“Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”.
There is a kingdom of darkness that flails its way through our world, and Putin is one small example. Above all, there is a kingdom of light that has come into our world: Christ the Lord. Let us make sure that prayer has an essential place in our lives. If God is for us who can be against; the trials and tribulations of life reveals that quite a lot of things can be against us.
Putting our best foot forward, these are the trials through which we triumph by the power of Him who loves us. First and foremost, God holds all things together, so that an acknowledgement of our needs is important and the sure hope that this brings into our life is simply helpful.
Then as we move forward together in the life of our church, the parish council, our young peoples liturgy, the various ministries, the care for our churches, and especially a real life of faith shared together. The question of Sunday masses will not go away. They need not put too much of a shadow if Christ is our life. Our light will shine.
Because I am human, the fact that my church at home in Ireland does not have Sunday morning mass, makes the challenge very real for me and I hope for all of us.