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.
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,
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.
Wishing each of you deep peace and hope for better days ahead,
Cathy Day,
Director
The School of Meditation, WCCM
This Sunday, let’s recall everything that has happened over the last few weeks.
On Good Friday, Jesus died on the Cross.
On Easter Sunday, he rose from the dead!
On Thursday of last week, we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension, when Jesus went to join his Father in Heaven.
This Sunday, we hear how Jesus prayed to his Father in Heaven for us. He showed us how we can pray to him as well.
In this week’s Children’s Liturgy by Zoom, we will explore different ways to pray. The worksheet includes prayer cards for children to cut out and colour in.
(An urgent appeal for Prayer!)
When Jesus went to join his Father in Heaven, he left us in charge of our world. Pope Francis sent us all a letter about this. With the coronavirus pandemic turning the world upside down, could now be the time to change things? What can you do about it?
(N.B. The Look worksheet for this week focuses on the Feast of the Ascension rather than the Gospel reading for the 7th Sunday of Easter: LOOK-Sunday-24th-May-2020)
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
Please see below the link for the revised version of the music for this Sunday, 24 May.
International English-Speaking Community of the Parish of Luxembourg Notre Dame 