The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
And the love of God
And the communion of The Holy Spirit
Be with you all
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
And the love of God
And the communion of The Holy Spirit
Be with you all
European Bishops rally around Pope Francis’ and Cardinal Pizzaballa’s appeal to observe a day of prayer, penance and fasting for world peace on October 7th, marking one year since Hamas' terrorist attacks on Israel that sparked the ongoing conflict.
Some years ago, I attended a wedding. It was a special privilege, since I did not have to preside over, or do the ceremony. Both the bride and groom were my former students in the college. The groom was one of those young people you hold always as a luminous presence in your life. It was a beautiful wedding in many ways: in its simplicity, in the strong words of celebrant’s homily, in the splendor of the bride and groom, in the families gathered and the whole environment that surrounded the wedding.
I thought about that wedding as I read this Sunday’s readings. “It is not good for the man to be alone,” Intimacy, relationship-the bottom of our being. “God took out one of Adam’s ribs.” Adam spoke, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” The two of them became one body. The Psalmist sings: “Your spouse shall be like a fruitful vine in the room in your house; your children shall be like olive plants about your table. Behold thus is a human blessed. May you see your children’s children.”
What act of great moment is remembered here? I thought of the young bride and groom. What was it that they wanted to say to each other and the world? They wanted to say “forever.” There is something that reaches the godly in such holy desire. When we abide in love, our hearts arch to the infinite. Rilke said, “Lovers, you touch pure permanence underneath.”
Yet marriages fail. You would think that fact alone might tame our dreams of forever. I have never met an engaged couple who wanted to giver their futures to each other “till it does not work out, till you get sick, till you go broke, till you break down.” What is it about us that wants to say “forever”? To say “eternally”? To say, “till the end of time”?
Few, thank God, judge. For no matter what our rightful relationship to our Church, its laws and traditions, we all pray in an assembly of believers who are sinners; and most assuredly, we all stand before our good and great God as children. Jesus spoke to the child in each of us “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. It is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs. I assure you that whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a little child shall not enter it.”
God bless you all, Fr. Henry
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Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference, has affirmed Pope Francis’ and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem’s call for a day of prayer for peace to be held on Monday, 7 October, in response to an escalation of the conflict in the Holy Land.
Essex County Council and Tendring District Council are working together to better understand the thoughts of both the business community and residents in Jaywick and Clacton on local opportunities and issues – and explore these in further detail.
Pope Francis writes the preface for the new book, “Like a Pilgrimage - My Days in the Holy Land” (Ts Edizioni), written by the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, together with Italian journalist Roberto Cetera from L’Osservatore Romano. It was presented during the Franciscan Festival in Bologna on Sunday, September 29.
