NEWSLETTER INSERTS - FOR THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

‘Lord of life, You created us in love and called us to live in fullness. Each person is a sacred gift that reflects your face, from the first instant of existence to the final breath of their journey on earth. Today we ask for the grace to recognize and protect the unique and unrepeatable value of every human being. May we learn to welcome life unconditionally, to tenderly care for fragility, to accompany each stage with respect, and to bravely defend those who have no voice.

Forgive us, Lord, when we fall into indifference or the culture of discard, when we fail to see in others a being worthy of love. Give us a new heart, always ready to choose life, and generous hands that protect it through concrete actions.

Make your Church a living witness of the Gospel of life, an open home where every life is celebrated, where no one feels unwanted, and where dignity is always honored and protected.

Lord Jesus, may we love life as You love it: with tenderness, fidelity, and self-giving. May we proclaim, in words and actions, that every human life is worth the total gift of ourselves. Amen’.

Pope Leo XIV, Prayer Intention for July - For the Protection of Life

‘Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you—for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart... go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love’.

St Therese of Lisieux

'For Christians, nothing human is alien to Christ. Every attempt to grapple with the fundamental questions of our lives — how to love, how to be just, how to be free, how to face suffering and death — helps us to understand Christ, the one who is most human of all.

Cardinal Timothy Radcliff OP

‘We need your imagination, your narrative creativity and your lively thinking. We need these to create spaces of freedom and authenticity, within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound. I thank you for every time you have sown seeds of reconciliation, of encounter and of friendship’.

Pope Leo XIV to a Group of Writers, 24 June 2026.

‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest’. With these beautiful words, Jesus tells us ‘no matter how bad things get, no matter how much you have sinned, I will always be here for you, waiting to welcome you and accept you. I am the God to whom you can always turn’. The Lord makes a special appeal to those who are overburdened, stressed, tired and maybe feel overwhelmed trying to keep everything going – the mortgage, the family, the children, the bills, the chores, the job (or not being able to find one). We think here too of the homeless living in hotel rooms and hostels or refugees living in tents, how tired and fed-up they must feel. Included in the overburdened are certainly those of us who try to satisfy or thirst for God with something other than God and when we fall into addiction. In trying to chase after the happiness we seek, we become exhausted. But when we do, his gentle voice still whispers ‘Come to me and you will find rest’.

Fr Billy Swan

The Lord said to me, ‘Come to me’. But I said, ‘I’m not worthy’. ‘Come to me’ he repeated. And I said, ‘I’m afraid’. ‘Come to me’. ‘I’m too proud’. ‘Come to me’. ‘But I’ve no appointment’. ‘Come to me’. ‘But I can’t afford the time right now’. ‘Come to me’. With that I fell silent. Then he said ‘Come…sit down…take the load off your feet. Sit here in the shade of the tree. Spend some time with me, get to know me. Tell me how you are. Share. And when you do, know that I share your burden. I share your life. Rest in me for a while and let your soul renew itself and heal. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light’.