<\/p>\n\n\n
They called it \u2018Freedom Day\u2019, and it\u2019s been a long time getting here. Covid is still about but we hope not too close to us.<\/p>\n
The mantra \u201cWith Freedom comes Responsibility\u201d is and must be foremost in our lives. What does this mean for us? As Christians we seek to follow Christ by caring for those around us. This should involve continuing to be cautious and curtailing some things that could make us vulnerable and propagate the spread of the infection and possible variants. We know now that Covid, like Flu, is not stopping. Our situation now will be a matter of controlling rather than eradicating the infection.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One way we can be responsible is to get vaccinated. If we can weaken the prevalence of Covid world-wide, the more freedom we can gain for those at risk and ourselves. Now this effort has been passed on to us by government and if we ignore advice we\u2019ll never get the \u2018Genie back in the bottle\u2019!<\/p>\n The efforts and sacrifices of those working in the health sector must be applauded and the way we can surely do that is to take our responsibility seriously – then we can really be free.<\/p>\n As our churches evaluate how this affects Mass attendance and new changes being allowed by the Bishops, we can see if there is something we might do to help; does someone need a lift or visiting, can I support the choir or play an instrument, could I join the cleaning team? Start now and be free to choose.<\/p>\n 4th \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>St John Vianney<\/p>\n 5th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dedication of Basilica of St Mary Major<\/p>\n 6th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Transfiguration of the Lord\u00a0 Solemnity<\/em><\/p>\n 7th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Sixtus II\u00a0 Pope\u00a0<\/em> and Companions\u00a0 Martyrs<\/em><\/p>\n 9th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)\u00a0 10th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Lawrence\u00a0 Deacon, Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 11th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Clare<\/p>\n 13th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ss Pontian\u00a0 Pope<\/em>\u00a0 and Hippolytus \u00a0Martyrs<\/em><\/p>\n 14th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Maximilian Kolbe\u00a0 Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 20th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Bernard<\/p>\n 23rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Rose of Lima<\/p>\n 24th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Bartholomew\u00a0 Apostle, Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 27th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Monica<\/p>\n 28th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Augustine<\/p>\n 30th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ss Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line, 31st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Aidan and Companions\u00a0 National Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They called it \u2018Freedom Day\u2019, and it\u2019s been a long time getting here. Covid is still about but we hope not too close to us. The mantra \u201cWith Freedom comes Responsibility\u201d is and must be foremost in our lives. What does this mean for us? As Christians we seek to follow Christ by caring for … Continue reading “Reflections for the Month of August”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","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\/781","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=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Calendar for August, Ordinary Time I, Year B<\/h5>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Margaret Ward\u00a0 Martyrs<\/em><\/p>\nDeacon Michael Baldry<\/h4>\n