St Damien of Molokai - pray for us

Please say a prayer for me and my son on my feast day and his secondary feast day. 

May his prayers and example encourage all of us to reach out to those who are forgotten and rejected bringing the light of Christ and His Church. 

St Damien of Molokai pray for us!

Pope Paul VI to be beatified.

Following the approval of a miracle the beatification of Pope Paul VI is set to take place on October 19th this year. 

The Pope who presided over the lifting of the excommunications of the Greek Orthodox and the releasing of the prophetic Encyclical, Humanae Vitae is therefore set on the course of canonisation. 

Perhaps the soon to be Blessed Paul VI could pray for an end to the widespread liturgical abuses of the 1970s and for a reversal in the falling away of Mass attendance and disbelief in the blessed Sacrament that followed.  

English martyrs, pray for us!

The martyrs of England and Wales, whose feast is celebrated today, 4th May, remind us that we cannot be syncretists. As Catholics we do not believe that every spiritual path leads to God but that the way to God isn't by a variety of routes but by one Person and the Church He founded. 

The millions of Catholics who gave their lives for Christ, from Saint Stephen as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the martyrs of the Deformation era right up to  the Jesuit priest, Fr Frans Van der Lugt killed in Syria a few weeks back were willing to witness to the Truth. 

May we be inspired by the words, lives and ultimate sacrifice of these martyrs and be prepared to remain steadfast and loyal to Christ and His Church. 

St Joseph the Worker

Today my wife and I celebrated our son's third feast day since being born by visiting his Godparents. 

There is something wonderful about remembering and celebrating one's saint's day. Joseph is especially blessed in having three feast days - including the Holy Family and of course the traditional St Joseph's Day on 19th March 

Although a modern innovation, the feast of St Joseph the Worker is a powerful reminder of how everything we do can be holy if offered for God. It also seems fitting that the month dedicated to Mary, starts with her husband, Joseph. 

St Joseph the worker, pray for us.