Today’s saints are among the greatest of the English Reformation Martyrs, and their example is an inspiration to all of us in our faith journeys. St Thomas More said, ‘The ordinary acts we practise every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest’. We can take encouragement from […]
This much-loved cathedral is one of Pugin’s finest creations, and has been well prayed in from the time of its building in 1841 until now. It was the first Catholic cathedral to be erected in Britain since the Reformation, and so has a noble history. Today let us pray for the spiritual life of the […]
‘…Dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything’. The first words of this extract from today’s New Testament reading, ‘Dying we Live’, formed the title of a remarkable collection of spiritual testimonies from those awaiting […]
Today, to go with the superb icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev, are the opening words of the Athanasian Creed: ‘Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the […]
This liturgical text for the Solemnity is from a fourteenth century Austrian Antiphoner. It came originally from a double monastery of men and women monastics, and is reckoned to have been scribed by the female side. Just below halfway down the manuscript the Invitatory Antiphon can be seen; it reads, in English, ‘The Spirit of […]
Sent by Pope Gregory the Great to evangelise England, St Augustine was a Benedictine monk who arrived here in the year 597, thus securing the ancientness of our country’s Christianity (although some assert the Gospel had preceded him as early as the time of Joseph of Arimathaea) as well as its Benedictine heritage. May he […]
St Bede, Monk of Jarrow, died in the year 735, and his tomb is still in Durham Cathedral. Known as a great mediaeval scholar of Holy Scripture, he is said to have declined the office of Prior as it would have taken him away from his work of writing and scholarship. At the end of […]
Today is also the optional commemoration of St Christopher Magallanes, Priest, and his companions. St Christopher was a Mexican priest, arrested on 21 May 1927 whilst on his way to celebrate Mass. Without a trial, and having given away his possessions to his executioners, he gave them all absolution before he was martyred. His last […]
Jesus said, ‘If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’. In this quotation from today’s Gospel reading, it is worth noticing that the word for ‘love’ in the original Greek text is ‘agape’. This word […]
Here is today’s second Mass reading, from the Apocalypse: ‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride […]