COP26
Webmaster • November 12, 2021

Thank you for stopping and thinking of a prayer for the success of COP26 and placing it in the porch. Here are a selection ‘We can care by growing more trees’ ‘We pray for a cleaner and greener environment’ ‘We pray for the end of global warming around the world’ ‘We pray for our environment and the world that God has given us. Please may we save our planet and put a stop to climate change and global warming’ ‘Dear Lord give us the courage to live more simply and walk gently on the earth’

Pope Leo XIV invited the media professionals to promote a different kind of communication, one that “does not seek consensus at all costs, does not use aggressive words, does not follow the culture of competition, and never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it.” The Pope went on to reaffirm the Church’s solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for reporting the truth, and he called for their release. He also thanked reporters for their service to the truth, especially their work to present the Church in the “beauty of Christ’s love” during the recent interregnum period. “The Church must face the challenges posed by the times,” he said. “In the same way, communication and journalism do not exist outside of time and history. St Augustine reminds of this when he said, ‘Let us live well, and the times will be good. We are the times’.” Pope Leo XIV said the modern world can leave us lost in a “confusion of loveless languages that are often ideological or partisan.” “Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred,” he said. “Let us disarm words, and we will help disarm the world.” (Source: CBCEW)

Almighty ever-living God, constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us, that those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism may, under your protective care, bear much fruit and come to the joys of life eternal. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Join us this Saturday, 17th May , for a day of Awakening Eucharistic Adoration at St. Peter’s Church from 10 am to 5.30pm followed by Holy Mass. Led by St Peter’s Youth Cardiff (Jesus Youth Cardiff), this is a time to serve, pray, and be present for others. All are especially encouraged to join from 4:00 PM onwards, as Fr Matt Roche-Saunder s, Youth Director of the Archdiocese of Cardiff Menevia - Archesgobaeth Caerdydd Myny w, will celebrate Holy Mass at 5:30 PM. Let’s show up, be on time, and make this a grace-filled day for all!

The Virtues of Mary - Hope Hope, is a joyous expectation of future glory. How was Our Lady's Hope like while she was on earth? From the Gospel, we can easily gather how great was the hope that filled Mary's soul with joy. Whether it was at Nazareth, at Bethlehem, in the Temple, in Egypt, on Calvary, in days of sunshine and in days of gloom, the Gospel shows us Mary ever calm, radiant with peace and full of trust. How did she managed to do so? Because Hope springs from Faith. She believed even she didn't understand, even beyond natural reason. Mary believed readily, simply and with a lively faith, since she knew that with God all things are possible. Therefore, Mary's Hope became more manifest in the bitterest trials of life, and shone forth marvelously in her. Joseph is filled with doubt and anguish about her pregnancy. Yet she said nothing of the secret things she has heard from the Angel. She was silent, trusting in God that He will Himself reveal those profound mysteries to Joseph by other ways. People of Bethlehem refused to give her shelter on the night of her Child's birth but she uttered no word of lament, she hoped in God that He will provide for her the resting-place she needs. During the exile years in Egypt her greatest consolation was her hope that God, despite the fierce hatred of an earthly king, will care for her and bring her back to her homeland. At Cana, Jesus denied her the favour she asked. Her answer was a sublime act of hope in the Goodness of God Incarnate and it is rewarded by a miracle. In her grief for Jesus' sufferings, in her desolation at His Death, while the disciples have lost all hope, Mary rejoiced in the sweet assurance of seeing her Son will risen soon. So, if you are afflicted, embittered and disheartened by problems in lives, think of the example of Our Lady who was the 'blessed among women', and learn from her to hope! Not only that, when we pray the 'Hail, Holy Queen', we also greet her lovingly as "Our Hope". Since all our hope is centred in Jesus, Who is the author of life and happiness. But Jesus was given to us by Mary, thus the Saints have loved to think that all heavenly graces come to us from God through Mary. Let us in this month of May, turn to this 'Mother of holy hope' to pray for us who have recourse to her. (Reference: 'The Virtues of Mary' by Luigi Lanzoni, Loughborough: John Corah & Son, 1897)

Archbishop Mark said: “I was overjoyed to see the election of Pope Leo XIV. The Catholic community across South Wales and Herefordshire assure him of our prayer, love and fidelity...He will make an outstanding contribution to peace and stability in our world. Long live the Pope.” Thanksgiving Prayer for our new Pope Leo XIV God our loving Father, we thank you that the choice of the cardinals has resulted in Pope Leo. We thank you, Father, for listening to our prayers during the Consistory for a man of the Holy Spirit who will be a good leader for your Church. We ask that he, a pope who is inspired, will in turn inspire his people in the Church of Jesus Christ, entrusted to him. May we all be more deeply people of God, in our love, our trust of one another, and in our hopes for the future. May we also put our energy of greater faith in doing something, each in our small way, to bring your Gospel to the world. We ask this through Jesus our Lord. Amen

God's lover Who can that be? It is us. To be precise, every one of us. God Loves us, whoever you are, and He desires our love to Him. It is an invitation: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' (Mk 12:30) Now, you might thinks: this is my all, my everything! Nothing left for myself? Exactly. When Jesus asks us to love Him, He expressed it in such a way which seems quite harsh: 'He who does not hate his father and mother is not worthy of me'. But we must learn to penetrate its true meaning. 'To hate' means 'not to put my love first'. He speaks of a love through which we must learn to lose ourselves. And this divine love, unlike human love which often violate the beloved when in excess, does not degrade our life. If you do love God, as a lover, you will try your best; because he who loves wants to see the lover's desires fully satisfied, and the will of the beloved will become the will of the lover. Also because love exists in such a way that it cannot be satisfied unless it continually increases and expands. But if you do struggle to unite with Him, do not worry, He is with you, He will come to meet you with His Love. Truly, we have no pure true love within ourselves unless we have God within us, who is Love Himself, who diffuses charity in our hearts, who teaches us how to love. And this Love needs to be loved, as only in the act of love does the object of love reveal himself to the lover, and unveil the lovableness through which the lover loves him. Within this Love, the lover is continually transformed into the Beloved and the Beloved into the lover, slowly the lover will be like the Beloved and gradually the lover acts like the Beloved. Through loving Jesus, we are being introduced into His Kingdom of Justice and Holiness and drawing us to the heights of charity where we would be one with God. The Lord's daily request of us, is simply that we love Him ever more. (Reference: 'Rosminian Spirituality: In the Spirit of the Founder', Fr Giovanni Gaddo, 1971)