Happy St George's Day! A Prayer for England . . .

Happy Feast Day everyone!  The flag is fluttering in the breeze outside.We had a beautiful Mass here at St Ann's this morning and we finished with the Prayer for England, just before Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

Adoration continues all day until 8pm this evening. If you're in the area why not drop in and say a prayer for England on St George's Day.

PRAYER FOR ENGLAND

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

and our most gentle Queen and Mother,

look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry"

and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee.

By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour

and our hope was given unto the world;

and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more.

Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive

and accept at the foot of the cross.

O sorrowful Mother! Intercede for our separated brethren,

that with us in the one true fold

they may be united to the supreme Shepherd,

the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother,

that by faith fruitful in good works

we may all deserve to see and praise God,

together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.

Confused? You're not the only one . . .

We've had one or two occasions recently when we've wanted to fly the Papal Flag outside our church. One of our parishioners kindly set up a temporary flagpole for us which did the job quite satisfactorily but we thought maybe if we had a proper flagpole we might be encouraged to use if more often, on special feast days for example.

Having erected the flagpole yesterday, we are having a 'dry run' with the complimentary flag of St George that came with it.

I think it confused a few parishioners when they came for Mass this morning. It's certainly not St George's Day but I hope St Martha appreciated it!

It also looks as if our magnolia tree thinks it's April too. One or two blooms have suddenly appeared amongst the greenery.