Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has requested that Catholics throughout the world to join him and his people in day of fasting and prayer for peace and reconciliation.
‘We have suddenly been catapulted into a sea of unprecedented violence…………………Everything seems to speak of death.’ Yet, in this time of sorrow and dismay, we do not want to remain helpless. We cannot let death and its sting (1 Cor 15:55) be the only word we hear. “On behalf of all the Church Leaders of the Holy Land, I invite all parishes and religious communities ……..that on Tuesday, 17th October, everyone hold a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer………….with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the Rosary to Our Blessed Virgin Mary.’
In response to the Patriarch’s request,
you are invited to come along to Mass on this coming
Tuesday 17th October at 10.00am,
followed by the Holy Rosary.
We hope as many people as possible can join us to pray peace and justice in the Holy Land.
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Rosary for Peace in the Holy Land
In this past week of such terrible violence in the Holy Land, we may be at a loss as to how to respond, what to say, even how to feel. Horror, yes; anger, yes; but perhaps most of all, great sadness, that so many lives, so many families, so many children have suffered so terribly. As with all wars in the world – in Ukraine, in Yemen, in East Africa and elsewhere, this terrible conflict in the Holy Land is truly a catastrophe.
The lead bishop of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, that is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, calls for Catholics throughout the world to join him and his people in prayer on this coming Tuesday.
Cardinal Pizzaballa exclaims,
‘We have suddenly been catapulted into a sea of unprecedented violence. …………………………………..Everything seems to speak of death.’
Yet, in this time of sorrow and dismay, we do not want to remain helpless. We cannot let death and its sting (1 Cor 15:55) be the only word we hear.
‘That is why we feel the need to pray, to turn our hearts to God the Father. Only in this way can we draw on the strength and serenity needed to endure these hard times, by turning to Him, in prayer and intercession, to implore and cry out to God amidst this anguish.’
The Cardinal goes onto to say:
“On behalf of all the Church Leaders of the Holy Land, I invite all parishes and religious communities to a day of fasting and prayer for peace and reconciliation.
“We ask that on Tuesday, 17th October, everyone hold a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer. Let us organise prayer times with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the Rosary to Our Blessed Virgin Mary.’
Our own bishop, Cardinal Archbishop Vincent Nichols, urges all the faithful in our Diocese of Westminster to ‘to join in solidarity and prayer with our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land, in our homes and parishes on that day.’ Cardinal Vincent asks that we pray for the intercession of Our Lady, asking that the Holy Spirit may be a bringer of peace at this time. He goes on to say, ‘Pray especially for the small but active Catholic community in Gaza City, who at this moment will be reaching out courageously to their neighbours, trying to offer shelter and support.
‘Today please pray the great prayer of the Rosary that this conflict, in the homeland of Mary herself, will quickly come to an end.’
Pope Francis, mourning the many people who have been killed and injured, also appeals for peace in the Holy Land…………. affirming that violence cannot help achieve a lasting peace built on justice.
He calls for ‘fraternity and dialogue.’ and goes on to say, “The Middle East does not need war but peace, a peace built on justice, dialogue, and the courage of fraternity,”
In response to the Patriarch’s request, therefore, on this coming Tuesday 17th October, you are invited to join us here in church for the 10am Mass, after which we will ‘pray the Rosary’.
If you are not able to come along on Tuesday morning, perhaps you can take time on your own or with family and friends ‘to pray the rosary’ when you have few minutes.
And if you are not familiar with ‘praying the Rosary’, do please take one of the blue leaflets at the back of the church, which will guide you in your prayers, whether you use Rosary beads, or just count on your fingers, whether you say one decade or several.
The Rosary, that prayer to Our Lady, is the most wonderful and rich of prayers.
Sometimes called the ‘Bible on a String’, the Rosary, takes us through the story of Salvation – that saving of humanity from a world of darkness, bringing humanity into God’s kingdom of light.
In praying the Rosary, through meditating on its Mysteries of ‘Joy, Sorrow, Light and Glory’, we accompany Mary as she journeys with her Son, Jesus; from the message of the angel, to his birth in the stable; with him in his preaching, his Passion, his Resurrection; commemorating his Ascension, and Mary’s own glorious Assumption into heaven.
And in our journey in life too, we ask, through praying the Rosary, that Mary accompanies us in our joys and our challenges, helping us to follow more closely her Son Jesus. And in the fullness of time, when, as we hear in our readings today, we are invited to God’s feast in heaven, where we will see him as he truly is, he will see us and welcome us, as true disciples of his Son Jesus, accompanied by Mary our heavenly Mother.
Join us then, if you can, on Tuesday morning, to pray through our Holy Mass and the Holy Rosary, for true and lasting peace in the Holy Land.
Deacon Adrian Cullen