NEWSLETTER INSERTS FOR FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

‘Lord of creation, You gave us the fertile earth and, with it, our daily bread, as a sign of Your love and providence. Today we recognize with sorrow that millions of brothers and sisters continue to suffer from hunger, while so many goods are wasted at our tables.

Awaken in us a new awareness: that we learn to thank for every food, to consume simply, to share with joy, and to care for the fruits of the earth as a gift from You, destined for all, not just a few.

Good Father, make us capable of transforming the logic of selfish consumption into a culture of solidarity. May our communities promote concrete gestures: awareness campaigns, food banks, and a sober and responsible lifestyle.

You who sent us Your beloved Son Jesus, broken bread for the life of the world, give us a new heart, hungry for justice and thirsty for fraternity. May no one be excluded from the common table, and may Your Spirit teach us to see bread not as an object of consumption, but as a sign of communion and care. Amen.’

Pope Leo XIV, Prayer Intention for May 2026

‘My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.’

Thomas Merton

‘Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices’.

St Teresa of Avila

‘Let us listen to the Lord: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6). If you are looking for the Truth, follow the Way which is also the Truth’.

St Augustine

‘The first and last point of reference of catechesis will always be Jesus Christ himself, who is "the way, and the truth, and the life." It is by looking to him in faith that Christ's faithful can hope that he himself fulfills his promises in them, and that, by loving him with the same love with which he has loved them, they may perform works in keeping with their dignity’.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1698

‘Faith doesn’t mean that we will be spared from times of great trial. Real faith assures us that because of the resurrection, God has not abandoned us at times of hardship but leads us through those moments along the path that leads to better days. This doesn’t always mean that we feel better or get back to where we were before the crisis hit. Rather it means that because of our trust in the Lord we never lose hope because we believe in the ultimate triumph of truth, justice, goodness and life. This is our faith in the victory of the resurrection and our share of it. In the words of Julian of Norwich ‘All will be well in the manner that all will be well’.

Fr Billy Swan