In the week when our children receive their first Holy Communion, please read this account of the Mass, and try to guess when it was written….

“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has finished, the overseer (episkopos=bishop) verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.

Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the overseer in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.

And they who are well-to-do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the overseer, who provides for the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.”

Does this description of the Mass sound familiar? Yet this is taken from the “First Apology” of St Justin Martyr who lived from A.D. 110 to 165, and it is one of the oldest such descriptions in existence. We give thanks for and through the Eucharist.

Fr Matthew

The English and Welsh Bishops tell us that the Vatican has published Pope Francis’ eagerly-awaited Apostolic Exhortation on the family, drawing together almost three years of consultations with Catholics in countries around the world. The lengthy document, entitled ‘Amoris Laetitia’, or The Joy of Love, affirms the Church’s teaching that stable families are the building blocks of a healthy society and a place where children learn to love, respect and interact with others.

At the same time, the text warns against idealising the many challenges facing family life, urging Catholics to care for, rather than condemning, all those whose lives do not reflect the teaching of the Church. In particular the document focuses on the need for “personal and pastoral discernment” for individuals, recognising that “neither the Synod, nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases”.

The website of the Bishops of England and Wales has a whole section dedicated to the document. You can download the full text of Amoris Laetitia, and the official summary of the document, but there are also background info such as a video of Bishop Peter Doyle, who attended the Synods, and a simple Q&A document from the Holy See, to help handling some of the questions that we and others might be asking.

www.catholic-ew.org.uk/Home/Featured/Amoris-Laetitia-The-Joy-of-Love

For myself, it is the tone of this document which is refreshing. Pope Francis is not afraid to wade into the realities of life today, or to try to guide us through the classic problem of how to be true to Christian teaching while also being true to the value of every person and his or her journey. Chapter 8 while not easy reading, should be compulsory for all clergy, counsellors and anyone trying to find a way through life – their own or others.

Fr Matthew