"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." ( Ga 6, 51 ) Put yourselves into the shoes of a young person making their first Holy Communion: Today is the most amazing day of my life. I know people say that about lots of things — birthdays, holidays, the day you score a goal or win a race. But today is different. Today is completely, wonderfully, extraordinar

'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.' — John 3:16 A young woman, named Anna, spent forty years caring quietly for her elderly neighbours: cooking meals, sitting through long nights of illness, pressing small notes of encouragement through letterboxes. She never sought recognition. She simply loved. She died largely unnoticed by the wider world. Yet at her funeral, the church was full

"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." ( Ga 20, 22-23 ) In the locked room where the apostles sheltered, fear has shut every door. The disciples are huddled together in their shame and confusion when, without forcing an entry, Christ comes and stands among them and simply says, “Peace be with you!” It is the first gift of the Spirit: not a solution but a presence. Peace, breathed gently into anxious hearts,

After the Ascension of our Lord, the apostles returned to Jerusalem and gathered in the upper room — and there they waited. It would have been a profoundly disquieting time. The One who had guided their every step, who had answered their questions and stilled their fears, had passed beyond their sight. What would become of them now? Who would sustain them? Were they truly capable of what lay ahead? We may well imagine the anxious conversations, the sleepless nights, the falte