As the opportunity for having the Covid vaccine spreads more widely, some of us might feel more able to leave home unnecessarily. We must remember that it is our responsibility to help control the spread and protect others. We are being warned that this virus may become embedded as an annual epidemic, like the flu, with new strains appearing and medicine trying to keep up, rather than getting ahead of developments.<\/p>\n
The Government is concerned about the depth of fake news and dis-trust around the vaccines. Our Bishops have spoken out to say that we all can, in good conscience, have it and, as Christians, should take it for the good welfare of all people. We have a marvellous NHS and a scientific depth that leads the world in research. It is up to us to allow these strengths to be effective. For our churches to remain open a continued vigilance is needed from us all.<\/p>\n
Lent<\/strong> may not be as well marked this year (we\u2019ve endured a lot of hardships with the lockdowns and restrictions already) so how can we make it special? We may feel very uncharitable, tired, irritable, isolated and frustrated in ourselves. Maybe we could use Lent to break the cycle and achieve something worthwhile. If you don\u2019t usually pick up a bible, start by \u2018praying for protection\u2019 against distraction and try reading a few pages from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, rather than the Old Testament. Mark is shortest; easily read in a day but don\u2019t be too ambitious.<\/p>\n It\u2019s better to read a couple of lines and consider what the writer says to you, as if it is the first time you hear it. It\u2019s good to use a \u2018Commentary\u2019 e.g.\u00a0Bible Hub, <\/em>and discover insights into the writer\u2019s style and purpose. Dedicate some time, maybe 30 minutes, end with a thanksgiving and be surprised at what you\u2019ll learn and how refreshed it makes you. Like anything worthwhile it will take persistence and stamina to keep going and gain real benefit long-term. Be faith-filled!<\/p>\n 2nd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Presentation of the Lord\u00a0 Feast<\/em><\/p>\n 3rd \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Lawrence of Canterbury<\/p>\n 5th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Agatha<\/p>\n 6th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Paul Miki and companions<\/p>\n 8th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Josephine Bakita<\/p>\n 10th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Scholastica<\/p>\n 11th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our Lady of Lourdes<\/p>\n 17th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ash Wednesday – Lent begins\u00a0 Fast & abstinence<\/em><\/p>\n 22nd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chair of St Peter feast<\/p>\n As the opportunity for having the Covid vaccine spreads more widely, some of us might feel more able to leave home unnecessarily. We must remember that it is our responsibility to help control the spread and protect others. We are being warned that this virus may become embedded as an annual epidemic, like the flu, … Continue reading “Reflections for the Month of February”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":584,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions\/584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Calendar for February, Ordinary Time & Lent Year B<\/h5>\n
Deacon Michael Baldry<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"