The Feast of the Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany

The Three Kings come bringing gifts and came to pay homage

The wise men followed the star. Through the language of creation, they discovered the God of history. To be sure – the language of creation alone is not enough. Only God’s word, which we encounter in sacred Scripture, was able to mark out their path definitively. Creation and Scripture, reason and faith, must come together, so as to lead us forward to the living God. There has been much discussion over what kind of star it was that the wise men were following. Some suggest a planetary constellation, or a supernova, that is to say one of those stars that is initially quite weak, in which an inner explosion releases a brilliant light for a certain time, or a comet, etc. This debate we may leave to the experts. The great star, the true supernova that leads us on, is Christ himself. He is, as it were, the explosion of God’s love, which causes the great white light of his heart to shine upon the world. And we may add: the wise men from the East, who feature in today’s Gospel, like all the saints, have themselves gradually become constellations of God that mark out the path. In all these people, being touched by God’s word has, as it were, released an explosion of light, through which God’s radiance shines upon our world and shows us the path. The saints are stars of God, by whom we let ourselves be led to him for whom our whole being longs. 

Pope Benedict XVI, Epiphany 2012

Happy New Year: A Hymn of praise

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Te Deum: We praise thee O God

Today we celebrate the Feast of Mary Mother of God.  In the Office of Readings, the Te Deum is sung. This reminds us of the beautiful stained glass window at the back of the Cathedral. It gives praise to the Trinity, to Christ and prayers for the people. We see Mary with hands uplifted and above her Son Christ the King sitting on a throne surrounded by communion of saints and angels. Below a video of the Te Deum in Latin with English translation as we give thanks to God for all he has given us.

Te Deum window, St Peter's Lancaster Cathedral

Lancaster Martyrs Pilgrimage

 Lancaster Martyrs Pilgrimage: 

Martyrs Mark

On Monday 26th May parishioners gathered with the Bishop for prayers at the Castle, they then walked in the steps of the martyrs from the castle to their place of execution which is marked by the Martyrs stone. Afterwards they joined others for Mass at the Cathedral.

Photograph below is a panel from some vestments asking the English Martyrs to Pray for Us.

Vestment English Martyrs Pray for Us

Blessing and sprinkling with holy water

 Blessing and sprinkling with Holy Water

During the Easter Season we have been starting Sunday morning mass with blessing and sprinkling with Holy Water.

Fr Philip sprinkles congregation with holy water

The Roman Missal recommends that Sunday Mass occasionally includes the blessing and sprinkling of Holy Water as a reminder of our baptism, especially during the Easter season. Therefore, throughout Eastertide we will observe this rite at the 10.30am Mass. 

The prayers are as follows:

After the greeting the priest blesses the water:

Dear brethren, let us humbly beseech the Lord our God to bless this water he has created, which will be sprinkled on us as a memorial of our baptism. May he help us by his grace to remain faithful to the Spirit we have received. Lord our God, in your mercy be present to your peoples prayers, and, for us who recall the wondrous work of our redemption, graciously bless this water.

God you created water to make the fields fruitful and to refresh and cleanse our bodies. You also made water the instrument of your mercy: for through water you freed your people from slavery in the desert; through water the prophets proclaimed the new covenant you were to enter upon with the human race; and last of all. Through water, which Christ made holy in the Jordan, you renewed our corrupted nature in the bath of regeneration. Therefore, may this water be for us a memorial of the baptism we have received, and grant that we may share in the gladness of our brothers and sisters who at Easter have received their baptism. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

The priest sprinkles himself, and then all the congregation, with holy water, asking forgiveness of our sins in preparation to celebrate Holy Mass. During which the choir sing.

When he returns to the altar he says:

May almighty God cleanse us of our sins, and through the celebration of this Eucharist make us worthy to share at the table of his Kingdom. Amen.

Admission to hospital : an important reminder

 Admission to hospital : an important reminder

Lancaster Royal Infirmary

On admission to hospital, you will be asked a number of questions, one of which should be about what faith denomination should be included on your official records. In the often hectic and stressful process of admission this particular piece of information can sometimes be overlooked.

It is vital that, on admission, you ensure that you nominate as Roman Catholic and request that this information be included on your hospital record and passed to the hospital chaplaincy office. This will alert the team to your presence in the hospital. Should a patient’s condition deteriorate and become life threatening, either the patient or his or her next of kin should ask the ward staff to page the on-call Catholic chaplain to request a visit.

Please pray for all those in hospital, for all the health professionals who help them and of course our chaplains and those who visit the sick.

Habemus Papam: We have a new Pope: Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV

Robert Prevost: Pope Leo XIV

Cardinal Robert Prevost is an Augustinian who was born in Chicago and has served in Peru as a missionary and as head of the church's Dicastery for Bishops, who oversees the selection of new bishops. 

In his opening address, before he gave the people in St Peter's Square and people throughout the world, he reminded us of the words of the risen Lord, 

Peace be with you

and spoke of peace throughout the whole earth and encouraged us all to build bridges and work together for peace. 

Please pray for Pope Leo XIV

Pope Francis' Prayer Intentions

Pope Francis' Prayer Intentions

During his pontificate Pope Francis has invited us to pray for those in need around the world, whilst all his prayer intentions for the year were published the usual monthly video for May is of course not available.  However instead a short video reminding us all of those prayer intentions throughout the years has been prepared with those recipients thanking Pope Francis for his prayers and encouragement to us all to pray for ...

And whilst we await and pray for the Cardinals who will discern who will be our new Pope we remember Pope Francis' prayer plan to pray for working conditions 

Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfillment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized. Amen