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Sunday, 13th May Sixth Sunday of Easter If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will send you another Paraclete to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth whom the world can never accept since it neither sees or knows him: but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you.John 14: 15-18. God our Father, look upon us with love. You redeem us and make us your children in Christ. Give us true freedom and bring us to the inheritance you promised. | |
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Monday, 14th May Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle St. Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot and appears to have been a follower of Jesus from Christ’s baptism through to the Ascension and was a witness of the Resurrection. The choice for a replacement fell between Joseph, known as Barsabas, and Matthias, the latter was chosen by lot and he was listed as one of the twelve. Like the other Apostles, he received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. However, authentic details of his apostolate are had to find – he is often confused with St. Matthew. He is said to have preached in Judea and possibly later in Cappadocia and near the Caspian Sea residing at the port of Issus, and there is a tradition that links him with Ethiopia. The symbol of his martyrdom is an axe or halberd – he is supposed to have died in Colchis. His supposed relics were translated from Jerusalem to Rome by the empress Helen and some were moved to Trèves in the eleventh century. According to Clement of Alexandria, he was remarkable for inculcating the necessity of the mortification of the flesh with regard to all its sensual and irregular desires, a lesson that he received from Christ, and which he personally assiduously practiced. |
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Friday, 18th May Memorial at choice of St. John I, Pope and Martyr A Tuscan by birth, John joined the clergy of Rome and held the important office of archdeacon. In 523 he was chosen as bishop of Rome in succession to Hormisdas in spite of his advanced years and failing health. His was a short pontificate ending in his arrest and imprisonment by Theodric on the suspicion of having conspired with Emperor Justin. He was imprisoned at Ravenna, where he died in 526 of neglect and ill treatment. His body was transported to Rome and buried in the Basilica of St. Peter. John I is depicted in art as looking through the bars of a prison or imprisoned with a deacon and a subdeacon. He was responsible for the introduction to the west of the Alexandrian calculation of Easter. |
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Saturday, 19th May Memorial at choice of St. Dunstan, Bishop. Dunstan was born in 909 at Baltonsborough near Glastonbury to a noble family with royal connections. Educated at Glastonbury he joined the household of his uncle Athelm, the archbishop of Canterbury and them the court of King Athelstan. In 935 he was accused of “studying vain poems and futile stories of the pagans and of being a magician”. He was expelled from court. Subsequently ordained by Elphege, bishop of Winchester, he returned to Glastonbury where he lived as a hermit. In 939 Edmund became king of Wessex and recalled Dunstan to court and installed him as abbot of Glastonbury. His restoration of the Rule of St. Benedict following the ravages suffered by the monastic communities following the Viking raids was one of Dunstan’ s principal achievements. Exiled again following the accession of King Edwy he was recalled and in 937 was made bishop of Worcester, in 959 bishop of London and in 960 archbishop of Canterbury. This began a period of fruitful collaboration between himself and the king which was regarded after the Conquest as a ‘golden age’. Dunstan was personally responsible for the reform of Glastonbury, Malmesbury, Bath, Athelney, Muchelney and Westminster. Dunstan’s influence spread far wider than the monastic Order. He was a zealous diocesan bishop who insisted on the observance of the marriage laws and fasting, he built and repaired churches and inspired some of King Edgar’s laws. Following his death in 988 both Glastonbury and Canterbury claimed to have his body the matter only being finally settled when the Canterbury tomb was opened in 1508. |
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Sunday, 20th May Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. "And as he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were stil staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing beside them and they said, "Why are you Galileans standing here looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken away from you into heaven will come back in the same way as you have seen him go to heaven.""Acts of the Apostles 1: 9-11 |