Readings at Mass Today
This Week
1st Sunday of Advent
Open your ears, O Christian People!
Christmas might seem like a long time away, but Advent is a short period of preparation.
How are we going to prepare ourselves spiritually for the coming of our Saviour? This year a good place to start might be with Holy Scripture, as this is the first week using the new lectionary. The translation is slightly different, but it is a beautiful and refreshing view into the original texts. Why the change? Well, human language is rather an inadequate tool, but it is the only language we have, so we have to make the best of it. Fortunately, our Heavenly Father does not have these limitations, so words are not always required for communicating with God.
Let us open our ears and hear the Holy Word of God in newness, so that it can truly touch our hearts.
With every blessing for a holy Advent.
Deacon Peter
Novena to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A novena is a powerful devotion of prayer, said over nine consecutive days, asking God and the saints for special graces. We begin saying this novena prayer in preparation for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Please pray the novena with the parish and at home. May these prayers bring us many graces, especially as we begin the holy season of Advent. We will pray for a number of special intentions and you could also decide upon your own personal intentions for the novena.
Father, you prepared the Virgin Mary
to be the worthy Mother of your Son.
You made it possible for her
to share beforehand in the salvation of your Son, Jesus Christ, who would bring life by His death, and kept her without sin
from the first moment of her conception.
Give us the grace by her prayers
ever to live in your presence without sin.
We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Offertory and Special Collections
Latest News
Pastoral Letter on Assisted Suicide
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has issued a pastoral letter on assisted suicide that will be read in the churches of his diocese on the weekend of 12-13 October. Here is a link to the text and audio on the diocesan website: https://rcdow.org.uk/cardinal/homilies/pastoral-letter-on-assisted-suicide