St George's Celebrates
CAFOD Family Fast Day
Family Fast Day
This year’s Family Fast Day - October 3rd - was marked in St George’s by a special liturgy prepared by members of the Parish CAFOD Live Simply Group , using resources provided by CAFOD.
The liturgy, attended by over 30 parishioners, focused on the theme of “Jubilee” and began with the midday Angelus, uniting us with Catholics worldwide, followed by the hymn, “This is the Year of Jubilee” , which set the theme for our gathering.
During the reflection that followed, it was pointed out that the word ‘Jubilee’ has its roots in the Old Testament, it was a period of renewal and celebration, where , among other things, debts were cancelled and slaves and prisoners were given their freedom. It was known as a year of the Lord’s favour.
Cath Woods
The church now celebrates a Jubilee year every 25 years, and Pope Francis proclaimed this Jubilee Year, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ - when each of us is invited to renew our hope, a hope that comes from the knowledge that God loves each of us unconditionally.
The Gospel reading was from St Luke, where Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah:
“The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord”.
This was followed by the hymn, “Go tell everyone the news that the kingdom of God has come” to reinforce the Gospel message!
We then spent some time reflecting on the Jubilee icon (below) , an image depicting the scene from Luke’s Gospel, drawn by an Ethiopian artist, and we were invited to consider these questions:
· What do you notice ?
· What draws you in?
· Does the icon help you to see the Gospel story in a different way?
It was pointed out Hope is needed in today’s broken world more than ever and we are called to be “tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.” (Spes non Confundit, #10)
Before the final prayer and hymn, “Our God Reigns “ we were invited, if we hadn’t already done so, to write out our personal pledge for the Jubilee year and attach it to the tree on the “Live Simply” display in church.
Fr Chris joined parishioners for the celebrations
After the reflection, we enjoyed a simple lunch at the Venue to show solidarity with our sisters and brothers around the world who go hungry every day. It was also an opportunity for parishioners to get together socially and enjoy each other’s company!
Thank you to members of the CAFOD Live Simply group for organising everything.
Thank you to Carol Cahill for preparing this article and providing the photographs
