Thank you for responding to the invitation and challenge to read the whole of the Gospel according to St Mark at least once through the course of 2021. On a number of occasions early in his pontificate Pope Francis has asked the crowds in St Peter’s Square, ‘Have you read part of the gospel today?’ or ‘Do you carry a gospel with you to be able to read some verses each day?’ The Holy Father commends reading part of the Gospel every day so that we can listen to Jesus at all times.

Throughout 2020, the Bishops of England and Wales invited you to join them in reading St Matthew’s Gospel, just a few verses each day. In 2021, we turn to the Gospel of St Mark. If you are able to share that reading aloud with your family all the better, perhaps taking turns with the verses for the day.

In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) the Holy Father says the Lord does not disappoint those who take the risk of letting Him encounter them each day; ‘no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord’. (EG.3)

‘Mary, Virgin and Mother, … obtain for us a new ardour born of the resurrection, that we may bring to all the Gospel of life which triumphs over death.’ (EG.288)

May the words of the gospel bring you and your families renewed faith, hope and joy.

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                                                                              + Bishop Peter Brignall