Thursday 31 December 2015

Pray for 2016 at Our Lady of Lourdes, Ashby

Friday, January 1st  - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
9.00am Eucharistic Exposition
Silent Prayer and Adoration until...
9.30am Rosary
9.50am Benediction
10.00am Holy Mass
Feel feel to come to some or all of this as you wish. It is fine to arrive any time between 9 and 10am and pray whether or not you are able to stay for Mass.


New Year's Day is also the 49th World Day of Peace. You can read the Message of Pope Francis, Overcome Indifference and Win Peace, here.

Here is the beginning of the Message:
God is not indifferent! God cares about mankind! God does not abandon us! At the beginning of the New Year, I would like to share not only this profound conviction but also my cordial good wishes for prosperity, peace and the fulfilment of the hopes of every man and every woman, every family, people and nation throughout the world, including all Heads of State and Government and all religious leaders. We continue to trust that 2016 will see us all firmly and confidently engaged, on different levels, in the pursuit of justice and peace. Peace is both God’s gift and a human achievement. As a gift of God, it is entrusted to all men and women, who are called to attain it.

And here is the end:
I would like to make a threefold appeal to the leaders of nations: to refrain from drawing other peoples into conflicts or wars which destroy not only their material, cultural and social legacy, but also – and in the long term – their moral and spiritual integrity; to forgive or manage in a sustainable way the international debt of the poorer nations; and to adopt policies of cooperation which, instead of bowing before the dictatorship of certain ideologies, will respect the values of local populations and, in any case, not prove detrimental to the fundamental and inalienable right to life of the unborn.
I entrust these reflections, together with my best wishes for the New Year, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, who cares for the needs of our human family, that she may obtain from her Son Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the granting of our prayers and the blessing of our daily efforts for a fraternal and united world.