Author: Fr Ed

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Volunteers needed for the church and a return to Mass

Following guidance from the Archbishop the Pastoral Council met yesterday evening with Fr Ed and Fr HP to look at moving towards celebrating Mass in the church again.

Before any definite dates can be published, Fr Ed and FR HP need the support of teams of volunteers to keep our community safe when they come to Mass. If you can support with the following please contact the parish office by email: parish@catholic.lu

  1.  Assist with setting up the church according to safety guidance.
  2. Volunteer as a member of a team of welcomers on a rota at either morning or evening Mass on a Sunday.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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IOP and Covid-19

Many members of our community already support the Ilula Orphanage Program (IOP) but like many charitable organisations they are struggling during the period of Covid-19.

If you would like to find out more about IOP and how you can help, please click on the link below.

Covidsupport-final

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Online meditation course

Marcella leads our mediation group, which practises meditation  in the Christian Tradition as practised by the Desert Fathers and Mothers in the 3rd and 4th centuries, and re introduced in our time to Christian communities by the  Benedictine monk and priest, John Main. She has brought to our attention an online course, which in these Covid Times  is a good way of spending time in prayer and contemplation! And it only costs 25 euros for quite a comprehensive course! Read on for more information.

Dear Friends,

Across the world, people have been, and continue to learn to live with a silent and unwelcome intruder, Covid 19 which is causing much devastation to health and well-being. So many lives lost, so many struggling with mental health concerns and long term anxiety as jobs disappear and poverty spreads. Even before the virus however, health and well-being has been an issue with obesity and mental health illnesses as two major concerns.

Our new course Meditation, Wellbeing and More is a journey that begins with an exploration of well-being and how our meditation practice allows us to overcome a significant barrier to true well-being by leaving self behind. John Main reminds us that we meditate every morning and evening to turn aside from what is passing away and to be more deeply committed to and inserted into what is eternal.

Please consider registering for this course yourself and promoting it on your community website and in your communications to meditation groups and others. This is a course that may appeal to those not yet involved in meditation who may as a result of doing the course, wish to join a meditation group. We would welcome your support in inviting people to do the course and in receiving your feedback on the course.

Wishing each of you deep peace and hope for better days ahead,

Cathy Day,
Director
The School of Meditation, WCCM

 

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An urgent appeal for Prayer!

I have been mentioning at Mass for some time that we will be praying a Novena to the Holy Spirit in the 9 days leading up to Pentecost. That time is upon us! The term ‘novena’, from the Latin for ‘nine’ refers back to the days following the Ascension of Jesus into heaven to the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (50 days after the Resurrection).

So we are gathered in prayer, waiting for the gift of the Spirit. We need spiritual refreshment: we need the gifts the Holy Spirit brings; our lives need to show the fruits of the Spirit — now is the time to pray.

We pray for the outpouring of the Spirit for ourselves, our loved ones, our English-speaking Catholic Christian community, our fellow Christians here, and on all people.

Please join me in making this prayer. We need God’s help in recovering from our present situation. I don’t make many urgent appeals, but this is one of them! I will be praying the Novena online each day at the end of the 10:00 Mass and during the night prayer at 18:00 — if you can’t be present at those times, select prayers/readings from the leaflet and make them in your own time. I can’t stress enough the importance I attach to our solidarity in prayer, our invocation of the Holy Spirit, and our continued commitment to each other and to the Lord.

You can find the Novena leaflet here.

Happy Praying!

Fr Ed