FIRST COMMUNIONS:

This weekend we have the remaining two First Communion Masses at Bishop Eton. St Mary’s will have their celebrations on the corresponding weekends in the middle of June. The ‘I BELONG’ programme, which our catechists have used this year, has been successful and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Trish Brophy and Mary Monkhouse and their teams for the terrific job they do in preparing the children and their families.

The short, filmed meditation, which I have used before we celebrate the Masses, has been well received. I have used it as a reminder that, in the midst of all the confusion – and at times wreckage – of modern life, the Spirit of God continues to make Christ present in our midst. We are now in that period between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost next weekend, waiting to celebrate God’s gift of the Spirit. These are the nine days from which come the tradition of Novenas! Let’s pray for a new outpouring of the Spirit on us all, as we continue to emerge from the trauma of the pandemic and seek to rebuild our communities of faith.