiday season draws to an end, first may I on all our behalf offer prayers and congratulations to all our youngsters who have recently received exam results, and to the teachers who prepared them. Let’s pray too for those going to university, especially for the first time. We wish all of our students and teachers a very happy and fruitful, new academic year!
I hope that my reflections on the parts of the Mass over the last five weeks have been helpful. You can access these Homilies via the link on the Parish website or at iTunes. Printed copies are also available from the Parish Office.
We will begin live-streaming of liturgies from the church this week. It is now possible to follow Mass and other Services via the link embedded in the Parish website. This can enable anyone who wishes, to follow our Parish worship on line, or make a virtual visit to the church and Tabernacle 24/7. It is not, obviously, a substitute for actually being present!
Next weekend in Liverpool our national Eucharistic Congress is taking place; it is the first in our country for over a hundred years. I shall be attending with our Bishop along with several parishioners. The theme of the Congress is Adoremus…Let us adore! The purpose of this and any Eucharistic Congress is to provide an extended time for prayer, refection and celebration of the most central Christian Mystery of Faith. We live in times very different to when the last Congress took place in 1908, when Catholics were not permitted to go in procession through London with the Blessed Sacrament. Next Sunday the Congress will conclude with a Eucharistic Procession through the streets of Liverpool, giving testament to our belief in the presence of Jesus amongst us in the Blessed Sacrament. Do please follow the events on the Congress by keeping it in your prayers, in much the same way as we prayed for the World Meeting of Families in Dublin last weekend. There is much to pray for at this time and what we need at this time can only genuinely be sought through prayer and penance.
As a follow-up to the Congress we shall have a screening of the new Bishop Barron series, The Mass, where we will walk through the Liturgy with Bishop Barron and see how the Mass brings us out of the fallen world and into the heavenly realm. The series will be shown in three parts, starting at 8pm on Monday 10th September in the Parish Centre. Do make a note of the dates and see the separate flyer in this Newsletter.
God bless you all as we begin a new time and season!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
Homily available at LourdesLeigh.org