"Peace be with all of you!

We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and dialogue, always open to receive, like this square, with open arms - everyone, all those who need our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.

We want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.

Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world, and let us ask for this special grace from Mary, our Mother."

Taken from address of Pope Leo XIV shortly after his election as Pope, Thursday 8th May 2025, central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A.



Faith is to believe what you do not see;
the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
St. Augustine

May the Lord support us all the day long,

'til the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,

and the busy world is hushed,

and the fever of life is over,

and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us

a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.

St. John Henry Newman

May the Lord bless you and keep you
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.
Numbers 6:22-27

Praying for Peace with St. Oliver Plunkett

Glorious Martyr, St. Oliver, who willingly gave your life for your faith, help us also to be strong in faith. May we be loyal like you to the See of Peter. By your intercession and example may all hatred and bitterness be banished from the hearts of Irish men and women. May the peace of Christ reign in our hearts, as it did in your heart, even at the moment of your death. Pray for us and for Ireland.

Amen

  Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 

 The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen

from eternity the cross that He now presents to you

as a gift from His inmost heart.

This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes,

understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice,

warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own hands

to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you.

He had blessed it with His holy Name, anointed it with His consolation,

taken one last glance at you and your courage,

and then sent it to you from heaven,

a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

Your Cross, by St. Francis de Sales

 

 

 

JOURNEY OF LIFE

For each of us life is a journey. Birth is its beginning,

Death is not its end.

It is a journey that take us from youth to age,

from innocent to awareness, from ignorance to knowledge,

from foolishness to wisdom,

from weakness to strength and often back again,

from offence to forgiveness, from pain to compassion,

from fear to faith,

from defeat to victory and from victory to defeat,

Until, looking backward or ahead,

We see that victory does not lie at some high point along the way,

But in having made the journey, Stage by stage.

Adapted from an old Hebrew Prayer

Act of Faith and Self-Dedication

 My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor did I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem

to be lost in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,

and will never leave me to face my perils alone.

 

Thomas Merton