Tuesday February 2nd marks 40 days after Christmas and the day Jesus was presented in the Temple. Two people recognised Jesus for who he was, Simeon and Anna.

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This term’s spiritual reading is taken from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Patris Corde - With a Father’s Heart. Marking the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph being declared patron of the universal church, Pope Francis proclaimed a year-long celebration dedicated to the foster father of Jesus. The pope said Christians can discover in St. Joseph, who often goes unnoticed, “an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble...St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due to them all,” he said.

Take a few minutes to read this summary of the letter released on 8 December 2020

Lent begins next week and Ash Wednesday is on Wednesday 17th February. Lent is a penitential season of prayer, self denial and helping others. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. On Wednesday 10 we remember St Scholastica who committed to living a holy life. This commitment inspired her to open a monastery.

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Pope Francis, 150 years after Blessed Pius IX proclaimed St Joseph as Patron of the Catholic Church (8 December 1870), shares his personal reflections in this extraordinary figure. He said that his desire to do so increased during the pandemic when we experienced, amid the crisis, how, “our lives are woven together

and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked....Doctors, nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone…fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday ways,

how to accept and deal with a crisis by adjusting their routines, looking ahead and encouraging the practice of prayer.”

Prayer one of these prayers together as a family.