Today is also the day when traditionally we honour Mary, Mother of the Lord. As Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we live under her mantle, protected and guided by her. Daily we repeat her words ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word’. During the ‘hidden years’ of […]
From our New Testament reading, from 1 Timothy: ‘But as for you, man of God, shun all this; aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses’. […]
These third century martyrs, whose names are in the Roman Canon, remind us of the ancientness of Church tradition. St Cyprian is said to have been the first Bishop in Africa to obtain the crown of martyrdom. His treatise on the Lord’s Prayer is a true guide to the understanding of that prayer. He said: […]
The image is a detail of a crucifixion fresco by Fra Angelico, showing Our Lady at the foot of the Cross. She stands looking out towards us, though her right hand points towards her Son on the Cross. Her gaze invites us into the mystery, and her extraordinary tranquillity reminds us of her ‘Fiat’ to […]
This Feast is a wondrous day, and to celebrate it, here are the opening lines of the fine Anglo-Saxon poem, ‘The Dream of the Rood’: ‘Listen! The choicest of visions I wish to tell, which came as a dream in middle-night, after voice-bearers lay at rest. It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree […]
This fourth century Church Father was so named (‘golden-mouthed’) because of his eloquence. He said: ‘Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness’. He showed this in his own life, which was not free of distress and trouble. May he pray […]
The Old Testament reading for today is the Third Servant Song of Isaiah, of which this is a part: ‘For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me […]
Today is also kept as an Optional Memoria of Our Lady on Saturday. So we can picture her as she would have been on that first Holy Saturday, awaiting the resurrection of her Son, intent on His will, as always. Would she have been alone? She had been given, the day before, into the loving […]
From today’s New Testament reading, from 1 Timothy: ‘I thank him who has given me strength for this, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful by appointing me to his service, though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of […]
Here is part of our New Testament reading, from Colossians: ‘Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on […]