A message from Canon Frank:
"Dear friends in Christ - greetings to all people of goodwill!
First of all, I wish to thank all the people for the lovely messages I received recently on the celebration of my 40 years as a priest.
The 40 years have been a joy for me, as I continue to serve God’s people as best I can.
During my early days in training, I was first told I wasn’t suitable. Deep down I never accepted the decision as there was no communication between the students and the staff about how we were doing and so I couldn’t get out of my mind the possibility of a priestly vocation – it never left me. Because of that I went to several interviews and sought advice and feedback until I eventually returned to seminary life to continue my training.
Looking back over my 40 years, I feel totally fulfilled, which proves I made the right decision in persevering!
The reason I am so happy in my vocation is that I love people!
Now that we appear to be approaching a more normal way of living I invite people to think again about the Day of the Lord and how we can make it Holy.
We live in a very different type of society and we must admit that much of the world and its peoples may have lost the sanctity of the Lord’s day – Sunday.
Celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord in Holy Mass on a Sunday/Saturday evening ought to be a priority in our lives. Our Lord instituted Holy Mass as the perfect means of our salvation. St John Paul II even talked about it being difficult to call oneself a Catholic if we are not participating in Holy Mass on the day of the Lord. This is because every Sunday is a celebration of Easter. And recently at a council of Priests meeting, Bishop Declan spoke of wanting us all to return to the great community of Prayer on the Lord’s Day.
Obviously, with the pandemic, it is not possible for as many people to participate in Mass at the weekend each week as would want to, but we also have masses during the weekdays which fulfill the obligations.
You are ALL very welcome at St Augustine’s, and indeed at any church, however long you may have been away.
This church is open to everyone and I invite you to return to us.
We have only 1 life to live on this earth. Please keep in mind what the Lord has done for each one of us and, in that spirit, consider that thanking the Lord at Holy Mass ought to be a priority for all Christians.
May God bless you all.
Canon Frank."
No comments:
Post a Comment