Dear Brothers and Sisters,
When the pandemic reached Gibraltar, and the Churches were either closed or only open for private prayer, the faithful were dispensed from the obligation of attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of obligation.  Now, we thank God that Churches are once again open and there are no special restrictions for those participating in the Mass.  It is time to consider going back to normality and giving the Eucharist its rightful place and importance in our life and in the life of the Church.
Therefore, after giving due consideration to the situation in which we find ourselves in Gibraltar regarding the pandemic and being confident that there is very little danger in going to church to participate in the Eucharist, the dispensation from attending Mass on Sundays and Days of Obligation is now no longer necessary and will be withdrawn.   All the faithful are encouraged to return to the celebration of Sundays and Days of Obligation by attending Mass, beginning on the Solemnity of Pentecost, which is the Solemnity that celebrates the birth of the Church.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales published a reflection entitled  “The Day of the Lord”, which I would like to quote to reflect on the importance of returning back to taking part in the Mass especially on Sundays.
“It is the Eucharist, the celebration of the Mass, that makes the Church; and it is the Church, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, which makes the Eucharist. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the lifeblood of the Church. It requires our active participation and, to be fully celebrated, our physical presence.
At this moment, then, we need to have in our sights the need to restore to its rightful centrality in our lives the Sunday Mass, encouraging each to take his or her place once again in the assembly of our brothers and sisters. We face the task of seeking to nurture the sense of Sunday as “a weekly gift from God to his people”, and something we cannot do without; to see Sunday as the soul of the week, as giving light and meaning to all the responsibilities we live out each day; to see the Sunday Eucharist as food for the unique mission with which we have been endowed.
In the time to come we can do no better than to rekindle in our hearts, foster and encourage, a yearning for the Real Presence of the Lord and the practice of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, a gift so deeply appreciated in the times of lockdown. We need to begin by fostering this in ourselves. For the Eucharist should be the cause of our deepest joy, our highest manner of offering thanks to God and for seeking his mercy and love. We need to make it the foundation stone of our lives”.  (Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, ‘The Day of the Lord’, 22 April 2021).
It is my hope that all the faithful will return to celebrate together the Day of the Lord in Church, participating in the Sacrifice of the Mass and receiving Holy Communion, which is food for the journey we are on in this world.

Given today, the 13^th May, 2021, the Solemnity of the Ascension and the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima.
+Carmel
Bishop of Gibraltar