Fr. Augustine will be live from the Diocesan Facebook page:
CLICK HERE
Dear Faithful,
You may recall that on March 25, 2020, I canonically consecrated Gibraltar to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Now, in view of the upcoming challenge against the protection of human life, I am inviting the faithful of Gibraltar to make a Personal Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I am convinced that the people’s consecration to the Immaculate Heart will bring special graces from heaven upon us all.
For those who wish to participate in this individual consecration, I am proposing a 33-day journey in preparation for the Personal Consecration, starting on May 10th and ending on the 34th day, which falls on June 12, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Each Parish will be receiving this weekend the 33-day journey booklets (including all the prayers and all necessary information), to have these distributed at the end of this weekend’s Sunday masses.
I ask the parishes please to announce this on all the Sunday Masses this weekend and, because of the graces promised by Our Lady, to encourage your faithful to participate in the Consecration.
The 33-day journey commitment includes the recitation of:
- the Holy Rosary,
- the Prayer for Life and Dignity
- and a set of daily Preparatory Prayers leading towards the consecration.
The act of Consecration will take place within a Special Diocesan Mass at the Cathedral, on Saturday June 12, at 12 p.m.
Additionally, Fr. Augustine Conner CFR, will be offering the faithful daily meditations leading up to the Consecration via our Diocesan media (catholic.gi), every day as from May 10th, at 5 p.m.
Thank you for your cooperation.
With my best wishes and prayers.
+Carmel
Bishop of Gibraltar
REQUEST FOR PRAYERS
during the Novena to Our Lady Of Lourdes
(Sacred Heart & St. Paul)
If you would like to have your petitions presented to Our Lady during the Novena, please send them to:
noreply.novenapetitions@catholicdiocese.gi
Each day, all petitions received will be prayed for and placed by the statue of Our Lady in the church.
Please note that we are unable to reply to e-mails at the above address. Thank you.
From Sacred Heart and St. Paul Parishes
The liturgy will stream from the 3rd February – 11th February at 7 p.m. each day.
To go to LIVE NOVENA:
Mass in the Extraordinary Form (1962 Missal, Latin)
Daily at 17.00 in the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned.
Priest: Canon Pablo Piaggio Kokot, ICKSP
Please note that as booklets or print outs cannot currently be provided, you might already have the Mass on your mobile. Using the ‘ipieta’ app, choose Trad+ on the calendar, otherwise access www.divinumofficium.com and click on Missale on the top menu.
What is the Extraordinary Form?
It is the Roman Rite Mass in Latin as it grew organically for many centuries and was consolidated and codified at the Council of Trent, therefore, sometimes referred to as the Tridentine Mass. After the start of Mass being offered in the vernacular, in 1970, the traditional Latin Mass continued, with permission, in a few places. St. Pope John Paul II issued his Motu proprio Ecclesia Dei in 1988, encouraging generous provision for celebration of the traditional Latin Mass. Then in 2007, after many requests from the faithful, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the world’s Bishops to offer wider use of this form of the Roman Rite with his 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontifium.
In the accompanying letter to the document Pope Benedict told the world’s bishops “there is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.” He used the term, the ‘Extraordinary Form’ of the Roman Rite to speak of the old Mass, whilst stating that the new Mass is the ‘Ordinary Form’ of the Roman Rite. Today both Forms of the Mass are offered in numerous Parishes worldwide.
Why in Gibraltar?
In 2018 Bishop Zammit very kindly agreed to the request of a group of faithful who asked him if it would be possible to make provision for the implementation of Summorum Pontificum in Gibraltar. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest were very happy to assist the Bishop in providing priests to come over, from their apostolates in U.K. and Spain, at first every three months, then monthly, until the March 2020 lockdown. In October 2020 they provided a priest to stay here so that the Latin Mass may be offered daily.
Who are the ICKSP?
The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right whose goal is the honour of God and the sanctification of priests in the service of the Church and souls. Its specific aim is missionary: to spread the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ in all spheres of human life. Learn more at: www.icksp.org.uk
The Vatican has released a free online prayer book to help Catholics seeking divine assistance amid the coronavirus crisis.
The 192-page book is published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, on behalf of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication and will be updated regularly.
The book, which is called “Strong in the Face of Tribulation: The Church in Communion – a Sure Support in Time of Trial” and has an image of the Archangel Michael on its cover, is divided into three parts:
- Prayers, rituals and supplications, including prayers for the sick and for liberation from evil.
- Explains how Catholics can continue to practice the faith without the support of the Sacraments.
- Gathers together Pope Francis’ reflections since the pandemic struck.
As the Referendum on abortion of 19th March drew near, there were several initiatives to pray for the protection of the baby in the womb, including a Novena to St. Joseph, concluding with his Feast day, also the 19th March. The Referendum was recently postponed due to the onslaught of the Covid-19 virus.
In the Gospel of St. Luke (1:26–38), we hear how Mary received the wonderful news that she was to be the Mother of God. Her humble, trusting, reply to the Archangel Gabriel is forever engraved in our hearts:
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word.” (v. 38)
and immediately, she conceived Jesus in her womb through the action of the Holy Spirit.
Mary said ‘Yes’ to Life. We, who follow Jesus, also say a resounding ‘yes’ to Life, to Him.
The 25th March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, therefore, presents an unexpected opportunity to continue to pray for the protection and dignity of unborn human life.
Sadly, this need to pray for life has taken on further urgency: we have been forewarned to expect Covid-19 to be a serious threat to the lives of many, primarily the elderly, in our community.
The Cathedral has organized a Rosary Novena for Life, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which begins Tuesday 17th (Rosary followed by Holy Mass presided by Bishop Zammit) and ends on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, 25th March. On that day, Bishop Zammit will officially consecrate Gibraltar to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn act during the live-streamed Mass of the Annunciation.
We pray that as we face these evils threatening Gibraltar, God may guide, protect and convert our hearts to His.
Please pray with us this special Novena, live-streamed daily from the Cathedral:
Rosary at 10:30
followed by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 11:00
Please spread the word around! Thank you.
An Act of Spiritual Communion
As we cannot receive Holy Communion while the Covid-19 emergency measures are in place, the Bishop is encouraging us to follow the celebration of Holy Mass online and to make an act of ‘Spiritual Communion’ instead, by reciting the suggested prayer below.
Live streaming of the Sacred Sacrifice of the Mass is available daily from the Shrine.
