Hindley Catholic

08/09/2026

Tuesday 8th September 2026
Celebrating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8th date helped determine the date for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th.

Scripture does not give an account of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child who will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Such a story, like many biblical counterparts, stresses the special presence of God in Mary’s life from the beginning.

Saint Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation, and asks for an increase of peace.

We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world.

This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.

Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.

07/09/2026

06/09/2026

This week’s newsletter…

05/09/2026

Saturday 5th September 2026
Optional celebration of Saint Teresa of Calcutta
(1910 – 1997)

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in 1950, as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers, and an order of priests.

Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia, Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father’s construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death.

During her years in public school, Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age 18, she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.

In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”

After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community, and undertake her new work, Sister Teresa took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals–the ordinary dress of an Indian woman–she soon began getting to know her neighbours - especially the poor and sick - and getting to know their needs through visits.

The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Others helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, and the use of buildings. In 1952, the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging, and street people.

For the next four decades, Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home. Blessed Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016.

Mother Teresa’s beatification, just over six years after her death, was part of an expedited process put into effect by Pope John Paul II. Like so many others around the world, he found her love for the Eucharist, for prayer, and for the poor a model for all to emulate.

04/09/2026

04/09/2026

https://issuu.com/catholic_pic/docs/catholic_pic_september_2026

The Archdiocese of Liverpool’s free monthly newspaper, bringing news and stories from across the Catholic community.

04/09/2026

Friday 4th September 2026
Option of Celebrating Saint Cuthbert
(c. 634 – 687)

Cuthbert was born around 633-635 at Hruringaham, near Lauderdale in the Scottish Borders. When he was about 16, he was looking after sheep in the hills and saw a vision of angels guiding a shining soul to heaven. He later learned that this happened at the exact moment that Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), died. Cuthbert realised this was a sign from God and decided to become a monk. He joined the monastery at Mailros (Melrose) Abbey.

Cuthbert travelled around Northumbria preaching and became known for miracles of healing. He spent his days working and his nights at prayer, and his reputation as a holy man grew. In 664 Cuthbert was made Prior of the monastery on Lindisfarne.

In 676 Cuthbert decided to become a hermit, someone who lives alone to be closer to God. He moved to a remote island near Lindisfarne called Inner Farne. He stayed there until 684, when Archbishop Theodore, hearing of his holiness, made him Bishop of Hexham. Cuthbert did not want to accept, preferring to be a hermit, but eventually agreed.

Cuthbert swapped roles with Bishop Eata, becoming Bishop of Lindisfarne instead of Hexham. He travelled around the region teaching and helping the poor, but continued to live a very simple life, as if he was still in the monastery. Only three years later in 686 Cuthbert realised his health was failing. He resigned as Bishop and returned to his hermitage on Inner Farne. He died on his beloved island on 20th March 687.

The monks brought his body back to Lindisfarne and buried it inside the church. Pilgrims began visiting and reported miracles of healing, a sure sign of Cuthbert’s holiness. Twelve years later, the monks decided to move Cuthbert’s remains to a new, small casket, which could be displayed above ground. But when they opened his coffin they were amazed to find, instead of bones, his body intact and undecayed - a sign of great sainthood. Pilgrims flocked to visit Cuthbert’s shrine and his fame spread far and wide.

In 875, following years of attacks by Viking raiders, the monks decided to abandon the Lindisfarne monastery. Taking Saint Cuthbert’s body, together with some other relics and treasures, they moved to the mainland and spent the next 120 years travelling across the region in search of a new home. They stayed in Chester-le-Street for 100 years, but, when danger threatened again, they moved to Ripon before finally settling in Durham in 995.

Legend tells us the decision to settle at Durham was made by Cuthbert himself. While on the road the cart carrying Cuthbert’s coffin stopped and would not move. One of the monks received a vision telling him Saint Cuthbert wanted to go to ‘Dun Holm’ (Durham). The monks did not know where this was, but then overheard a conversation between two milkmaids. One had lost her cow, and the other told her it had been seen at Dun Holm. The monks followed the milkmaid: she found her cow, and they found a new, safe home.

Cuthbert became England’s most important early medieval saint, and a key figure in the religious and political life of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Kings, princes and nobles offered gifts, and looked for Cuthbert’s favour before going into battle. People were eager to please Cuthbert and gain his protection, perhaps by visiting Durham on pilgrimage, or giving gifts to the shrine.

Over time Cuthbert’s celebrity waned, particularly after the Reformation, but he continues to hold a special place in the hearts of the people of the North East as ‘their’ saint.