Sacrament of the Sick

The Sacrament of the Sick

Over the winter months from mid November to March I was struggling with illness. The doctors could not find out what the cause of it was. All the blood tests came back normal and apart from feeling exhausted I felt perfectly fine. My body just wanted to close down and sleep. I could go to bed at 8.00pm at night and not wake up until 9.00/9.30am in the morning. I would potter around the house and some days would need to go and have a lie down in the afternoon just to get through the day. Other days I would be fine. It was very unpredictable. The hardest thing about this was that I had no idea when it would end and my body would return to normal. 

For the most part of this I felt quite at peace about it and felt that I just had to “ride it out”, that my body would sort itself out again as some point in the future. However, at one point I did get very down and went to see a friend and had a good chat about things. This made me feel much better and lifted my spirit.

During His public ministry, Jesus healed people—the blind, the lame, etc. His healing touched both body and soul. In most of the accounts of the healing miracles, the ill person comes to a deeper conviction of faith. The healing ministry of our Lord continues through His Church. Jesus instructed the apostles and sent them out: "They expelled many demons, anointed the sick with oil and worked many cures" (Mk. 6:13). St. James provided a clear teaching regarding the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick: "Is there anyone sick among you? He should ask for the priests of the Church. They in turn are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." (Jm. 5:14-15).

The Church offers us something much more than a chat with a friend. The Anointing of the Sick is special because it offers spiritual strength, peace and courage to overcome the anxiety and worry that often accompany serious illness or old age. Rather than only being for the dying, it brings God's grace for healing—physically or spiritually—and forgives sins, uniting the sufferer with Christ's passion. 

The 2 keys aspects that make this sacrament special are spiritual healing. The primary effect is to give spiritual strength by providing peace and courage to face suffering. The sick person is anointed with oil to give them strength to endure their suffering.  The second aspect that makes this Sacrament special is the forgiveness of sins. If a person is dying and is unable to have the Sacrament of Reconciliation this sacrament removes those sins. This can be especially comforting when somebody is dying.

This Sacrament used to be only given to those who were at the point of death and you may remember it as Extreme Unction. (Extreme Anointing). This meant it was kept for those who were at the point of death and the priest was called in at the last minute. Now it is seen as being needed by those who are not just at the point of death but for anybody who is need of healing/strengthening. It is given to people who are about to have a serious operation; those who struggle with old age and the physical and mental struggles this brings and those with long term illness.

It is much more beneficial than just a chat with a friend!

Ursula Walker

Spiritual Rep

spiritualrep@lrcd.org.uk

Retreats run by Donna Worthington

1 Online & In Situ Christian Retreats led by Donna Worthington (For Retreats in August Ireland 2026, see below, the second part of this information). For bookings, please see the website or contact Donna Worthington: drworthington@live.co.uk www.christianretreats.live JULY 2026 (ONLINE)

FAIRY TALE WISDOM | Thursday 9th July 6.30-9pm We will dive deep into the fairy tale 'Rumpelstiltskin', exploring its rich symbolism such as 'greed' and 'gold' and ask ourselves: What vices do we not want, what virtues do we want to live by? Attentive to the insight of Bishop Anthony Bloom, we will focus on 'gold' in a different sense, as a gift given by The Magi, The Wise Ones, and what their journey can reveal to us about prayer and how we can live well. The fairy tale throws up a compelling question: What grim bargains do we make in our lives? We will reflect on this question and on how Christ often turns things upside-down, enabling us to move into greater freedom...

HOLY ISLAND RETREATS (NON-RESIDENTIAL). Monday 12th to Friday 16th October 2026 NOVEMBER 2026 (ONLINE) 2 SESSIONS | An exploration of the importance of 'Play'. We’ll contemplate ‘play’ in Creation, meditate on Biblical texts and consider Jesus’ words: ‘…Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ (Mark 10:15) Being attentive to a fairy tale and a film extract will help our journey of reflection on ‘play’. We’ll be asking compelling questions such as: What if play is the opposite of fear? Come and enjoy, play, think, explore and move deeper in your faith…

Thursdays 12th Nov and 26th Nov, 10am-1pm. Cost £40. 2 (IN SITU RESIDENTIAL RETREAT) THE BOOK OF RUTH - Based on an incredibly strong woman, the book of Ruth is a treasure chest of gifts. We will dive deep into the text, and swim in its fascinating symbolism. A creative onewoman short theatre piece ‘The Red Thread’ will be presented; this will creatively bring us into the roles key woman played in the salvation story. There will be an opportunity for discussion and a beautiful space to reflect on themes and soul-questions. We will approach this crucial text attentively and prayerfully. So come and enjoy engaging with The Bible, all are welcome! 16-20th Nov 2026. Bookings should only be made through Scargill House: Scargill House, Kettlewell, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 5HU. Contacts:admin@scargillmovement.org 01756 760500.Cost to be confirmed.

JANUARY 2027 (ONLINE) AN INVITATION TO GAZE AT THIS REMARKABLE ICON AND TAKE YOUR PLACE AT THE TABLE OF THE TRINITY | We explore Rublev’s exquisite and profound 15thC Holy Trinity icon.

Sunday 31st January, 2-5pm APRIL 2027 (ONLINE) THE TREASURE OF THE CHURCH CALENDAR | A deep gift to live in, move in and be inspired by the underlying spiritual journey it invites us to experience. Entering into this wisdom creatively, we will encounter various forms of prayer including silent waiting, Ignatian guided imaginative prayer, viseo divina with an icon etc.

Come and soak in the beauty of The Church Calendar. Sunday 15th April, 6.30-9.30pm JUNE 2027 (ONLINE) TOUCHING THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT | A retreat exploring the gospel text of ‘the woman with the haemorrhage’ (Luke 8:40-48). We will dive deep into this text using short dramatic monologues, wisdom from The Cloud of Unknowing, our own attentiveness to the invitation to go to the hem of His garment for healing, imaginative guided prayer etc. There is a wealth of spirituality and wisdom here – come and enjoy exploring it! Friday 18th June, 10am - 1pm 3

NOVEMBER 2027 (ONLINE) THE HEALING OF LEGION | (Mark 5: 1-20) In Mark’s Gospel, emerges an incredible text. It’s a glimpse of a possessed man isolated, harming himself, violent, and living among the haunting landscape of tombs; the Greek word for ‘tomb’ can also mean ‘memory’. Modern understandings of this character called ‘Legion’ would probably see him as suffering from PTSD. Then the brave, discerning, healer Christ crosses the sea to face the man’s belligerent demons… and later, the villagers are amazed at the man’s transformation. This encounter of such hope will provide a potent space in which to invite Christ into our chaos; the calm, knowing and healing Christ who sits down beside us, listens and offers us freedom. Saturday 6 th November, 10am - 1pm 2026

Retreats in Ireland AUGUST 2026 THE RAISING OF LAZARUS | From the tomb and beyond, the road to Resurrection... If this earth-shattering event recorded in the genius of John's Gospel is true, then it has utterly profound implications. We will dive deep into this narrative which speaks into a compelling hope and a God who cries out for our freedom. Through a short theatre piece, theological and spiritual reflection, prayer, meditation on shimmering soul-questions, we will travel to Bethany ('The house of the afflicted'), encounter the family loved so much by Jesus and create a space to explore our own journeys into freedom. (Including Mass at 11.30am) Led by Donna Worthington. Sunday 9th August 2026 Please bring a packed lunch, tea and coffee will be provided. Coffee from 10am, then start at 10.30am, until 4.30pm. Free parking. Cost 25 euros.Venue: Avila Carmelite Centre, Bloomfield Avenue, Morehampton Road, Dublin D04 YF66, Ireland Tel: +353 (1) 643 0200 Email: info@avilacentre.ie Twitter: @avilacentre 4

Exploring The Interior Castle: Saint Teresa of Avila was a pioneer of the inner spiritual landscape. The Interior Castle is a treasure chest of guidance, hope and wisdom, a well of insight for the spiritual seeker. Over the course of 1 day and 2 evenings, we’ll explore various aspects of the text in a reflective and prayerful way. This is not comprehensive; this is simply an exploration of just some of the beautiful themes of The Interior Castle. All are very welcome. Tuesday 11th August 2026, 7-9pm. Sunday 16th August 2026. (Mass included at 11.30am). Please bring a packed lunch. Coffee at 10am, then starting at 10.30am, until 4.30pm. Tuesday 18th August 2026, 7-9pm. Total cost 50 euros Tea and coffee will be provided at all 3 events. Free parking. Ideally participants will be able to attend all 3 events - the Sunday and the 2 evenings. However, if not, please feel free to book just 1 or 2 of the events. (Costs: Sunday 25 euros / each of the evenings 12.50 euros.) Venue: Avila Carmelite Centre, Bloomfield Avenue, Morehampton Road, Dublin, D04 YF66, Ireland Tel: +353 (1) 643 0200 Email: info@avilacentre.ie Twitter: @avilacentre

The Woman at the Well - an invitation to journey to the well, to Christ the Living Water. Saturday 15 th August 2026 At Jacob’s well, Jesus broke strict rules of his time in order to reach a woman who was struggling with past relationships, exclusion and isolation; he listened to her in a non-judgmental way, saw her huge potential and she was transformed, finding her own confidence and her own voice. We will explore this intriguing Gospel passage, which helps to illuminate our inner soul journeys and offers an invitation to walk to the ‘well’, to Christ the 5 One who restores us. The day will include a short theatre piece, presentation, discussion, imaginative guided prayer etc. Venue: The Dominican retreat Centre, Tallaght village, Dublin 24 Email: retreats@domrc.ie (01) 404 8123 / 404 8189 +353 (1)40481234048189 10am Coffee, then 10.30am-4pm Cost 70 euros (includes lunch and tea and coffee breaks) Free parking available.

THE WOMAN WHO ANOINTED JESUS 22-28th August 2026 We will dive deep into this incredible Gospel text including exploring themes such as loss, theft and spiritual reclamation. The retreat will include quiet reflective time, a variety of creative approaches to prayer, and some group discussion. Ballyvaloo Centre Blackwater, Enniscorthy Co.Wexford Y21 X392 For bookings: Email: office@ballyvaloo.ie Telephone: 053 913 7160 Cost 710 Euros

Details to follow but Prayer Walk on 27th September from Hyning

The Jesuit Institute are running a prayer walk from Hyning around the local area, seeting off from our garden. Booked for Sunday 27th September. Details to follow!

Feedback from Lancaster Spirituality May 9th

Before Thomas Merton entered the Abbey at Gethsemane as a Trappist novice he visited the place and was drawn to something profound there.  He called Gethsemane the powerhouse of America.  No doubt other Abbeys and Monasteries were making their own contribution.  The need for this kind of positive spiritual energy is no less pressing today.

We have our own spiritual powerhouse at Hyning Hall where the Bernadine Cistercians pray daily for the world with a particular interest in our own Diocese of Lancaster.  They pray for us.  We are welcome to join them for quiet days, for retreats, for a single office.

Such was the case on Saturday May 9th when thirty or so people from our diocese gathered together for a retreat day on the theme of “Prayer is for everyone”.  We drew water from the deep wells of our tradition exploring the monastic prayer of lectio divina, Ignatian imaginative contemplation, and joining in the midday office.  After a wholesome lunch the afternoon was spent finding God among the acers and azaleas of the garden, reflecting and later sharing on how our continuing formation as Christians might be facilitated in our diocese.  At the end of the day the Ignatian examen helped us to notice where the Spirit was inviting us to life.

If you’re anything like me you don’t see yourself as being in the premier division of prayer.  I think I’m rather non-league and failing to make the play-offs.  I begin all my retreats apologising to my director about how bad I am at praying.  As a prayer guide, it’s an admission I hear from others too.  If I’m looking with a self-critical eye at my technique and ability to focus, no wonder I’m unimpressed.  However, when I remember that prayer is relationship and that God looks with the eye of love, delighting whenever I show up, my perspective changes.

In addition to those classical ways of praying which are also for everyone, there are so many other ways of praying and some of them we hardly recognise.  Our horizon of what constitutes prayer may need to widen.  The very journey to a monastery, or to a parish church for mass, a mountain in the Lakes or our own garden is already the prayer of pilgrims seeking God with each step.  Every desire for a deeper connection is prayer.  Each apology for being scattered is prayer.  Every act of love involves implicit prayer that connects us to Christ.  When you nurture your children, care for your parents or spouse, love your neighbour or your neighbourhood, you nurture, care for and love Christ.  There is connection with him in all this (see Matthew 25), and if there is connection, there is prayer.  All of you do these kinds of things.  Prayer is for everyone.   

Praise and worship - Healing Ministries

TUESDAY, JULY 21st ,on ZOOM: "Llittleway Healing Ministries" :7pm-9pm.  Praise and worship, sharing/teaching, individual prayer in breakout rooms.  (Very friendly group!)

To be sent email with link , please visit  littlewayhealingministries.com

News in May

Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird

An instant classic of contemporary spirituality, bringing together an engaging introduction to the Christian contemplative tradition for people inside or on the margins of the churches who feel drawn to the world of silent prayer. Martin Laird shows how silence and meditation can offer a remedy to many contemporary dilemmas and emotional struggles. Writing with great clarity, depth and authority, Laird examines the meditative methods and traditions found within contemplative prayer. He also explores the role of breath and awareness in the spiritual life, which, while usually associated with Buddhism, is also an ancient concern of Christian thinkers. Into the Silent Land brings together scholarship, pastoral practice and the author’s own personal experience. It offers new insights for the student but is especially intended for the non-specialist reader who feels drawn to the world of silent prayer and is looking to the Christian contemplative tradition for inspiration and guidance.

Recommend Price £10.99

World of Books (second hand) have some “good” copies for £8.30.

 Other Books that were mentioned in the discussions were

God of Surprises – Gerald Hughes £4.50 Good condition

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life Summary £9/£9.50

 Prices are from World of Bools. A great place to get good books for a lot less money.

 Book Club

Spiritual Classics Book Club - Reading the Saints Together

Reading Classic spiritual books - From June, the Book Club will begin its next spiritual classic: The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux, widely known as 'Story of a Soul'. This much-loved work offers a profound yet accessible vision of holiness through simplicity, trust, love - what St Thérèse called her "little way".

 For more information click on the link below.

 Click here

View on spiritual things from a 91 year old Catholic widow.

This has been shared with Ursula, our diocesan representative for spirituality. Brenda has given permission for this to be published.

Dear Ursula,
During my 91 years I have become aware that I have a “guardian angel’ or The Holy Spirit who can put helpful thoughts into my head !  At school I got called “oracle” as I was sometimes able to solve friends' problems!  While just 17 I felt was ‘told’ that among the large group of my friends it was Patrick I would marry though it was 4 months before we first “dated”.  4 years later I suddenly knew I needed to become a Roman Catholic.  Both these inspirations I can still totally recall and three years ago I was able to actually pin point the place I was standing in 1955 when I knew I needed to become RC - from a photo I found in October 1983 on Google of the Ealing Basilica - I was C of E educated by anti catholic teachers friends and parents - Patrick was educated at “St. Edmund’s Ware”.  Ancient Catholic boarding school.

In 1983 I found myself knowing I “needed” to go to Medjugorje.  I had read a Sunday Times magazine article about it being a place of prayer.  my nephew was very unwell with cystic fibrosis - my widowed mother and I would go for tours of churches to pray for him
Three times during school holidays my husband and I tried to get to Medjugorje but as it was a very strict Communist regime it was scary and difficult to access but we succeeded in April 1986 for just 2/3 days. We lodged where I was led to go.  That evening we saw Krisvac mountain Cross brightly illuminated.  Next morning we went to St James’ church and saw the room where the 6 visionaries had visits from Our Lady.  There was a large wooden cross in that room and I wept by that cross as in my imagination MY son was being crucified!
We had seen Krisvac mountain top cross highly illuminated over the “poverty stricken “ village so we climbed the rugged path to find there was no method of illumination! I had a note on which I’d set out Peter’s problems and prayed at the cross.  I popped the note into a crack in the cross.

 I found a smooth pathway down the mountain which Patrick couldn’t follow - this smooth easy pathway took me to a field where a shepherdess was tending her sheep and spinning their wool.  We were able to converse in sign language.  Locals say there is not a smooth pathway down the mountain!  I walked it with ease but Patrick could not find it!
We went to confession and the priest was able to read my soul!

That was our two-day visit where I had prayed for Peter my nephew and which then became almost forgotten until 2006.  20 years later my 7 year old great niece had been diagnosed with leukaemia and she needed my prayers so we joined a pilgrimage group from a neighbouring parish.  On the first morning Mirianna, a visionary, was due an apparition at 9 am so we attended and I sat under the shelter of a leafy tree on a wall outside as the building was crowded.  I was praying for Katrina at 9am and suddenly a wind hit the leaves of the tree above me and dew fell onto my head and at that moment I suddenly BELIEVED.  I had retained my childhood attitude of (frankly) disbelief in the virginity of Mary!  I had made that clear to a group of nuns in our pilgrimage party on the previous evening - at 9 am on that June morning I suddenly was converted!
I felt so ashamed of myself and spent much of the week in tears and from that day I started to learn to pray the rosary.  From that day when I had never said a rosary, I have said or tried to say a rosary and attend a daily mass,.  now it is daily a YouTube Mass.

The following year Patrick and I went back to Medjugorje with the same pilgrimage group.  On Friday 7th September at 655pm while saying the rosary outside St James church on that very cloudy evening Our Lady suddenly appeared through the cloud standing in the sun!   I checked that others were seeing her also and all described exactly what I had seen.  She stood looking down at the crowded church which the sudden appearance of the sun which had suddenly gleamed thought the high windows onto the congregation which friends told me at just after 7pm when they came out.  Rosary is said daily in St James’ during our Lady’s daily apparitions to her visionaries. (7.40- 700pm)

On the morning of 8th September, I said my Rosary on a balcony after breakfast and became aware a special mass was arranged for me?/us?  I told Patrick but he insisted on going to St James’ for Our Lady’s birthday Mass. I was concerned I was wrong, but as I walked out of the hotel a group of a separate pilgrimage from Leeds appeared round a corner and a lady with whom I’d been chatting the previous day rushed up to me saying “oh Brenda one of our pilgrimage group, Muriel,  died earlier this year and her husband has arranged a special Mass for her please do join us - here is our taxi!”   So I was hustled into the taxi and driven to a nearby chapel where a priest I did not know but assume from Leeds said the Mass.
At the elevation of the host at “This is my body which will be given up for you” had a bright white clad figure with extended arms clearly shining on it!  I looked for a window through which this could have been sunlight through glass - no window  - asking after Mass - no other person in the congregation had seen this figure to me so very clear.  The on the following day 8th September Sunday Mass the host was wholemeal so brown and at the elevation a shining egg shape on it as also was the on the earthen wear chalice. I later realised they were finger prints showing the Holy Spirit in the priest’s hands by which the Body of Christ changed the host.
I realised our lady had taught me something I “Thomas like” in my CofE way I had never believed before in “TRANSUBSTANTIATION”.

Those are just some of my Medjugorje miracles.

We went once again in 2009 for the same September week during which no further miracle occurred  but,  as always when in Medjugorje you feel as if you are in HEAVEN.

There you have a short resume of some of the times the Holy Spirit has entered my life, Ursula.  I’ve had other periods of my life - for example Pentecost 1995 when I was given messages to pass to people I had never before met - was taken to heaven - asked God for the return my hearing as I had, at that date been totally without hearing for a full 7 years!  I now hear with a cochlear implant from October 1995!

I hope you will agree these are ‘spiritual experiences” so hopefully you are the right person to tell.  Fr. Moses our parish priest knows some of these stories!

I became a widow three months ago.  Yesterday was our 69th wedding anniversary!

With love,
Brenda.

Day on different ways of praying

Event at Hyning run by Donna Worthington

Prayer events from the Cathedral

Christian Meditation 

Where and When?

We now meet Monday online between 7.00 and 8.00 - 

Please email catechist.cathedral@lrcd.org.uk for a link. 
We gather together

• Listen to a piece of music 

• A short talk and reflection from the World Community of Christian Meditation

• A time of silent meditation

• Finishing with praying the Glory Be

• Then a final short reflection, poem 

• And final piece of music.

For more resources and talks produced by the World Community of Christian Meditation (WCCM Website)

Gospel Share

We meet online between 7.30 and 8.30 on Thursday evening. 

If you would like to attend please email Ann-Marie on catechist.cathedral@lrcd.org.uk 

We use Lectio Divina - sacred reading of scripture to help us prepare for the Sunday Gospel and readings. 

No experience is needed just a willingness to come and listen and if you want to share your ideas and questions.

Our format includes:

A welcome

• We listen to our first reading

• A musical version of the psalm

• We listen to our 2nd Reading

• Our Gospel - we listen to the Gospel three times - 

• The first time we simply listen to the words

• The second time we read the reading for ourselves and then listen whilst someone reads the reading

• We then call out a word of phrase that strikes us

• The third time we listen to the Gospel for a third time

• After this we share our response - which might be a question, something that has struck us, something we've heard in a homily in the past, something we've read about.  We also share how we might respond to our Gospel reading in the coming week.

• To help us we sometimes look at sacred art, or a short video guide 

• We close with a piece of music linked to the Gospel and pray the Glory Be, 

Boarbank events

https://boarbankhall.org.uk/whats-on/

Two Wings and Some Prayers 9th-14/16th May 2026.
Prayer, walks and birdwatching, with a focus on learning birdsong.

Our Lady in Latin 10th-12th/13th July 2026.
Learn about the Latin and the music of our best known hymns to Our Lady. Beginners welcome.

Thinking Faith: Mary, Mother of God 1st-8th August 2026.
Time out for working Catholics.

St Augustine on the Psalms 22nd-26th/28th August 2026.
All welcome.

Re-Creation! 1st-6th/8th October 2026.
Re-energise your commitment to living your faith in hope in a world of ecological challenges. Talks,
fun, conversations, art, liturgy, gardening, walks. All welcome.

Credo! 23rd-25/26th October 2026.
Follow up to Our Lady in Latin, on the Creed and the Mass.

Hope in Health 4th-6/7th December 2026.
For all who support or care for anyone who is sick, professionals and others.

We will also include our Thinking Faith Lent and Advent Zoom retreats. Dates to be confirmed.

Jesuit events you might be interested in!

Events and Resources from the Jesuit Institute

Thank you for participating in this online School of Prayer! The Jesuit Institute offers lots of online events (from guided prayer, to retreat days and courses) and digital resources (alongside Pray As You Go) which you might find helpful. Here are a few suggestions:

Join Stephen Hoyland and special guests as we lead a free guided prayer session every first Wednesday of the month at 8pm via Zoom, available later on Vimeo and Youtube.

Dates for Imagine - https://www.jesuitinstitute.org/events?type=Online+Prayer

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81534467879?pwd=c1FzYnd0RHoxdE5FYkp1MXdZUTBnUT09

An online retreat day for makers

Do you enjoy paper-crafting, sewing, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking, painting, drawing, origami, pottery, woodcarving, photography or other ways to make things? Do you want to spend time in these creative activities with a deeper sense of God’s presence?
This is an online retreat day especially for you to set aside time with God while making. You will find your own quiet space to be at work and use your own materials of choice. There will be suggestions for prayer and opportunities to share your prayer.

Let there be ... An Online Retreat Day - Retreats

‍Check out other online events including retreats here: https://www.jesuitinstitute.org/events

 Sign up to our weekly newsletter to get reflections on scripture, weekly short prayers to try, all our latest events and news. http://eepurl.com/gnPwAb

 There are lots of free audio resources as well as daily prayer based on scripture available on the Pray As You Go app and website: https://prayasyougo.org/

 Sarah Young is offering some walking prayer workshops in the Eden Valley, Cumbria. Find the list of dates and book on the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/jWBqgJB9As

Blog from Ursula, diocesan spirituality rep

The Great Gift of the Eucharist

The last thing Jesus does before his Passion is to give Himself totally to us. He sits with His friends at the last Passover Supper and taking the bread He says “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Then taking the wine after the supper he says, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Then He shows us just how much He does love us by giving Himself willingly to the chief priests and scribes. He endures His passion and death.  

“When we carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the memorial of his sacrifice. In so doing, we offer to the Father what he has himself given us: the gifts of his creation, bread and wine which by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the words of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ. Christ is thus really and mysteriously made present.” (CCC1357).

Jesus wanted to stay close to us forever but he could not stay physically present as a human being so he gave us himself sacramentally. How much closer could He come to us than by giving us His very self! We eat and drink Him – He becomes a part of us. Our job is to become “what we eat” i.e. Him. We are called to be Christ for one another. We forget sometimes that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit through our Baptism. We find it hard to see beyond the outer appearance whereas God sees the heart of a person. We need to be strengthened and nourished to see as He sees.

We are given the Eucharist as food to nourish us. To nourish our minds through the Word we hear and our hearts by receiving the body and blood of Jesus. We are called to be more like Jesus and by going to Mass we have the very thing we need to help us to become “Jesus” for each other. To see Jesus present in each people in the benches around us. We are fed so we can go out and bring Jesus to all those people we meet during the week.  “Jesus is Love and he has made himself food and drink for us in the Eucharist. The more we nourish ourselves on the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ, the more we will be able to love...” Carlos Acutis

Our bodies need food just as our soul needs food. Let me put it another way. I enjoy cycling but in order to be able to cycle I have to eat. My body needs food to give it energy to push the pedals around. If I do not eat enough I end up in a state called “the bonk.” Your body does not slowly stop, it just stops! My legs turn to jelly and I start to shake. I cannot go on until I eat something – my body has nothing left to give. After stopping and eating something (a Mars Bars!) I can carry on to the next café.

This can be likened to our spiritual journey, if we do not feed it, it will stop. We need to nourish ourselves spiritually as well as physically. The Eucharist is the best thing for our spiritual life as the Catechism says, “The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian Life.” (CCC1324). Did you know it is the only Sacrament in which we receive Jesus Himself, in all the others we are given His power. We are given Jesus’ body and blood, his flesh and blood – WOW. It may still look like bread and wine but through the Holy Spirit it changes it into the body and blood of Jesus Himself.

St Thomas Aquinas tells us “What the soul is hungry for, finally, is the person of Jesus, the body and blood of Christ. Without feeding regularly on that food, the soul will atrophy.”

Jesus tells us, Do this is remembrance of me.” I think He knows what is good for us!

Ursula Walker

Spirituality Rep

SpiritualityRep@lrcd.org.uk

07312129900

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A Note on Why we don’t Have Women Priests

Tradition, in the Church, is the way of life based on the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Apostles, who received the Holy Spirit adopted a way of life that was true to the teaching and person on Jesus. He chose 12 men to represent him as his priests. The fact that Jesus only chose men to represent Him is a historical tradition, an apostolic tradition. We cannot break that tradition.

Vocation – the call to priesthood is a vocation just like marriage or religious/consecrated life. We are all called by our Baptism and “the particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.” (1 Cor. 12:4-7)

The priest – a sign and symbol of Christ. A priest is a man is who ordained and in that ordination, he receives a grace, he becomes an extraordinary “representation” of Christs priestly presence to His people. During Mass he re-enacts in a sacramental form the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. When we celebrate the Eucharist we are making present in a sacramental way the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus took on the physical form of a man (not a women) when he came to earth. When he died on the cross he chose the maleness of priests, to be the sign and cause of His sacrifice on the cross in the sacrament of priestly Holy Orders.

The Catechism tell us “That the priest, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis: It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. … “(CCC1548).

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Eucharist

I have always found it striking how quickly everything happens after we receive Holy Communion. We are given the very Body of Christ and then, almost immediately, the priest offers a brief prayer, a final blessing, and we are sent out the doors. There is hardly any pause between the gift of the sacred host we receive and the mission we are given. The Church wastes no time because Christ does not want to remain only on our tongues... he wants to be carried into the streets, workplaces, hospitals, schools, into every corner of the world. Mass ends, and we are sent on mission to proclaim. We leave the altar like living tabernacles, Christ burning inside us, called to set hearts alight with the love we have just consumed. Communion is not just for us, it is fuel for the world.

Father Patrick van der Vorst

Prayer link

If you are joining us tonight for the "Teach us to Pray" online event. This is the Zoom link you can simply click on the following link at the start of each prayer meeting:

[https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81344722466...]

Meeting ID: 813 4472 2466 Passcode: 702592

Teach us to Pray

Lord, Teach us to pray

A Week of Retreat and a School of Prayer.

March 9-13 (7-8.30pm) plus day retreat (10am-3pm) on Saturday 14th March.

If you feel you need help with prayer, you are in good company; so did the first disciples.

During this week in mid-lent we will introduce a variety of ways of praying each evening, and do the same again on Saturday.

Come to any or all of the online evening meetings or the Saturday.  If you want a double dose, come to both!

The week is being led by members of the Jesuit Institute for anyone in Lancaster Diocese, with Bishop Paul’s blessing. 

The Diocese is covering the entire cost which makes it free.  All the sessions are online.

No need to register.  To receive the zoom link, and a reminder that it’s happening nearer the time, email Ursula, our Diocesan Spirituality Rep.

uwalker@uwclub.net

Alternatively you can simply click on the following link at the start of each prayer meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81344722466?pwd=Rm5UVGpXemw4NTE2VEloU21tMVpodz09

Meeting ID: 813 4472 2466    Passcode: 702592

Bishop Paul hopes to join us at some point to give that blessing to everyone taking part.  He hopes that the week can build on the momentum of the Jubilee Year of Hope that we had in 2025.  God is always inviting us into hope, joy, deeper faith and love.  Prayer helps us to receive and deepen these gifts of God.

If you’re in a parish group of some kind, might you arrange to engage altogether in one of your homes, or the parish hall?  You’d be online with the rest of the diocese, and also in person with members of your parish at the same time.

Retreat reflection by Maureen Ryan Craig

Lent Retreat Our Lady of Hyning Monastery

“Do Not Be Afraid”

On the first weekend of Lent, ten of us gathered at Hyning for our Lent Retreat, meeting old and new friends over supper. After supper we gathered for a “brainstorming” exercise, with FR Anthony Keefe (chaplain at Hyning). The theme of the brainstorming was words for Lent and what these could mean e.g. desert, prayer, giving up, making new habits, preparation. Fr Anthony advised us not to be in a rush to get to Holy Week, but to focus on the weeks leading up to it.

Saturday morning started with Mass, after that our first talk of the day with Sister Mary Stella “ Do Not Be Afraid or Anxious” We looked at the woman taken in adultery (with one of us taking the role of the woman, and the rest of us as Pharisees with stones in our hands) Jesus changed the situation by the response to the woman. What did we learn from this? We all read passages about courage, and not being afraid. How can we change our way of thinking and acting? After a break we went to the chapel for Adoration and confession.

After lunch there was free time for a couple of hours, some of us had quiet time, some braved the rain and went out for a walk, some knitted, some had a cup of tea and a chat. We all gathered at 4.00pm for tea and cake before vespers.

After Vespers we had our second talk of the day with Sister Michaela “Do Not Be Afraid” - Lent through Narnia!

This was a session on how the books of Narnia have the themes of learning to live with our fears, overcoming them and breaking through them. Fear is cast out by love. We saw through the lives of the characters how they were transformed through their fears and experiences. We did an exercise by recalling a time when we were afraid, we imagined our safe spaces. We held onto a heart and imagined someone we had hurt, standing in front of us and saying, “I forgive you” We also had a handout giving us a selection of biblical passages with “Do Not Be Afraid” in them.

Sunday morning started with Mass followed by our second talk by Sister Michaela “Take Courage” Lent through Narnia part 2”.  Again, we encountered different characters and how their lives changed through their courage. We took part in two activities with post stick pads and pieces of Lego! We watched a reflection on bravery to beautiful music. I was personally moved by the quote from Nelson Mandela: -

          “I learned that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”

Maureen Ryan-Craig 23/02/2026

New events and pages

We are hoping that events from across the diocese or just people sharing their experience might appear on here. It’s not a substitute for other sites such as the official Diocesan page or a record of events like The Voice. It’s just an informal blog to see if we can connect in the Diocese. If there is anything you’d like to share. please email Sr. Michaela srmichaelabsc@yahoo.co.uk

New Spirituality page for the diocese

We are in the process of setting up a new blog for the diocese. More details to follow!