06/01/2022

June is often a busy month, and this year it is even busier, and for happy reasons. At the beginning of this month we will pause as a nation and enjoy a long weekend giving thanks for and celebrating HM The Queen's 70 year reign. We give thanks for her example, her hard work, her guidance of our nation in good times and bad, and as Christians we given thanks for her witness to faith. Her majesty makes no secret of the fact that her faith guides her life. In her we have someone who takes inspiration from the parables, and the teachings of Jesus, and who can commend the virtues of patience, service and humility in gentle and convincing example. In her we have been truly blessed, and long may she reign. In our Church life the end of May saw the Ascension of Jesus, where he tells His disciples that in leaving them he leaves them His peace, and that they will not be alone as He will send the Holy Spirit the Comforter to be their constant companion and guide Whereas the gift of peace seems this year to be so very far away from the lives of many in the Ukraine and elsewhere, we take heart in the desire for peace that his awful war has stirred. And as the Queen's celebration weekend coincides exactly with our keeping of Pentecost, we pray that humanity will find strength and inspiration in the presence of the Holy Comforter in these times which like so many in history contain much that is good, and much that is not. We give thanks for HM The Queen, for the gift of the Holy sprit, and pray for the gift of peace. Father Richard Howells