NEWSLETTER INSERTS FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

‘God of peace, who through the blood of Your Son has reconciled the world to Yourself, today we pray for Christians living amidst wars and violence. Even surrounded by pain, may they never cease to feel the gentle kindness of your presence and the prayers of their brothers and sisters in faith. For only through You, and strengthened by fraternal bonds, can they become the seeds of reconciliation, builders of hope in ways both small and great, capable of forgiving and moving forward, of bridging divides, and of seeking justice with mercy.

Lord Jesus, who called blessed those who work for peace, make us Your instruments of peace even where harmony seems impossible. Holy Spirit, source of hope in the darkest times, sustain the faith of those who suffer and strengthen their hope. Do not let us fall into indifference, and make us builders of unity, like Jesus. Amen’.

Pope Leo XIV, Prayer Intention for December - For Christians in Areas of Conflict, 2025.

'This is something we should indeed learn on the day of the Immaculate Conception:  the person who abandons himself totally in God's hands does not become God's puppet, a boring ‘yes man or woman’; he does not lose his freedom. Only the person who entrusts himself totally to God finds true freedom, the great, creative immensity of the freedom of good. The person who turns to God does not become smaller but greater, for through God and with God he becomes great, he becomes divine, he becomes truly himself'.

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 2005.

'Have the courage to dare with God! Try it! Do not be afraid of him! Have the courage to risk with faith! Have the courage to risk with goodness! Have the courage to risk with a pure heart! Commit yourselves to God, then you will see that it is precisely by doing so that your life will become broad and light, not boring but filled with infinite surprises, for God's infinite goodness is never depleted!'

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 2005.

‘As someone whose immaculate and inmost heart was flooded by the love of God, Mary stands before us as a sign of comfort, encouragement and hope. As electrical current flows better through certain metals that are pure, so we become more effective conduits of God’s grace and power, the less sin is part of our lives. Herein lies the adventure of a lifetime, to detest sin, love holiness and embrace the beauty that flows from a soul in love with God – the same beauty we see in Mary’.

Fr Billy Swan