My Family Prayer Book

  2025-06-29 Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul Welcome Welcome everybody - today we will read from pages 96 and 97 on the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul - the two pillars of the Church In the Catholic Church, a solemnity is the highest-ranking feast day in the liturgical calendar. It celebrates the most important events, beliefs, and people of the faith. Examples include: Christmas, Easter, The Immaculate Conception, All Saints’ Day and Saints Peter and Paul Opening prayer O Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, we pray and honour both of you this day to be forever our special patrons and advocates. Saint Peter, the Rock on which Christ built His Church. And Saint Paul, because you were handpicked by God as the Apostle and Preacher of the Gospel to Gentiles all over the world. Obtain for us, we pray a lively faith, steadfast hope, and burning love; complete detachment from matters of the flesh and of the world, patience in adversity, humility in success and prosperity, attention in...

    2022-Mar-27: Fourth Sunday in Lent   Joshua 5:9-12 With the entry of the Jews into the promised land of Canaan  (Genesis 12:1-4, 15:7, 13-16; 17:8) and the mass circumcision (Joshua 5:2-8) as a sign of Jewish fealty to Yahweh (Genesis 17:9-14). According to Pentateuchal law, every male who participated in Passover had to be circumcised (Exodus 12:48). Yahweh allows the celebration of the Passover to show that the exodus from slavery was over. So too the cessation of manna signified the forty year wandering in the wilderness was officially over. The two central events at Gilgal, circumcision and Passover, become the final acts of the nation prior to possession of the land.  Like the Israelites, we are called to remember God’s provision of deliverance and freedom. In such moments, we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promises and our new life as God’s people.  The people had arrived and they feast on the plenty of the land - but who planted/toiled to pro...

  Aug-22 Twenty-first Sunday  1st Reading Joshua 24 Joshua goes beyond the traditional Jewish forefathers of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - to a time in the land of Ur, Mesapotemia beyond the river Euphrates when Abraham's father Terah, Abraham and his brothers Nabor and Haran, worshiped the pagan Gods.  Against this background he exhorts the people to choose/worship/serve their God wisely. Having been liberated by Yahweh from Egypt where they served the Pharaoh as slaves, Joshua was the one to bring them to the promised land of the Canaan - bringing to fruition the promise Yahweh made to Abraham. Delivering to his descendants the very land Yahweh had promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1; 15:17-21; 17:8), Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5), Jacob (Genesis 28:1-4, 13-15), Joseph (Genesis 48:3-4, 21), and Moses (Exodus 3:7-8).  So before he dies, Joshua assembles the crowd at Shechem and asks them if they see it fitting to serve Yahweh as faithful servants. Reverence and obedience to Yah...

  Nineteenth Sunday Kings 19:4-8 Jezebel was the daughter of the priest-king Ethbaal, ruler of the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, who married King Ahab of Israel (ruled c. 874–853 BCE). She persuaded Ahab to turn away from Yahweh and worship the Tyrian nature-god Baal-Melkart. Most of the prophets of Yahweh were killed at Jezebel's command and she had threatened Elijah with dire consequences in Kings 19:1-3, causing Elijah to flee for his life to Beersheba in the neighbouring kingdom of Judah, deep in the desert, far away from the reach of Jezebel. At this point Elijah seems to have reached the end of his tether and is asking Yahweh to relieve him of his duties, much like previous prophets like Moses. Instead an angel wakes him from his sleep and orders him to eat and drink the food; he was given the same food given to Isiah, and he is sent to go on a 200 mile long journey from Mount Carmel to Mount Horeb (aka Mt Sinai or Jebel Mousa) where Moses first saw the burning bush an...