Welcome
Welcome to St Bede Catholic Church
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
And the love of God
And the communion of The Holy Spirit
Be with you all
“Come to me… I will give you rest”
Today’s gospel passage from the Gospel of Matthew, comes after a discourse in which Jesus reproached people who have witnessed his mighty deeds yet still did not believe him. In this context, today’s gospel explains the reason for this unbelief and reveals what is necessary for faith.
Today’s gospel passage also continues to enhance our understanding of discipleship as last week’s gospel did. Jesus first prays in thanksgiving to God who has made himself known to Jesus’ disciples. He praises God who has made himself known to the ‘Little children’ and not to the wise and learned. A contrast is made here between the unbelieving Pharisees, who are wise and learned, and the faithful disciples, tax collectors, and sinners with whom Jesus keeps company.
The second part of our gospel passage calls to our attention the unity between the Father and the Son. God has made himself known through Jesus, and in knowing Jesus, we come to know the Father. In Jesus’ life and in his person, God reveals himself to us.
In the concluding sentences of our gospel reading, Jesus’ teaching is again contrasted to the teaching of the Pharisees. This common theme of Matthew’s gospel probably reflects the tension that existed between Jesus and the Pharisees and between the Pharisees and the community of Christians for whom Matthew wrote. The Pharisaic Judaism became the predominant form of Judaism after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Here in our gospel reading, that tension is expressed as alternative paths of holiness. The careful observance of the Mosaic law taught by Pharisees could be experienced by some as difficult and burdensome. In contrast, Jesus’ way of holiness is presented as uncomplicated and even restful. “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give rest.”
God bless you all Fr. Henry
IN THE NEWS...
Pope at Audience: 'I was comforted by the faith and joy of the Spanish people'
“The people of God gave me great comfort through their joyful expression of their faith and affection.”
Pope Leo XIV made this observation during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, as he reflected on his Apostolic Journey to Spain, visiting Madrid, Barcelona, the Abbey of Montserrat, and the Canary Islands.
The Holy Father recalled that after a long journey in four African countries, this time he found himself in a European country with an ancient and very rich Catholic tradition, which, despite significant social and cultural changes, welcomed him with enthusiasm and readiness to listen.
For this, Pope Leo said he thanks God and the entire Spanish people, the King and civil authorities, the Bishops and Church communities, also for the opportunity to confirm the faithful and, as Bishop of Rome, encourage them to overcome every form of division and conflict by always promoting communion, dialogue, and unity in diversity.
“This,” Pope Leo explained, “is the very service of the Successor of Peter, a service which finds a specific expression in Apostolic Journeys, each time adapted to the ecclesial and social situations of the countries visited.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta’s feast day inscribed in Roman Calendar on September 5
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was “a beacon of hope, small in stature but great in love, a witness to the dignity and privilege of humble service in the defence of all human life and of all those who have been abandoned, discarded and despised even in the hiddenness of the womb.”
Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, offered that praise of St. Teresa on Tuesday.
The Cardinal Prefect released a comment to accompany the decree inscribing St. Teresa of Calcutta into the General Roman Calendar.
The decree was accompanied by the to guide the faithful in praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the celebration of Mass.
Her feast day will be celebrated as an optional liturgical memorial annually on September 5, the date of her death in 1997.
Babies die in Mediterranean migrant tragedy
Babies die in Mediterranean migrant tragedy
Only two Nigerian women were rescued by Libyan search and rescue operators. One said she had lost her husband in the tragedy, the other said she had lost two babies.
They said the rubber dinghy overturned off the coastal Libyan town of Zuwara just six hours after its departure and immediately took on water.
IOM data show that in January alone, at least 375 migrants were reported dead or missing following multiple “invisible” shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean amid extreme weather, with hundreds more deaths believed to be unrecorded.
These repeated incidents highlight the persistent and deadly risks faced by migrants and refugees attempting the dangerous crossing.
The U.N. agency also said that more than 1,300 migrants have gone missing in the Central Mediterranean in 2025, and that "The latest incident brings the number of migrants reported dead or missing on the route since the beginning of this year to at least 484.
The Libyan route one is one of the main transit routes for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe. It is a journey riddled with perils across the desert and across the Mediterranean Sea.
ABOUT SAINT BEDE...
St Bede 673-735AD
Bede was born in 673 AD in the northeast of England. From the age of seven, he received a Benedictine education at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Wearmouth, today part of Sunderland. Bede spent his whole life within the twin monasteries of St Peter at Wearmouth and St Paul in Jarrow, where he became a Benedictine monk and continued his studies using the fine libraries established by the monastery's founder, St Benedict Biscop, Bede's first teacher, and under the guidance of Abbot Ceolfrith (Ceolwulf).
Bede wrote on many topics. His most famous work, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (the Ecclesiastical History of the English People), earned Bede the title "The Father of English History". His works revealed not only Bede's qualities as a scholar and historian but also the qualities of modesty and humility which make his works so memorable. However, Bede's work shows that he had at his command all the learning of his time. Bede's writings included papers and articles on scientific, historical, theological, and mathematical matters, as well as poetry and literature. St Bede is widely regarded as the greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon scholars. His sainthood was generally recognized around fifty years after his death on 25th May 735 AD. His bones were later elevated from St Paul's in Jarrow to Durham, where they lie in the Galilee Chapel at Durham Cathedral. Bede's scholarship and importance to Catholicism were recognized on 13th November 1899 when Pope Leo XIII decreed the title of Doctor Ecclesiae to St Bede the Venerable, making him the only English Doctor of the Church.
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