Message from Fr. Con

Reflection for 7th Sunday of Easter 2021 (week beginning 16 May):

So we arrive at the midpoint of May. Pope Francis has
asked that in this Marian month, there should be a universal Rosary crusade of daily prayer – asking for Mary’s powerful intercession for an end to the pandemic.
The Rosary is a profoundly Scriptural prayer, with events “JOYFUL”, “SORROWFUL” and “GLORIOUS” in the lives of the Holy Family.
Early in the 1990s, Pope John Paul 11 (now a saint) gave us an additional set of 5 Mysteries known as the “Luminous” or the Mysteries of Light.
Each of the now 4 sets of 5 Mysteries has an appointed day for its recitation.
The repetition of the “Hail Mary” is clearly the most obvious feature of the Rosary Prayer.
This very repetition can have a real calming effect, if said at a controlled and steady pace.
It can become almost like a mantra.
We are now in the 9-day period between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday. As
a daily novena prayer to the Holy Spirit, one could at least commit to praying daily the 3rd Glorious Mystery – the Descent of the Holy Spirit – praying through Mary, His Blessed Handmaid, for an end to the pandemic.