BISHOP BRIAN’S MESSAGE FOR MAY
Dear brothers and sisters,
As we begin the month of May we enter a traditional period of devotion to Our Lady. I have recently been reflecting on Mary’s treasured place in our diocesan spiritually down through the centuries. The Blessed Virgin was venerated from the very arrival of the Celtic monks. Furthermore, it is well documented that during the Penal Days, priests could only secretly and occasionally visit a community, the Rosary within families helped keep the Faith alive. Love of Mary remains strong among us today. Our Lady guides the disciple towards Christ.
Although we appreciate the reasons, we are still sad that our Churches are closed and we cannot personally attend Mass and other parish activities. I, like you, long for when it is right for us to reopen. However, I also believe that our present circumstances offer opportunities to rediscover important practices which may have recently fallen away. Uppermost among these is family prayer. I invite you to build a May Altar in your home with a statue (no matter how small) or picture of Our Lady and to pray in front of it every day during May. Mary is our Heavenly Mother: she loves us and will care for us as she did for our forebears.
May Devotions from my Oratory will also be available every Tuesday during May on the Diocesan website.
Yours in Christ,
+Brian
