On April 23, the Scottish government published a phased exit strategy from the lockdown, warning that it was “uncharted territory and will need careful navigation.” Archbishop Cushley said “things are not easy these days.” “We’re not getting together to pray the way we would like to; we’re not getting into our churches the way we would like to. This is because of the public health crisis that we now face, and I think all of us are very conscious of that, priests and people alike,” the archbishop said. “But I would just like to reassure you that our priests continue to pray for you. They continue to offer up Holy Mass every day for you even if you can’t always see it or can’t always be present at it. Know that that is continuing and be present as best you can by offering up prayers at the same time, or praying the rosary, or making a spiritual communion, reading the readings of the day. All of these things can be done so that you can be part of that worshipping community, whether it is seen or unseen round about you,” he continued. He called on Catholics to pray that churches can be opened safely. “Let’s pray for that, and hopefully we will all be able to get together to pray and to offer up the sacrifice, as we love to do as Catholics on a Sunday, as soon as possible,”

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. "The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development…Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded. (Laudato Si’ 13)

Congratulations to Rev. Joe McGill who was ordained a Deacon on 19th April 2020 by Bishop John in St. Cadoc's, Newton Mearns in a private ceremony. Please keep him in your prayers as he continues his vocational journey.

This book is intended to be a little help offered to all, so as to know how to discern and experience God’s closeness and tenderness in pain, in suffering, in solitude and in fear. Of course, faith does not eliminate pain; ecclesial communion does not eliminate anguish. Rather, it does illuminate reality and reveal that it is pervaded by the love and hope based not on our abilities, but on the One Who is faithful and never abandons us. The text is divided into three sections: In the first we find prayers, rituals and supplications for difficult moments. They are texts that originate from various ecclesial contexts and historical eras. For this reason, they can be a further source of sharing at the level of the universal Church. There are prayers for the sick, for liberation from evil, to surrender ourselves trustfully to the action of the Holy Spirit. Then there is a second part, which gathers together the indications given by the Church to continue to live and to receive the grace of the Lord, the gift of forgiveness and the Eucharist, the power of the Easter liturgies even though we are unable to participate physically in the Sacraments. Finally, the third part consists of the words the Holy Father Francis has pronounced since 9 March in order to sustain the entire ecclesial community in this time of trial: they are primarily the daily homilies of the Mass at Santa Marta, and the texts of the Sunday Angelus. Listening to his words helps us to reflect and to hope; it helps us feel in communion with Peter and united to him. This book, which the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication decided to prepare and make available to all, has a fundamental characteristic: it will be constantly updated with new homilies and other interventions made by the Pope, and the “rediscovery” of other treasures from our ecclesial tradition. The book will, therefore, be published on the Libreria Editrice Vaticana website in PDF format, and can be downloaded free of charge. However, several times a week it will be updated and made available to download in the new updated version, with the addition of the new texts. On the cover there is an image of the Archangel Michael, who protects the Church against evil and sustains us in this difficult trial, so that this evil may not prejudice our trust in the Father and the solidarity among us, but rather become an opportunity to look at what is truly essential for our lives and to share the love received from God among us all, and in a special way with those who are most in need today. Andrea Tornielli