FEASTS OF THE WEEK
Friday 27th June : The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
World Day of Prayer for Priests
"We are celebrating the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in the liturgy we peer, as it were, into the heart of Jesus opened in death by the spear of the Roman soldier. Jesus' heart was indeed opened for us and before us - and thus God's own heart was opened. God personally looks after me, after us, after all mankind. I am not abandoned, adrift in the universe and in a society which leaves me ever more lost and bewildered. God looks after me. He is not a distant God, for whom my life is worthless. Many perhaps did not even want God to look after them. They did not want God to get in the way. It is fine and consoling to know that there is someone who loves me and looks after me. But it is far more important that there is a God who knows me, loves me and is concerned about me. "I know my own and my own know me" (Jn 10:14). God knows me, he is concerned bout me. This thought should make us truly joyful."
Pops Benedict XVI, Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 2010
Prayer for Priests
Lord Jesus Christ,
eternal High Priest, you offered yourself to the
Father on the altar of the Cross and through the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave your priestly
people a share in your redeeming sacrifice.
Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests.
Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial
priesthood may be ever more conformed to you,
the divine Master. May they preach the
Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience.
Let them be shepherds according to your own Heart,
single-minded in service to you and to the Church
and shining examples of a holy, simple and joyful life.
Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
your Mother and ours, draw all priests and the flocks
entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life
where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
(Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer for Priests)
Saturday 28th June : Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The contiguity of both celebrations is in itself a liturgical sign of their close connection: the mysterium of the Heart of Jesus is projected onto and reverberates in the Heart of his Mother, who is also one of his followers and a disciple.
Sunday 29th June : Ss Peter and Paul, Apostles
On this day, traditionally considered in pagan Rome to be its foundation day by Romulus, we celebrate the twin founders of the Church in Rome.
St. Peter, originally called Simon, a fisherman who became leader of the apostles and the rock on which the Church is build, died by crucifixion in Rome around the year 64.
St. Paul, Saul the Pharisee, who became the "Apostle of the Gentiles", was martyred by beheading around the year 67.
Both proclaim with their lives that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Tuesday 1st July : St. Oliver Plunkett
Born in Loughcrew, Co. Meath. From Irish nobility whose family supported King Charles I. He studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained a priest on 01/01/1654. He was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland in 1669. During this time of religious persecution and suppression of priests, he was forced to conduct a covert ministry, he went into hiding however determined not to abandon his people, but to remain a faithful shepherd. In 1679 he was arrested and tried at Dundalk for conspiring against the state. It was seen that he would never be convicted in Ireland, and he was moved to Newgate prison, London. He was found guilty of high treason "for promoting the Catholic faith", and was condemned to a gruesome death. He was martyred on 1st July 1681 at Tyburn in hanging, disembowelling, quartering and beheading. He was the last Catholic to die for his faith at Tyburn, and the first of the Irish martyrs to be beatified. His body was initially buried in two tin boxes next to five Jesuits who had died before; his head is now in St. Peter's Church, Drogheda; most of his body is at the Benedictine Monastery Downside Abbey, Somerset, England. He was canonised in Rome on 12th October 1975 by Pope St. Paul VI.
Thursday 3rd July : St. Tomas, Apostle
He is said to have preached the gospel in India where he was martyred. The faith that led him to know Christ in his wounds also sent him to the farthest places to preach Christ.
Friday 4th July : St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1271-1331)
Of the House of Aragon, she had an unhappy marriage with the King of Portugal. She persevered in prayer and good works, and as a widow lived in poverty as a Franciscan tertiary.
Saturday 5th July : St. Anthony Zaccaria (1502-1539)
He was a medical doctor before becoming a priest in Milan. He founded the Barnabites.