Bishop's Journal
Prayer for Holy Souls
24th November 2020
From among my prayer resources for the deceased and for the month of November when our prayer is for the Holy Souls, I share with you this affirming Jewish prayer.
Mourner’s Kadish
“Glorified and sanctified be God’s great name throughout the world
which He has created according to His will.
May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days,
and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon;
Let all say, Amen.
“May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honoured,
adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He,
beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations
that are ever spoken in the world;
Let all say, Amen.
“May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel;
and say, Amen.
“He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel;
Let all say, Amen.”
The Mourner’s Kadish (or Kaddish) written in Aramaic almost 2,000-years ago is the prayer traditionally recited in memory of the dead, although it makes no mention of death. It is included in all three daily prayer services, and is a prayer dedicated to praising God.
The Kaddish prayer, focuses on increasing God’s grandeur in the world, counteracting a sense that God’s presence is lessened by death, and originally had nothing to do with mourning. On the contrary to recite the Kaddish, testifies that the deceased person has left behind worthy descendants, people who proclaim their ongoing loyalty to God.
It is a prayer that is positive, affirming and of a hopeful nature in contradiction to the often negative, even depressed, outlook of a mourner; a call for the coming of God’s ultimate reign on earth.
Traditionally, it was recited as a solemn prayer for a parent for 11 months after their burial.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4 ESV/CE
Week of prayer for an end to the world pandemic
15th November
Shortly after the beginning of the first UK lockdown in March I decided that one of my
live-streamed Masses would be a weekly ‘Diocesan Mass for the Sick and their Families,
Health Care, Social Care and other Essential Service Workers’ and that specifically I
would work through the parishes of the Diocese, week by week praying especially for them.
At the time I didn’t think I would complete a full cycle, as it happens I have now begun the
second round, so unchecked the corona virus pandemic has been. That first nationwide
lockdown has come to an end; In Wales we have had a seventeen day fire-break lockdown
and currently England experiences a four week circuit breaker lockdown. Despite the low
risk and absence of evidence that people gathering in churches for collective worship create
a significant risk of transmission of COVID our churches had to close to congregations wanting
to gather for Mass again. Now in Wales mercifully we are able to celebrate public Masses again.
At Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ request these days before the celebration of the Church’s feast of
Jesus Christ Universal King on Sunday 22nd November which marks the last Sunday of the
Church’s year there be a week of prayer daily at 6.00pm for an end to this world crisis.
This can be done at home in family/social bubbles, alone or with fellow Christians and Catholics via ZOOM or on the ‘phone, or to join me on those days this week when I am able to live-stream at that time or later. A list of particular intentions as well as some prayers are available on the website or from your priest.
The prayer will conclude with an holy-hour on Saturday when Cardinal Peter Erdo of Budapest-Estergom invites us all to pray together on the vigil of the feast of Christ the King at what would have been the time of the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest taking place. I will lead an holy-hour here at 4.00pm and invite you to join with me then. This is an all Wales endeavour as Archbishop George Stack and I are as one on this for our dioceses.
For the foreseeable future be assured of my particular prayer weekly for all affected by coronavirus and in rotation your parishes. This week it will be Bangor, Caernarfon, University Chaplaincy & Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Diwali - The Indian Festival of Lights
November 14th
The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has given a
‘Message for Deepavali celebrated by those of the Hindu tradition and communities’,
which falls this year on 14th November.
Here is a short extract:
‘As Pope Francis has rightly noted, "solidarity today is the road to take towards
a post- pandemic world, towards the healing of our interpersonal and social ills",
and "a way of coming out of the crisis better" (General Audience, 2 September 2020).
‘Our respective religious traditions teach us to remain positive and hopeful even amid
adversity. In cherishing those religious traditions and teachings, may we strive in the
midst of this global crisis to spread what Pope Francis delights in calling "the contagion
of hope" (Urbi et Orbi Message, 12 April 2020) through gestures of care, affection,
kindness, gentleness and compassion which are more contagious than the
coronavirus itself.’
Diwali, which is also known as the Indian Festival of Lights,
is celebrated during the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika (between mid-October and mid-November).
It is one of the most popular Hindu festivals and it symbolises the spiritual
"victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance".
Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day
Date Nov 1918
Dear Walter,
Great news, war has ended.
Date May 1945
Dear Walter,
Great news, war has ended.
Date 2014
Dear Walter,
News not great, war never ends
Hey Walter
Great news, you will never be forgotten,
Patricia Taylor, 54
Colchester, Mother
FROM: Letter to an Unknown Soldier - A new kind of war memorial.
Edited by ©Neil Barlett & ©Kate Pullinger; and ©Individual Contributors. William Collins 2014
Every friend will say, “I too am a friend”;
but some friends are friends only in name.” …
Do not forget a friend in your heart
and be not unmindful of him in your wealth.
Sirach 37:1,6
1st November – Month of prayer for the Holy Souls
God has made man for immortality.
Do not invite death by the error of your life
or bring on destruction by the works of your hands;
because God does not make death,
and he does not delight in the death of the living.
For he created all things that they might exist,
and the origins of the world are wholesome,
and there is no destructive poison in them
and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
For righteousness is immortal.
Book of the Wisdom of Solomon 1:12-15 ESV/CE
Receive, Lord, in tranquillity and peace, the souls of your servants who have departed out of this present life to be with you.
Give them the life that knows no age, the good things that do not pass away; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
S. Ignatius Loyola
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Friday 30th October
The celebratory Mass was live streamed from the Cathedral to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the canonisation of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by St. Pope Paul VI on 25th October 1970 in Rome. The Mass was a celebration of part of our Catholic heritage in Wales. The six Welsh martyrs are Richard Gwyn (HDQ Wrexham 1584), John Jones (HDQ Southwark 1598), John Roberts (HDQ Tyburn 1610), Philip Evans (HDQ Cardiff 1679), John Lloyd (HDQ Cardiff 1679) and David Lewis (HDQ Usk 1679).
25th October Feast of The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Fifty years ago today, 25th October, Saint Pope Paul VI canonised Forty English
and Welsh Martyrs of the 16th and 17th Centuries (1535-1692).
The ceremony was the culmination of a process which had begun more than
a hundred years earlier. It has been recognised that, in total, there were nearly
four hundred men and women who had been martyred in that period, and the
last execution took place in 1680.
In the following two hundred years, by 1880, all but forty-three had been
declared ‘Venerable’.
Of those declared Venerable, sixty-three were Beatified in two groups,
in December 1886, and May 1895. Then, in December 1929, a further
135 Martyrs were beatified. Of the 158 remaining ‘Venerable’ martyrs,
some have now been Beatified, that is, raised to the state to be declared
‘Blessed’.
The first two to be canonised, and declared Saints were St John Fisher,
and St Thomas More, in a ceremony conducted by Pope Pius XI on
19th May 1935. Thirty-five years later the Six Welsh Martyrs and their
companions were canonised. (Saints Richard Gwyn, John Jones, John Roberts,
Philip Evans, John Lloyd and David Lewis).
Among those from North Wales whose cause for canonisation is yet to be made are:
Blessed William Davies (executed in Beaumaris in 1593); Blessed Edward Jones from the Vale of Clwyd, (Fleet Street, London, in 1590); Venerable Richard Flower, from Anglesey, (Tyburn in 1588); Venerable John Goodman from Bangor (died in Newgate Prison in 1642); Venerable Edward Morgan, from Flint (Tyburn in 1642) and Venerable Charles Mihan (Ruthin in 1679).
Apart from Venerable John Goodman, all were Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered, in the respective place of execution.
You may wish to pray for the canonisation of the remaining Blessed Martyrs of England and Wales, with these prayers:
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which thy held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and vindicate our blood from them that dwell on the earth?’ (Rev. 6:9ff)
℣. Beneath the throne of God all the saints cry aloud.
℟. Vindicate our blood, O Lord our God.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech You Almighty God, that we, who admire in Your Martyrs the courage of their glorious confession, may witness in ourselves the power of their loving intercession.
O God, who glorifies those who glorify You, and who are honoured in the honours of Your Saints,
grant we beseech You, by the solemn judgement of Your Church, to glorify the blood of the Martyrs who have been put to death in England and Wales for the testimony of Jesus.
Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. ℟. Amen.
Our Father… Hail Mary… Apostle creed – I believe …
St. David, pray for Wales. St. Winefride, pray for Wales St. Richard Gwyn and Saints of Wales, pray for Wales
Pope Paul said:
‘To all those who are filled with admiration in reading the records of these Forty Martyrs,
it is perfectly clear that they are worthy to stand alongside the greatest martyrs of the past;
and this is not merely because of their fearless faith and constancy,
but by reason of their humility, simplicity and serenity,
and above all the spiritual joy and that wondrously radiant love
with which they accepted their condemnation and death.’
Homily of Pope Paul VI at the Canonisation of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, 25th October 1970
26th October
Apostolic Nuncio
We welcome Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti as Apostolic Nuncio in Great Britain appointed by Pope Francis. He said he is honoured to undertake that Mission in these countries and looks forward to working in the service of the Church here. He will represent the Holy Father to the Catholic Church in the UK, and is an important link between ourselves and the Holy See. As Papal Ambassador to the United Kingdom, he will represent the Holy See to government authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. He was previously Papal Nuncio to the Ukraine.
He is expected to present his credentials to her Majesty the Queen at the Court of St. James when COVID restrictions allow.
In assuring him of a warm welcome, he also has an assurance of prayer for his important work.
23rd October
At the Wednesday General Audience Pope Francis concluded a two part catechesis on
the Psalms which he had begun the previous week. In summary, he said that the Book
of Psalms can be considered a great treasury of prayers. The Psalms teach us to pray
to God in words that He Himself has given us.
In them, we encounter the entire gamut of human emotions, from praise, petition and
joyful thanksgiving to anguished supplication for deliverance from life’s bitter
disappointments and sorrows. The Psalms are a guide to growth in the practice of prayer.
They open our hearts to ever deeper hope in God’s providential care; they confirm our
trust in his promises, and they inspire us to persevere on our life-long journey of
faith in his word.
Each day the Church prays the Psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours, which ordained clergy
and some religious are obliged to pray in full or in part. It is wonderful that an increasing
number of lay people pray at least part of the Liturgy of the Hours daily.
It is worth remembering that this is the prayer of the whole Church and that as the sun sets on one part of the world, it rises on another so there is a raising of hearts and minds and voices to God in one single prayer. With live streaming, mobile phone, or ZOOM you can pray this prayer in common with others. To join in this great prayer you could buy the books, but that would cost upwards of £50. Alternatively, it is possible to purchase (£19.99 direct) a Universalis registration code. That gives the whole of the Liturgy of the Hours, daily Mass texts, daily lives of Saints and a selection of other prayers and spiritual readings in perpetuity. Once the registration is obtained it can be downloaded onto PC, tablet, or ’phone at no further charge.
Following the inspiration of the ‘God who Speaks’ project, praying with one another -on our own or in communication with one another- in God’s words is a great and supportive part of our Christian life, especially at this time when we are unable to be together in prayer in our churches. Already a number of people join me when I live-stream Morning, Evening or Night Prayer on Facebook.
While I am not in the habit of endorsing any products, I do commend Universalis. It is even possible to have a month’s free trial. Just search www.universalis.com
To read in full what Pope Francis said about The Prayer of the Psalms go to www.vatican.va ‘Audiences’ and look at the dates of 14th and 21st October.
Friday 23rd October
On the Friday following the feast (18th October) of St. Luke, Apostle and named the ‘physician’ I have regularly celebrated a Mass for all Medical and Health Care staff, especially those working in the hospitals, hospices and care homes in the Diocese and not forgetting those who work in the community and domiciliary setting. I have done so again this year when the need for intercession and prayer for our health care worker is all the more pertinent because of COVID-19. I invite you to continue to join with me in that prayer. The Mass was live streamed from the Cathedral.
St. Richard Gwyn
The Feast of St Richard Gwyn, a teacher, is a reminder of the important place of Catholic
teachers and parish catechists in the handing on of the faith to the next generation. Equally
important is the hugely significant role of on-going adult formation. Who is going to do it? In
order to offer opportunities for volunteers to undertake this vital task, the Diocese has become
a partner in the ‘Liverpool Archdiocesan with the Dioceses of the Northern Province’ Adult
Formation Courses, run from Loyola University, Chicago, USA.
I commend these on-line courses, which have been adapted for the British Church. All those
who are interested in developing their faith knowledge in a formal way are invited to express their
interest.
In a recent letter to the clergy, I wrote:
“Two recent documents from Rome, ‘The Pastoral Conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelising mission of the Church’ and ‘The Directory for Catechesis’ remind us of the need for ongoing adult formation. Through the partnership we enjoy with the Archdiocese of Liverpool these Diploma and Certificate courses are available to our Diocese.
One of the elements of parish pastoral life we have to look to more and more is the sound formation of the lay-faithful based on a parish, or a cluster of parishes. I commend these courses to you for the benefit of your parishes. While there is no direct payback, it is a legitimate parish expense to subsidise those who subscribe to either course in the hope that in due course they will take on a greater supportive role in the service of the parish or cluster. To have a network of formed lay-faithful across the Diocese would be a great blessing now and in the future.
Please make the details of these courses available to your parishioners and even approach parishioners you think would benefit from completing such a course and who would benefit our parishes having completed it. In conversation with your priest and deacon neighbours you may be able to support candidates together and share the cost and opportunities.”
Enrolment for either course is by 8th December 2020 and a number of information webinars begin at the end of October. Please look at the brochures for details and pass the information on. A group of three or four going forward from the Diocese would be a great asset, as well as being encouragement and support to each other. We have at least half-a-dozen graduates in the Diocese already, from previous years.
file:///C:/Users/PeterBrignall/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/2XX2ZLYZ/Diploma%20Information%20Booklet%20Final%20(003).pdf or/and file:///C:/Users/PeterBrignall/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/2XX2ZLYZ/IPS_Spring_2021_Online_Courses_England_Archdiocese_of_Liverpool_4%20pages.A%20(002).pdf
Congratulations on Episcopal Ordinations
We extend congratulations, best wishes and prayers to Canons David Evans and Stephen Wright of the Archdiocese of Birmingham whose Episcopal Ordination took place in the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Basilica
of St. Chad. They are to be Auxiliary Bishops in Birmingham
St John Henry Newman
St John Henry Newman was canonised just a year ago, so this is the first opportunity for a full
liturgical celebration. He is the most recently canonised saint, and since a considerable time,
he is the first who was not martyred.
I found the following prayer in one of his sermons:
Support us, Lord, all the day long
Until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes,
The busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over
And our work is done,
Then Lord, in your mercy
Grant us safe lodging, a holy rest,
And peace at the last,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
St Jerome
We have just celebrated the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. Jerome. As the leading biblical scholar, Jerome was given the task of translating the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek originals into the common language (Vulgate), i.e. Latin. He is seen in many ways as the father of biblical scholarship though it has to be said he is building on a foundation laid by others in both the eastern and western church.
More recently, just ten years ago, Pope Benedict XVI gave his Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, as his response to the work of the Synod of Bishops in 2008 on the ‘Word of God in the life and mission of the Church’. The celebratory year ‘2020 The God who Speaks’ was inspired by this double anniversary.
A new Apostolic Letter SCRIPTURAE SACRAE AFFECTUS has unexpectedly been issued to mark this occasion.
It begins, ‘Devotion to sacred Scripture, a “living and tender love” for the written word of God: this is the legacy that Saint Jerome bequeathed to the Church by his life and labours.’ The 2020 project is all about that devotion to sacred scripture in the life of the individual, the Church and the world. Most of all, it is a great boost as we approach the beginning of a new liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent – the year of Mark.
No doubt I shall write more about this letter and ‘The God Who Speaks’ project. Another topic will be the encyclical from Pope Francis ‘Fratelli Tutti’.
During the next few weeks, amid the lockdown and restrictions caused by Covid -19 there will be plenty to reflect upon.
The Apostolic letter is short and can be found on http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20200930_scripturae-sacrae-affectus.html
Another text to look at is the new Directory for Catechesis which renews and refreshes the emphasis on the place of Scriptures as the foundation of personal renewal, formation and worship.
A constant is reading the Bible to find its function in the role of evangelisation.
