Friday 11 November 2016

Remembering

This is a time to remember. In St Joseph's Church there is a box full of names of deceased relatives and friends before the Altar for the month of November. Families and individuals like to place the names of loved ones who have died in this box for a remembrance in prayers and Masses. In the school where I am a chaplain, the students and the staff have also placed names in a box that was brought to the Altar when we had school Mass last week. 

Today is Armistice Day when at the eleventh hour of the eleventh month, the dead of the First World War will be remembered. This afternoon I will go to Notre Dame Cathedral to join in the Remembrance Service of prayer and worship with people of many nations and beliefs.

This Sunday at our Masses we will remember the 130 people who died and the 500 injured in the Paris attacks of 13th November 2015. That is a night I will never forget. For all who died as a result of war and violence we must continue to remember them and pray earnestly for peace among people.
On Sunday morning I have been invited to contribute some comments from Paris for BBC Radio Ulster's "Sunday Sequence" Programme.

Time is moving on and soon Advent will be with us which means that Christmas cannot be far away!