I think most of us have pondered our existence at one point or another. It’s difficult not to wonder about our purpose, about the meaning of life. Many of the great thinkers, writers, philosophers, and theologians have all considered it and provided their theories and opinions.

So, why are we here?

That’s a great question. What are we all doing here, on this earth, at this time? Why do we have the family we have, the friends we have, the people who we love? What the heck is the point of it all?

Some would propose that our existence is solely and earthly one. We have no real meaning, per se. We just are. We are born, we go through life, and then we die. That’s it. There is nothing more.

Others might say that our purpose in life is to make the most of it, to spend it with people who enrich it, who make it better, people who we love. Again, however, they will say that once we reach its end, there is no more. We cease to exist and there is nothing but an abyss of darkness.

Is it any wonder people are scared of death when this is what they are told?

In an increasingly secular world, people don’t really want anything to do with religion. Some call it a cult, others label those who are religious insane or say that they believe in fairytales. As a Catholic myself, I have come to understand that not everyone wants to be religious. Oftentimes, it’s the world that has turned them against religion, against faith. And while I’m not here to force anyone to become a Catholic, to follow God, I am going to do what I can to at least provide a little catechesis in the hope that it might help you to understand that we are not just some insignificant beings who live only to die into nothingness.

Our purpose can be found in the intentions of our Creator. Each one of us did not just spawn out of nothingness. We did not just suddenly materialise into existence. We were each created by someone far greater than us. We were each created by God in His image. God has known us since our conception.

In the Book of Jeremiah we read:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

And Psalm 139 praises God for creating us:

‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand – when I awake, I am still with you.’ (Psalm 139:13-18)

It’s such a beautiful Psalm. God has known us longer than we have known ourselves. God’s intentions for each of us were to create a human being, a beautiful individual, who could give glory to Him through the life they lived.

Each one of us has been created to honour Him in any and every way we can. And we have each been given certain gifts that we are to use to give glory and praise to Him and build His Kingdom on this earth. We were made for community, each of us have been given these gifts to enhance that community, to make it so rich and beautiful.

Some of us praise and glorify Him through music, some through writing, some through youth ministry. We might honour and glorify Him in our work, by being a model of Christ to those around us and those whom we meet on our journey through life. Some of us might serve in different ministries in our Parish communities, some may volunteer to help those in need.

Each of us can honour, praise, and glorify God in so many different ways.

In doing so, we often find our disposition tends towards one of fulfillment and happiness. The reason for this is simple – we are living out our purpose in life.

But our purpose, the meaning of our life, goes much further than just giving glory to God on this earth. Our meaning, our existence, is one that does not end in death, but transcends this earthly life.

When we breathe our last breath, our earthly bodies will give out, They will cease to function, they will be prepared for burial or cremation, and, ultimately, they will end up either in the ground or reduced to ashes.

But our physical bodies do not just stop working because our life has ended and faded to black. Our bodies are not just physical in nature, but also consist of a spiritual element – the soul. The soul is what makes us who we are. It is our inmost being. Our life, our love, all of it originates in the soul.

You might have heard someone who witnessed someone else’s death that ‘the light went out of their eyes.’ Someone told me just recently that when they witnessed a person’s death, they noticed a brief change in colour in the person.

These descriptions are very likely observances of the soul leaving the body. While the body is left lifeless, the soul lives on, beginning its journey to its final home for eternity. Depending on the life the individual lived, that soul will either end up in eternal paradise, returning to dwell with its Creator, in a state of purgation where it must be purified before entering into the home of its Creator, or condemned to eternal life in the fires of despair.

The meaning of our existence, therefore, is not just to live and die. It is to live and live.

We must glorify God in every way possible on in our earthly lives so that we can live with Him in our eternal lives.

Now I’m sure that there will be some reading this who are not Catholic, and probably not religious at all. You may be ambivalent towards religion; you may even despise it. And so you’re probably wondering why you should believe any of this.

To those people, I ask you to consider this:

If you are right, if religion is all just one giant fantasy that we’re all using to make ourselves feel better, then we are all going to die and cease to exist entirely upon our deaths. There are no eternal consequences for whatever we do in our lives, and we can live them as much or as little as we would like.

But if you are wrong, and our existence does indeed transcend this life into eternal life, then there are profound eternal consequences for not living a good life. For all anyone knows, you could be risking eternal damnation.

So why risk it? At the end of the day, there is greater harm in not believing than there is in doing so. If you spend your life believing in a ‘fairytale’ just to end up in a void, then it is what it is, no harm no foul. But if you believe in that ‘fairytale’ and it turns out to be more than just a ‘fairytale,’ a reality in fact, then that belief and living your life in the best way you possibly can might just assure you a beautiful eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven, face-to-face with your Creator, admiring and adoring Him forever.

And really, how depressing must it be to even consider that our life has no purpose, no meaning at all? What is the point of even being here if we just are, if there is no more to life than just sitting around on earth waiting to die? That kind of thinking, the theory of existing just to exist, is so bleak that it is hardly surprising that people can despair and become so bitter and angry at the world.

So why are we here? Because God put us here. God our Creator formed us in His Image, placed us here on this earth, at this exact time, with the family, friends, and loved ones we have so that we might praise Him, honour Him, and glorify Him, so that ultimately we might one day return to Him in eternal paradise and live with Him forever.

Christmas is a time we all enjoy celebrating. The tree goes up, the lights are hung, houses are decorated, the carols start playing on a loop, families and friends gather, and we all reminisce on the year that was.

But none of this would be possible, and none of it would have ever come into being, if it weren’t for one beautiful night when a light brighter than any other came into the world.

When the Blessed Virgin Mary gave her fiat upon her visit from the Angel Gabriel, she said Yes to bringing the light of the world into the world. For nine months, she carried within her womb the very light that would wipe away the darkness of sin and bring us all salvation. Just as the Ark of the Covenant carried the uncontainable God in the Old Testament, Mary housed the whole content of God’s will and truth within her in the New Testament. She was the New Ark of the Covenant, the bearer of the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament.

Joseph was anxious about being with Mary and being the father of a child that was not his own. He was fully prepared to divorce Mary privately so as to spare her any public shame. But when the Angel appeared to him and told him to stay with Mary and look after the child, he changed his mind and did just that.

The birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was able to take place because Mary and Joseph both put their faith and trust in God. Despite being seemingly ordinary people who were just trying to live the best lives they could, they were entrusted with the greatest role to be bestowed upon anyone in human history – to be the parents of the Saviour.

The Holy Family is such a beautiful model for us all. It should be a model for all families worldwide.

All fathers should do their best to emulate St Joseph, a man of great faith who worked hard to provide for his family, raised Jesus like his own child and taught Him everything he knew, and was incredibly loving and devoted to his wife.

All mothers should emulate the Blessed Mother, the Holy Virgin Mary, a woman of great faith who entrusted her life to God, took care of her family, did all she could to raise Jesus well, and was incredibly loving and devoted to her husband.

And all children should try to emulate the Christ-child, who had a great love for His parents, listened to them, learnt from them, and obeyed them well.

The story of the birth of Christ is not something that would even seem to be perfect in the eyes of the world. Joseph and a heavily pregnant Mary had to travel across the desert from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a distance of about 145km at a rate of around 4km/h. It took them around four to seven days to reach their destination. When they arrived in Bethlehem, they could not find a place to stay given the town was filled with individuals who had also come to be registered for the census ordered by Caesar. The only place available was a lowly stable. And this was where the Christ-child was born.

Even though it may not seem perfect, it was, because it was the fulfillment of God’s plan.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbled Himself and came down from Heaven, taking the form of one of us, a human being. The Word was made flesh. God Himself was among us. A light had come into the world, a light that would expel the darkness of sin and evil forever. His name was Emmanuel – ‘God with us.’ And He was so, so good.

On that first Christmas, God gave us the greatest gift of all – Himself.

Christmas is a story of faith, hope, and love.

The faith of Our Blessed Mother Mary and St Joseph, her Blessed Spouse, was so great. It was fundamental to the birth of Christ. Despite their fears, despite their concerns, they entrusted themselves entirely to God and His Will for them. They probably had so many questions, and I’m sure the journey they took to Bethlehem would have been incredibly exhausting. But they persisted regardless because they knew that God was taking care of them. They knew that He would protect them.

Christ’s coming into the world gave us all hope. The Light of the World had finally arrived, just as had been promised to Abraham, to Moses, to Elijah, and to all the prophets and people of God who had lived in centuries past. The Covenant made in the Old Testament had been fulfilled in the New. All the promises that God had made His people would be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, with the ultimate promise, salvation and eternal life, coming only with the ultimate sacrifice, the suffering and death of Our Lord.

God loved us so much that He sent down His Only Son from Heaven to dwell among us. He knew that His Son would have to endure great suffering and a torturous death, that He would have to be sacrificed to fulfill the promise He had made to Abraham. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, Abraham was at great pains to do so, but he was going to out of love for and obedience to God. God, seeing Abraham’s fear of the Lord, his love for Him, did not have him follow through with the sacrifice, but instead provided a ram for the sacrifice. This was to prefigure the sacrifice that would be made by God Himself. There was no substitute for His Son. And yet He still allowed the sacrifice to take place so that one day we might be able to spend eternity with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

God went to such great lengths for the sake of our salvation. Throughout all of salvation history, there were so many individuals who were chosen to be a part of something far greater than they could even imagine. If you go to Mass on Christmas Eve, you will likely have the opportunity to hear the entire genealogy of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s an incredibly beautiful Gospel reading that we only really get to hear at the Christmas Vigil. If you don’t get to hear it, you should take some time to read it (it’s Matthew 1). When you hear the names being proclaimed by the priest consider how each one was just a small part of one the greatest story ever told, the story of our salvation.

As we spend time this Christmas celebrating with others, let us take time to reflect on the faith of our spiritual Mother and Father, Mary and Joseph. May we try our best to emulate their own faith and trust in God, to trust Him in times of joy and times of darkness in our own lives. Let us have hope that, thanks to the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, coming into the world and offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice for us, we may one day spend eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven and come face to face with our Father and Creator. And let us all remember the great love that God has for all of us, and try to love others as much as He loves us.

May God Bless us all this Christmas.

Mothers are incredible people. They grow babies in their wombs, give birth to them, nourish them, nurture them, and help them grow into good and healthy young children, then teenagers, and finally adults. They are natural caregivers and bless us with their love for us.

All of this is perfected in the greatest Mother of all time, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Other than Jesus Christ Himself, Mary is the most important person in the Bible and salvation history. Of course St Joseph played an incredibly important role in being the earthly father of Christ and taking care of Him as if He were his own child. He also provided for and took care of Mary like a good husband would do.

But Mary possessed the greatest faith. When the Angel Gabriel came to her to bring her the news that she would bear a child conceived of the Holy Spirit, a child who would grow up and go on to change the world forever, a child who was the one and only Son of God, Mary did not act selfishly, nor did she seek to change God’s will. No, even though she was likely frightened by the apparition of the Angel, she wholeheartedly gave her Fiat, her Yes to God. The words she spoke are some of the most beautiful in all of Scripture:

“Let it be done to me according to your word.”

In saying this and accepting her place in salvation history, she placed God’s will above her own. And from that point forth, a simple woman of God became His Mother.

I think something we don’t often think about is that Mary went through some of the most gruelling trials any human being could possibly face. Right before Jesus was born, while heavily pregnant, she had to travel across the desert to Bethlehem. She gave birth not in a high-end hospital, not in a birthing centre, not even in the comfort of her own home, but in a barn. Jesus was not placed in a cot or a comfortable little bed with sheets and a mattress, but was wrapped in some cloth and placed in a manger filled with hay. If anything, this was the first display of Christ taking on the humility of a human being.

Mary and Joseph took care of Jesus and raised Him well. They nourished Him in the faith and would have taught Him how to pray. Like any parents, they became worried when He went missing after they went to the temple. When they found Him in the temple three days later (prefiguring His Death and Resurrection), they felt such joy and relief having found their child. This is the last time we really see Jesus as a child in the Bible, when He tells His Mother and earthly Father:

“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)

It is interesting that the next time we see Jesus Christ after this is when He is an adult, just before He sets out to begin His Ministry. While we do not get to see Christ’s entire childhood and all that occurred, including how Mary mothered Him, it is not essential given the Gospels were not written simply as a biography of Jesus’ life, but to share His teachings and His message with the world. And most of this can be found in His adult life when He was proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching the people how to live a good and holy life.

Mary is, however, central to this. Jesus’ Ministry begins somewhat earlier than He was going to start it when His Mother asks Him to perform a miracle at a wedding feast in Cana. We are given the following account of what occurred in John’s Gospel:

‘On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus was also invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”’ (John 2:1-5)

Jesus, being an obedient Son, does as His Mother asks of Him and turns water into wine, completing the first of His miracles.

Mary accompanies Jesus in His public Ministry, acting as a Mother to all of His Disciples. And then, as Jesus enters into His Passion, the Blessed Mother endures the greatest torment anyone would ever go through (aside, of course from Jesus Christ, who endured the greatest torment of all time). When Mary presented Jesus to Simeon in the temple, He prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. Just as Jesus’ head was pierced with thorns and His Sacred Heart was pierced by a lance, so too was Mary’s Immaculate Heart pierced when she bore witness to the torture and death of her Son.

Just like the time when Jesus went missing for three days as a child, His Mother agonized about what had happened to Him. Of course she was likely overjoyed when she discovered that Jesus had risen on the third day. But just pause for a moment and imagine the pain, the agony she must have felt on that first Good Friday.

Mothers have such an incredible love for their children. It’s a love that is unlike any other. Mary’s love for Jesus was probably the greatest love any mother could possibly have. If you are a mother, imagine watching your beloved child be mercilessly tortured and hung up on a cross to die. If you are a child, imagine how it would be for your mother to watch as you are scourged, beaten, tortured, made to carry a heavy wooden cross through the streets and up a mountain, nailed to that cross, and then left hanging there to die.

I think it would be difficult for any of us to comprehend such a horrifying scenario. Mary’s heart was indeed pierced by a sword that day – not a physical one, but one of sorrow. If you own a Miraculous Medal, a beautiful devotional item to Our Blessed Mother, you might notice there are two hearts on the back – the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by a crown of thorns and aflame with love, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by a sword and also aflame with love.

The Hearts of both Mary and Jesus have both been pierced, and yet their love for us still burns on, two inextinguishable flames keeping them ablaze.

It is such a beautiful thing to have a devotion to Our Blessed Mother. There are many ways we can honour her and devote ourselves and our time to her. I think one of the greatest of these is by praying the prayer that she gave to us when she appeared to several different people throughout the centuries.

The Holy Rosary is such a beautiful devotion to Our Lady. I think all of us would agree that it is so important to honour our mothers. Just like we honour our earthly mothers, we must also do what we can to honour our Blessed Mother. We can do this by praying the Rosary.

For those who may be unfamiliar, the Rosary is a set of prayers prayed using a set of Rosary beads. Even if you don’t have Rosary beads, you can still pray the Rosary. It begins with the Sign of the Cross, followed by the praying of the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary three times, the Glory Be and, if you would like to add it, the Fatima Prayer.

The five Mysteries of the day are then meditated upon. Mondays and Saturdays are dedicated to the Joyful Mysteries, consisting of the Annunciation of the Lord, the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, the Nativity of Our Lord, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Tuesdays and Fridays focus on the Sorrowful Mysteries, which comprise of the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord. Wednesdays and Sundays are dedicated to the Glorious Mysteries, comprising the Resurrection of the Lord, the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into Heaven, and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. And, finally, Thursdays are dedicated to the Luminous Mysteries, including the Baptism of Jesus, the Wedding at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the call to conversion, the Transfiguration of the Lord, and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.

For each decade of the Rosary, we begin by announcing the Mystery, then pray 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be, and the Fatima Prayer. We repeat this for each of the five Mysteries, doing our best to meditate well on each one. When we have completed all five, we pray the Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen), and the concluding prayer. Some people may choose to also pray additional prayers, such as the Memorare, the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel, prayers for peace, prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, and a prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

This is just one devotion that we can have to Our Lady. There are also scapulars which we can wear and pray the prayers of each day in devotion to the Blessed Mother. For example, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which was given to St Simon Stock, the Superior General of the Carmelites, by Our Lady, can be worn by all the laity who would like to be invested in it and wear it perpetually. It is worn under clothing, like a silent prayer to Our Lady to help us and guide us in our earthly pilgrimage.

There is also the Blue Scapular, which came about through a Marian apparition to the Venerable Servant of God Ursula Benincasa. In the vision Ursula had following the reception of Holy Communion on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the Blessed Mother appeared wearing a white garment with an azure blue garment over it, surrounded by many others wearing similar clothing. She held the Infant Jesus in her arms, and spoke to Ursula, saying:

“Cease weeping, Ursula, and turn your sighs into heartfelt joy. Listen closely to what Jesus, whom I am holding in my lap, will say to you.”

Our Lord told Ursula that she would found a convent with 33 nuns dressed in the same garment as the Blessed Mother and promised special graces to those who followed the way of life of the Blue Scapular. Ursula begged Our Lord to allow those graces to extend to all who would have a devotion to the Immaculate Conception, observe chastity according to their station in life, and wear a Blue Scapular. Jesus granted her petition, and so she began making small Blue Scapulars, had them blessed, and distributed them.

Scapulars have special ties to Our Blessed Mother as most originated from an apparition of Mary. They are a beautiful devotion to have.

So too is the Miraculous Medal. This wondrous Medal originates with St Catherine Labouré. One night, a child dressed in white and covered in a heavenly light awakened Catherine, a novice in the Daughters of Charity. He led her to the Chapel, where she found all the candles lit and then saw a beautiful woman enter, the Blessed Virgin Mary. St Catherine said of this apparition:

“I went closer and, throwing myself on my knees, rested my hands on the knees of the Blessed Virgin. At that instant, I tasted the sweetest joy of my life – a delight beyond expression.”

How incredible to bask in the light and joy of Our Blessed Mother.

Catherine saw the Blessed Virgin again several months later, where she appeared standing on top of the globe with her feet crushing the head of the serpent. Dazzling rays of light emanated from her outstretched hands. Around her appeared the inscription:

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

The Blessed Mother told Catherine:

“Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck.”

If you look at the Miraculous Medal, you will see this very image of Our Blessed Mother, crowned with twelve stars, surrounded by the inscription. On the reverse side is the letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base. Below this monogram are the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced with a crown of thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by a sword. Twelve stars also surround these images on the back of the Medal.

The beauty of the Miraculous Medal is that it acts as a catechism on the Blessed Mother. On the front we see the woman who crushes the head of the serpent in Genesis, the woman clothed with the Sun in the book of Revelation, the inscription that affirms Mary’s purity encircling her. The rays of light emanating from her hands demonstrate that she is the dispenser of the graces of God to those who ask for them. Standing upon the globe, she is depicted as Queen of Heaven and Earth. On the back, we see the Hearts of Jesus and Mary united at the Cross, and again the twelve stars representing the ‘woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.’ (Rev 12:1).

This Medal belongs to everyone because the Blessed Virgin Mary is everyone’s Mother. We should wear it with love and confidence in her, because these, alongside veneration of Our Lady, are the three key elements of devotion to the Blessed Mother.

The Blessed Mother is a powerful intercessor for us in Heaven. As the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, she can bring our prayers to Him and intercede for us. Remember, when Jesus’ Mother asked Him to help with the shortage of wine at the wedding in Cana, He listened to her and obeyed her.

It is so important for all of us to have a Devotion to Our Blessed Mother. She loves us all so much, and she wants us to have a relationship with her, to place our trust and confidence in her, to love her with all our heart.

Personally, I have grown so much in my love for and my relationship with Our Blessed Mother over the last year. When I was led by Christ to the Confessional earlier this year, I was given a Penance of saying a decade of the Rosary. I am ashamed to say I had no idea how to pray the Rosary on my own at the time. So I got a guide up on my phone and prayed it to complete my Penance.

A few weeks later, on Ash Wednesday, I went to Confession again and was given the same Penance. This time, I went further. I completed the Penance, but I felt drawn to this beautiful Prayer and prayed the entire Rosary. At the time, I did not have a set of Rosary beads, but I kept count of the decades on my fingers. I fell so in love with this prayer that I began praying it every day from that point forth. I purchased a set of Rosary beads and now I have them on me at all times wherever I go.

By praying the Rosary, I began to grow not only in my love for and devotion to the Blessed Mother, but also in my relationship with Christ. It is just incredible how Jesus Christ leads us to His Mother, and His Mother leads us back to Him. I don’t know if I will ever be able to fully grasp the beauty of that.

The beauty of Our Blessed Mother is not simply that she is the Mother of God, but that she is the Mother of us all. We are all children of God, but we are also her children. She wants us to ask for God’s graces. She wants to bestow them upon us. She wants us to deepen our relationship with her Son. She wants us to grow in faith, love, and holiness.

Our Lady has many names, each often pertaining to a particular place or culture. If anything, that just demonstrates that she is a Mother to all nations. But the one that is universal to us all is the Blessed Mother of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Holy Mother of God.

We should do all we can in our lives to honour her, and, through her, to honour her Son. We can pray and ask for her intercession. We can have a Devotion to her. We can ensure that we attend Mass on her special Feast Days and Solemnities. For those who might be wondering what days these fall on, here’s a list:

• 1^st January: Mary, the Mother of God
• 11^th February: Our Lady of Lourdes
• 25^th March: The Annunciation
• 31^st May: The Visitation
• 15^th August: The Assumption of Mary
• 8^th September: The Birth of Our Lady
• 7^th October: Our Lady of the Rosary
• 8^th December: The Immaculate Conception

We can also speak to Our Blessed Mother when we are spending time in Adoration of her Son. It is such a beautiful thing to ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother and deepen our devotion to her while gazing lovingly upon her Son like she would have on the night of His birth.

So develop a relationship with Our Blessed Mother. Deepen that relationship in any way you can. Get a Miraculous Medal and wear it devoutly. Pray the Rosary every day, or at least as often as you can. Get invested into the Confraternity of a Scapular and wear it devotedly to Our Lady. Ask for her intercession. Meditate on her life, her Seven Sorrows (another Devotions where we meditate on Mary’s grief and find solace in her intercession for us) and her Seven Joys (a Devotion where we meditate on the joys of Our Lady and rejoice in her intercession). Go to Mass on her Feast Days and Solemnities.

Trust our Blessed Mother. Place your confidence in her. Venerate her. And, above all, love her.

May the Blessed Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ watch over us, protect us, and keep us safe always.

For many Catholics, it can be so easy to just treat Mass as something that is simply part of their weekly routine. Some might see it as a chore that they’re required to complete for the sake of getting into Heaven.

I think this problem is only made worse in a world where everyone wants everything on demand and people cannot bring themselves to give more than an hour of their lives to the Lord each week. Even an hour is too much for some who end up seeking out a ‘quick’ Mass. They treat it like something that is necessary yet not incredibly important, like getting lunch from a fast-food place. They want something quick and easy so they can get back to what they want to do.

The lack of respect for God in our modern culture is bad enough as it is in secular society. It becomes more difficult to deal with when we have Catholics who have such a disregard for their faith and merely treat it as a free ticket to eternal life.

That’s not good enough.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is so much more than just a show you have to watch every week. It’s the re-presentation of the selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross on Calvary. It is so Scripturally rich and so breathtakingly beautiful. Every week we are given the privilege of being a part of something that is far greater than us, far greater than we ever will be. It is Heaven on Earth.

The Mass is our taste of what Heaven will one day be like, when, God-willing, we will get to attend the Heavenly Wedding Banquet of Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church. We are so incredibly blessed to have even a taste of that. God could have left us with nothing when Christ ascended back into Heaven. Instead, He gave us the Mass, so that we could remember and commemorate the sacrifice of His Son for ever until this world passes away.

When we attend Mass, we should dress well. We are the Church, the Bride of Christ. The Mass is the celebration of the Lamb’s Supper, and so we must dress as if we are attending our wedding. That doesn’t mean you have to wear a suit and tie. Just make sure it’s something classy and not something incredibly casual. You’re not going to a football match or the movies or an arcade. You’re participating in the greatest sacrifice the world will ever know, the most beautiful ceremony you will ever attend (and you get to attend it every single week, even every day if you so wanted).

In order to prepare properly for Mass, you should be arriving at least 15-30 minutes beforehand. Getting to Mass in a rush is not going to prepare you well for what you are about to take part in. Arriving early will allow you to spend time sitting or kneeling in silence, bringing yourself into a state of prayer and uniting yourself to God, the Angels and Saints, and all His people. You might spend some time meditating on the day’s Readings, or you might prepare by praying the Rosary and meditating on the Mysteries of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

Now look, we all have families, and sometimes it can be difficult to arrive early for Mass. Sometimes we’re able to get there just in time. Other times we might arrive after Mass has begun, maybe during the Readings. But we should do the best that we can to arrive at least on time, if not earlier. Arriving early gives us time to speak to God and attune ourselves to His will.

Some Parishes will also have Adoration available prior to Mass, possibly with the Sacrament of Reconciliation available. If this sounds like your Parish, try to go to Adoration so that you can spend more time with Jesus. And, if it’s been a while since your last Confession, visit the Confessional and receive the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness.

There are several things we can do during Mass to really make the most of it and deepen our participation and love for the Sacrifice.

Whenever the name of Jesus is said, we should all bow our heads to show respect and reverence His Holy Name. We should also bow our heads at the appropriate time when professing our faith by saying either the Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed. Although worded differently, the moment we bow our heads for each of the Creeds is when we recall the Incarnation. For the Apostle’s Creed, this is when we say “who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” For the Nicene Creed, the lines we bow our heads for are “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” I know it seems like it should go without saying, but it might surprise you how many Catholics don’t know when to bow their heads during the Creed. Some don’t even do it at all.

To be quite honest, I think the use of PowerPoints on projector screens at Mass has not helped the faithful to memorise prayers and actually understand what they are saying when they pray those prayers. That is not to say such PowerPoints cannot be used for hymns. But I think it would be better if they were limited to just the hymns, the Responsorial Psalm and Gospel Acclamation, and possibly the Mystery of Faith (although this could even be omitted, allowing for the Priest himself to choose which Acclamation is said or sung).

I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t really know the Apostle’s Creed until I actually started praying the Rosary and learnt it by heart. I’ll also admit that I am still familiarizing myself with the Nicene Creed, which I still mix up with the Apostle’s Creed. There have been several times that I have started saying the Nicene Creed and ended up transitioning into the Apostle’s Creed. I think there are quite a lot of Catholics who wouldn’t be able to recite the Creed without reading it off a screen. We should all really be able to say it by heart.

During the Liturgy of the Word, we should listen carefully to the Readings, including the Psalm, and the Gospel. We should also try to take heed of what the Priest or Deacon reflects on in his Homily. There might be something you take from the Readings or the Homily that you can implement in your own life to better live a life of virtue.

When the Priest is saying the prayers of consecration, it is appropriate to bow our heads again, particularly when the Priest is repeating the words that Christ said to His Disciples on the night of the Last Supper. When the Priest elevates the Host we can bow our heads, then look up adoringly at the Body of Our Lord, and then bow our heads again. The same is appropriate when the Priest elevates the Chalice containing the Blood of Christ.

When the Priest is saying the Eucharistic Prayer, it’s worth paying attention to what he’s actually saying. The Eucharistic Prayers are so beautiful. While it may not be said as often, Eucharistic Prayer I is a personal favourite. I just love hearing the names of the Saints. The lines, “a pure victim, a holy victim, a spotless victim” are quite powerful as well. Just think about it – Jesus Christ was pure, holy, and spotless. He did no wrong. He was perfect. And yet He was put to death by the same people He had come to save. He gave His life willingly. That right there is selflessness personified.

After receiving Holy Communion, please don’t leave the church straight away. Spend time in prayer thanking the Lord for allowing you to receive Him in the Holy Eucharist. Thank Him for all He has given to you. Bring your prayers and intentions to Him. Talk to Him. He wants nothing more than to talk to you and have a relationship with you.

Some people will even stay and continue praying after Mass has concluded. If you have a few extra prayers to say or haven’t finished saying your regular ones, you can always just kneel there in front of the Tabernacle and pray. If your Parish is lucky enough to have a 24-hour Adoration Chapel, you might like to visit the Chapel following Mass and speak to Jesus more while looking at Him in the Blessed Sacrament.

My final tip for making the most of Mass is this: don’t rush off after Mass is finished. Stick around. Get to know other Catholics you haven’t met before. Be a part of the community. Good Catholic communities build each other up and help each other to grow in their faith. If you leave immediately after Mass, you might not realise what you’re missing out on.

The Mass is such a beautiful gift from God. We are so privileged to be able to take part in it. The incredible thing is that we are not restricted to taking part only once a week on Sundays. We can go to Mass as often as we would like. Most churches have daily Mass. Some even have more than one Mass available each day. Going to Mass is such an amazing way to enrich your faith and grow in love for God, to deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, to grow in understanding of the Scriptures, and to enhance your prayer life.

We can go to Mass once a week, and that’s fine. But we should be trying to give up more than just a single hour each week for Our Lord. He deserves so much more from us. After all, He gave His life for us so that we might be able to live forever with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Go to Mass as often as you can. But don’t just be a bystander. Be a participant. When the priest offers the sacrifice, offer your own sacrifice within your own heart. We can offer so much to our Lord, and there is no greater occasion on which to do it than at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, when we can unite our sacrifices not only with Christ’s loving sacrifice on the Cross, but with the sacrifices of all those gathered together at the Supper of the Lamb.

May God Bless us all and help us to continue to grow in our devotion and love for the Mass.

I think one of the greatest gifts that God has given us is the ability to adore and spend time in the True Presence of His Son. Jesus Christ did not just come to earth, evangelise, teach, proclaim the Kingdom of God to the people, enter into His Passion, die on the Cross for our salvation, rise from the dead having conquered sin and death, and then ascend back into Heaven and leave us on our own. He is still present on this earth in the Most Blessed Sacrament, residing in Tabernacles in churches and chapels throughout the world.

We have all been provided with the opportunity to go and spend time with Him as often as we would like to.

Many Parishes have a Holy Hour each week, maybe even more than one. where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in the Monstrance and we all have the chance to spend time with Jesus. A communal Rosary or another set of prayers is often prayed by all in attendance, which is so beautiful and powerful. The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is usually available during this time. If it has been a while since you have been to Confession, there is no more perfect a time to go than during a Holy Hour when Our Lord is exposed right there in front of you, His arms outstretched in love, waiting to embrace you with mercy and forgiveness. Often, Holy Hours end with a Benediction, a special blessing where the priest blesses those gathered with the Blessed Sacrament, the Divine Praises, and Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

It is an incredible experience that all Catholics should try to get to at least once a week. It is one of the best ways to enrich your faith and prayer lives and deepen your relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some parishes even have 24-hour Adoration Chapels, which can be visited at any time of the day. If you want to visit one after hours, access is usually available by getting in touch with the Priest or the Parish Office, as a system is often set up to allow the faithful to visit our Lord when they would like to.

We are so lucky to have such Adoration Chapels, as they provide us with an opportunity to visit our Lord whenever we need it, even if it is every single day. If there is a time when we want to go see Jesus and talk to Him, or even just gaze at Him in Adoration, and there are no Holy Hours available, we can just find our nearest 24-hour Adoration Chapel and spend as much time as we want with Christ.

Adoration is something I really wish I had discovered and understood earlier in my life. I only really began to develop a devotion to Holy Hours and Eucharistic Adoration earlier this year. But I’m so glad that I did discover it that night at Mary, Queen of the Family Parish, Blacktown. I can still recall going to the church that Friday evening for Confession, and when I was sitting there in the queue next to the Confessional, I listened as the regular attendees prayed the Rosary together.

At the time, I only really knew the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be prayers for the Rosary. I was never one to really pray it that much, and I wouldn’t have been able to say the Apostle’s Creed, the Fatima Prayer, the Hail, Holy Queen, or the closing prayer of the Rosary without having the words written out in front of me. I couldn’t even remember what the Mysteries for each day were, or which Mysteries were prayed on each day of the week.

But after coming back again and again, and when I began praying the Rosary each day (using a guide on my phone at the time), I was able to memorise all the prayers, even extra ones like the Memorare and the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel, as well as all the Mysteries and which days each were said on.

A Holy Hour drew me towards the Rosary, and the Rosary kept me coming back to Holy Hour each week. Jesus led me to His Mother, and His Mother led me back to Him.

I am so happy to be attending Adoration at least once a week now. Most weeks I go two or three times. It is so important to give time to God and spend time with Jesus Christ. We spend so much time doing meaningless things like scrolling on our phones and watching mind-numbing television programs. There are far too many people who even put sport and other activities above going to church. And Jesus just waits there, in the Tabernacle, for us to come and visit Him.

If we find ourselves saying we ‘don’t have time,’ we should make time to go and see Our Lord. We should take every opportunity we can to spend time in His Presence.

When you go to Adoration, even if you don’t know what to say to Our Lord, even if you don’t have the energy to pray like you usually would, you can simply just kneel there before Him and look at Him. You’ll be looking at Him, and He will be looking at you. There can be an incredible sense of wonder that can wash over you just by gazing upon Him.

I recently visited an Adoration Chapel and just got lost in the moment when I was looking at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. A lot of the time I’ve noticed that my prayers can become very ‘robotic’ of sorts. I just tend to repeat the same prayers that I say every day. But on this occasion at the Adoration Chapel, after praying my Rosary, I just knelt there, looked up at Jesus, fixed my eyes on Him, and poured my heart out to Him.

I think it was one of the greatest prayer experiences I have ever had. I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. There have been occasions on which I have been praying various prayers, and have been distracted throughout them, or have taken a look at my watch to see what time it was. But in that moment nothing else mattered. All that mattered was Christ. I became so enamoured with Him in that moment that I didn’t want to look away from Him. It was like everything else around me went out of focus and my focus was solely on Him.

To be quite honest, I did not want to leave. I just wanted to stay there, in that moment, where everything was beautiful and everything was perfect.

God is so good.

On the night Jesus Christ was betrayed and entered into His Passion, He went out to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed. When He returned to where He had left His disciples, He found them asleep.

‘Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”’ (Matthew 26:40-41)

Jesus wants us to spend time in prayer with Him. Going to Adoration is one of the greatest ways to do this. He has given us this gift so that we can grow in our relationship with Him and deepen our love for Him. The least we can do is try to go to Adoration at least once a week, even if it is just for half an hour.

But if you want to really deepen your relationship with Jesus and nourish your own faith and prayer lives, try to get to a Holy Hour each week if you can. Or, if you can’t make a Holy Hour, visit an Adoration Chapel. You can go on your own and just spend time alone with Our Lord, or you could go with your family or even some friends and spend time with Jesus together, growing in faith and holiness together.

Jesus loves us all so much. He loves you so much. And He wants to spend time with you. He is waiting for you to come and visit Him. So go and spend some time with Him. You won’t regret it.