My Dear Friends,

Last weekend it was my privilege to be at the Adoremus Conference in Liverpool, and it was wonderful to be there. But for me, something that was stressed and rightly so, was what must our response be to the troubled times that hang over our Church today? And the most important response is penitence, sadness and sorrow, and I share with you some of the important words that Cardinal Vincent used as we knelt in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

“Today we come before the Lord knowing our failings, sensing the anger in many hearts, knowing the face of evil. I come before the Lord with little to offer; only to ask for a share in his new life. I come as a beggar, seeking forgiveness, laying the load of the hurt, damage and mistrust we have caused at the foot of the cross. Please join me in this, for me, for the Church, for yourselves, too. The Lord is here, waiting for us to come, so that he may embrace, comfort and restore us. His presence here, in this Blessed Sacrament, is the work of God’s Holy Spirit, poured out by the will of the Father, in response to our pleading, a pleading uttered by the Church throughout the world.

Lord, create in us a new heart. Give us a new spirit in which to know you more clearly and love you more dearly. Recreate your Church, the visible Body of your Son, so that we may bring joy not grief, trust not betrayal, love not anger in the hearts of all people, especially your poor and little ones. In our silence and prayer we ask the Lord to gather us in, to heal our wounds, to bind us to himself. Yes, Yes, he says. But he also whispers to us, firmly, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Gospel to all creation.’”

Sometimes all we can do is kneel, pray and ask forgiveness, knowing that at some future time the stone will again roll away from the tomb.

Every blessing,

Fr. Dennis