Lent Mass – Prayer Initiative
Cardinal Bagnasco, President of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), has asked each of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe to have a dedicated Mass for those who have suffered in any way, and especially for those who have died, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this initiative is to express fraternal communion across our continent. The designated date for England and Wales is 2nd March 2021, each bishop is making arrangements for his own diocese; Cardinal Vincent Nichols, as President of our Bishops’ Conference, will celebrate Mass at Westminster Cathedral which will be live-streamed on the Westminster Cathedral Website. I will celebrate this Mass here at 9.00am which will be live-steamed.
True, a worldwide tragedy like the Covid-19 pandemic momentarily revived the sense that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all. Once more we realized that no one is saved alone; we can only be saved together. As I said in those days, “the storm has exposed our vulnerability and uncovered those false and superfluous certainties around which we constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities… Amid this storm, the façade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos, always worrying about appearances, has fallen away, revealing once more the ineluctable and blessed awareness that we are part of one another, that we are brothers and sisters of one another” [27th March 2020 Extraordinary moment of Prayer in Time of Pandemic]
Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti on ‘Fraternity and Social Friendship’. Pope Francis 3rd October 2020
This day has an appropriateness for us in Wales as it is the day after the Solemn Feast of S. David under who patronage we place our country and diocese, who was renowned for his works of healing and whose intercession we continue to seek.
Almighty and eternal God,
Our refuge in every danger, to whom we turn in our distress;
accept the intercession of S.David on our behalf
and the prayers we offer in this time of peril.
May they become for us, by your power, a source of healing and peace.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
Dewi Sant, gweddia dross Gymru. Saint David, pray for Wales
Happy Feast day both.
Blessings,
+ Peter