"Families who lovingly accept the difficult trial of a child with special needs are greatly to be admired. They render the Church and society an invaluable witness of faithfulness to the gift of life. In these situations, the family can discover, together with the Christian community new approaches, new ways of acting, a different way of understanding and identifying with others, by welcoming and caring for the mystery of the frailty of human life."

(Amoris Laetitia 47)

This week as a family share what life may be like for someone you may know or in your family/school/parish who has a disability or learning difficulty and what you as a family can do to make a difference. You might like to reflect upon how as parents we enable our children to see a person’s abilities rather than disabilities?

EUCHARIST IS..... 

During the run up to Adoramus 2018 a number of definitions of Eucharist were given.   They have been reproduced below

Eucharist is… pilgrimage

The culmination of a pilgrimage may be a Mass, but the source and summit of any week as a Catholic Christian is the Eucharist.We don’t have to journey with passport and suitcase to find the healing that we need, the healing of forgiveness and inclusion in God’s family.We just have to journey to church for Mass. 

Eucharist is… Real Presence

At Mass or when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for our adoration, Jesus Christ is present with us because he told us he would be. His presence shows the truth of his words recorded right at the end of Saint Matthew’s Gospels when he told us to know he is with us always. Jesus is present, but that presence demands something of us too: our presence. At Mass we are present at the Last Supper.

Eucharist is… Food for the Journey

Eucharist is… Food for the Journey. We might do well to take a moment to thank God for all that we have received, materially and in prayer. All that we have faced in our lives we did not face alone. Always God’s strength and God’s love were at work in our hearts even when, and perhaps especially when, we did not know it at all. We can pray for those for whom the journey is hard. But we can pray too that God’s strength and love will be at work in our hearts to make us bread broken for others, bringing the nourishment of God’s love to the weary and downcast.

Eucharist is… sacrifice.

Remembering Jesus’ death cannot be done simply by thinking about it.  If we are to remember as we are called to remember, then we need to live as Jesus lived, think as he thought and act as he acted.  We celebrate the memory of Jesus in the Eucharistic sacrifice by offering our own lives together with Jesus for the life of the world.

Eucharist is… thanksgiving

When we give thanks at Mass, the past is renewed, the present is transformed, and the future is made already present.  In this thanksgiving, hope is generated by recalling past mercies.  What we know from the past of the power and love of God gives us confidence in the continued mercy of God despite whatever may be going on in our lives to try us.

Eucharist is… a challenge to become what we receive

In receiving Holy Communion at Mass and in saying “Amen” to the declaration that this is the Body of Christ, we accept the challenge Saint Augustine told us this is: to become what we receive.  We walk as a body of people with Christ at its head and centre, showing us the way.  We walk as a body of people in which each plays a part.  We walk together as one body in which each part is needed and each valued

Eucharist is…Personal Vocation

Our sending out from Mass reminds us that we were changed too by our Baptism in which we received a call from God that is both universal and personal. That is our call to holiness and we are nourished in the Eucharist so that we can respond to that universal vocation by living in the way our personal vocation demands of us. With Blessed John Henry Newman, we can pray at Mass that many people will be open to the call of God in their lives.

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Reasons to pray the Rosary

"Every family should look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth."

(Amoris Laetitia 30)

The Holy Family is a model for families because whilst the Holy Family was a family with special grace it was also a family with trials and despite their many trials, the family remained faithful, loving and united. ​Every family has particular graces and blessings and every family also has difficulties and crosses. The story of the Holy Family is full of encouragement for those who struggle in life – especially in their family life – and it enables us to see that true riches lie within our relationships and not in our abilities and possessions.

This week pray to the Holy Family asking them to help your family persevere through their trials and to thank God for all the graces and blessings your family enjoys. ​

A DAILY PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

St Terese of Lisieux  said a daily prayer for priests  we could all consider doing the same.

"Christ proposed as the distinctive sign of his disciples the law of love and

the gift of self for others"

(Amoris Laetitia 27)

In your particular family setting consider the local, national or international news of the week. Include in your family prayer the refugee, the homeless, the families who have lost a loved one, poor families

In what other ways can your family be mindful of the needs of others?

Prayer for the Jubilee

O Mother of Perpetual Help,

Icon of Love

Your sorrowful gaze

at our suffering and that of Jesus

entrusts us into the love of the Father

Help us to make you known even more

And to be missionaries

of the good, beautiful and joyful life of the Gospel

Open our hearts

to the cry of those without hope

until all come to believe.

Teach us

to  ponder the Word in our heart

and to do what your Son asks us to do

Enable us to walk with you

with the great light of faith

to light up our path

Thus one day we will be able

to contemplate with you

the face of the Father

who with the Son and Holy Spirit

lives and reigns forever and ever.

AMEN

EUCHARIST AND SAINT ALPHONSUS 

In the run-up to Adoremus 2018, the Maryton Carmelite convent ran a series of talks. on the 27th May 2018 Fr Tim was honoured to speak on the Eucharist and St Alphonsus. If you did not manage to attend the majority of his talk is reproduced below

Last weekend at the Royal Wedding in Windsor we had a remarkable demonstration of the power of the preached Word of God. I cannot remember a Christian sermon receiving such universal acclaim across the religious, political and social spectrums. And for me, what was most striking was the simplicity of the message, going to the heart of the Gospel of love. Bishop Michael Curry had been flown in especially for the occasion and some suggested that he stole the show and was the ‘man of the match’.

Read more: Fr Tim on the Eucharist and St Alphonsus