A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning

We celebrate the feast of one of our greatest saints today - St Benedict (480 - 547 AD), the founder of the monastic tradition as we know it in the West. He was an extraordinary man who really only wanted a quiet life in the presence of God and a few quiet companions. However, as we know the Lord has his own plans for each of us and he was not always understood and so he had to move several times but disciples always joined him.

Many other monastic orders have taken their example from his Rule - a short treatise on communal life founded on communal prayer and the living out of the Gospel. The rule is simple but demanding of those who want to commit to the monastic life, but there is much in it which applies to all of us who want to take our faith to heart:

‘This is the zeal which monks should practise with the most ardent love, they should forestall one another in paying honour’
‘They should with the greatest patience make allowance for one another’s weaknesses, whether physical or moral’.
‘No one should pursue what he thinks advantageous for himself, but rather what seems best for another’.
They should prefer nothing whatever to Christ’.

And finally: ‘May he bring us all alike to life everlasting.’

The contemplative dimension is vital to the life of the Church but it’s not simply for monks and nuns; we too must develop that contemplative attitude in our own lives - that awareness of God’s presence in all parts of our lives, since there is no part of our lives from which God is absent.

Let us pray for those who are sick especially
Adela, Winnie, Sylvia, Joe, Susan, Irene, Paddy, Jimmy, Maureen and Michael
And for those who have died especially

Fr Peter, Michael, Roy, Alf, Malcolm, Elsie, Matthew, Anne, Stella, Chris, Kenneth, Carol Ann, Ingeburg, Winnie, Patricia, Eileen, Maureen, Joan, Frank, Robert, Lynda, Cecilia, Lourdes, Dale, John, Eileen, Michael, Graham, Maria, Andrew, Gladys, Ellen, Patrick, Pauline, Michael, Alice, Gordon, Mary, William, Elsie, Lynn, Pauline, Richard, Tom, Paula, Michael, Susan, Denis, Tony, Antoinette, Michael, Marion, Frances, Audrey, Sheila, William, Bridget and Joe

St Joseph, guardian of families, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John