As our journey towards the Celebration of Easter concludes we can experience the joy of Salvation and, hopefully, the tangible freedom of release from the strictures of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is still too early to know if we can avoid further lockdowns through this year and must be cautious not to anticipate the future outcome.<\/p>\n
Let us still enjoy the knowledge that Jesus comes to bring us life to the full, regardless of our present state if we allow Him to work in us.<\/p>\n
As we, at this time, recall the last year, very many among us have suffered bereavements and still search for understanding and closure. Many are sick or overcome by their personal situation, many more are afraid or have become reclusive. We all have had to change and adapt. So, let us recognise how much we are all loved by Our Lord and be thankful to Him for all we have, including the hardships and doubts that lead us into a greater awareness of God in our lives.<\/p>\n
We learn to endure through suffering, strengthened by hardship and enriched by seeing how our encounters with others seem more caring. \u201cHow are you?\u201d has more meaning now than a courtesy. We CARE more for each other; step aside in the street; give way in the shops; show more patience for those slower than us. We seem to care more for the environment, for minorities, for those different to us. Long may that last.<\/p>\n
13th\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0St Martin I\u00a0 Martyr, Pope<\/em><\/p>\n 19th\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0St Alphege\u00a0 Diocesan Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n 21st\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0St Anselm\u00a0 Diocesan Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n 23rd \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>St George\u00a0 Martyr, Patron of England – Solemnity<\/em><\/p>\n 28th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Peter Chanel\u00a0 Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 29th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Catherine of Siena\u00a0 Patron of Europe – National Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n As our journey towards the Celebration of Easter concludes we can experience the joy of Salvation and, hopefully, the tangible freedom of release from the strictures of the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-635","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\/635","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=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}DEACON MICHAEL BALDRY<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"