There was a beautiful, peaceful atmosphere in St Bartholomew’s Church last night as our Primary 3 pupils celebrated their First Reconciliation. Despite feeling a little nervous as they arrived, the children did exceptionally well. Everything ran very smoothly and – most importantly – was carried out with a real sense of reverence and prayer. It was wonderful to see the children’s smiling faces at the end of the service! Many thanks to Mrs Deeney for preparing the children for the sacrament and thanks too to Mrs O’Neill for supporting the children during last night’s liturgy.

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. He must have been doing something right and been given a lot of grace to end up with such a huge responsibility.

St Joseph is the patron saint of fathers:
we pray for the dads of the pupils and staff of St Bartholomew’s.
St Joseph is the patron saint of workers:
we ask him to help us do our very best work in school today.
St Joseph is also the patron saint of carpenters:
we ask him to bless the workmen who have been fitting our new toilets and new classroom cupboards over the past few weeks.

St Joseph was a quiet, humble, hard-working man. There’s such a lot we can learn from him and we ask for his prayers today.