NEWSLETTER INSERTS - FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

‘I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with your beatitude, that is, with the chair of Peter for this I know is the rock upon which the Church is built!’

St Jerome

‘Christ founded a single chair as a source and reason for unity…Primacy is given to Peter by which it is made clear that there is one Church and one chair.’

St Cyprian, On the Unity of the Catholic Church, 4.

‘The care of the universal Church should converge towards Peter’s one chair and nowhere should be separated from its head’ .

St Leo the Great, Letters 14, 12.

‘Let each of you unite to become a choir, so that, harmonious in love and taking up the song of God in unison, you may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, so that he may hear you and recognize, from the good works you perform, that you are members of his Son’.

St Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, 4, 2.

‘Music, indeed, is part of the liturgical action and is not merely a decorative part of the celebration. In the liturgy, to sing and to play music means to pray, attuning one’s heart to that of our sisters and brothers and to God, through active participation in the mystery that is being celebrated. In particular, music expresses the affective dimension of prayer, as Saint Augustine says: “Cantare amantis est”, that is, “singing belongs to those who love” (Sermo 336, 1). This is very important, because it helps us to open our hearts to God’s action in grace and to allow ourselves to be moulded by it’.

Pope Leo XIV, 19^th August 2026

‘Oh God, greater than our hearts, higher than our minds, you know us far better than we know ourselves. Help us to live with the mystery of your Being, your presence and actions in the world. In you we live and move and to you we owe our existence in every moment of every day. To you alone be the glory for ever and ever. Mary our mother, help us trust in God as you did, especially when we don’t understand. Amen’.

Fr Billy Swan

‘As the successor of St Peter, we are blessed to have the example of Pope Leo XIV to inspire us. For us, he is the ‘peg driven into a firm place’ as we hear in the first reading at Mass this Sunday. He is our leader who continues Peter’s work of opening doors. Every day, he and his staff are working behind the scenes for unity, to bring people together and for peace. Every day we should pray for the success of the Holy Father’s efforts and thank God for him. He is one with us in the Church and in the Lord. Every day we pray that God may sustain him in his faith, health and leadership of the Church throughout the world’.

Fr Billy Swan