Earlier this year, Pope Francis told us ‘A Christianity without a liturgy, I dare say, is perhaps a Christianity without Christ. Without the Total Christ. Even in the barest of rites, such as the one some Christians have celebrated and continue to celebrate in places of incarceration, or in the hiddenness of a house in times of persecution, Christ is truly present and gives himself to his faithful…  Christ is present, and in the liturgy you pray with Christ who is beside you’.  (General audience, 2 February 2021)

Our Diocesan Liturgy Office has now produced a series of videos, entitled A Call to Love to remind and encourage us of the importance of the Mass in our lives as Catholic Christians. Covid has given us space to re-think, and to recapture, the noble simplicity of our liturgies, reminding us of their true meaning.  It has given us an opportunity to pause and take stock; we have remembered, or re-discovered, our hunger for the Eucharist.

Throughout this series we will hear from a number of people from within our diocese; different aspects of the Mass are explored, including the many ways in which we encounter Christ and how that affects our lives.

We plan to begin a new series, sometime after Easter, which will look at how the Art & Architecture of our churches speaks to us of the faith we profess, so do watch out for news of this.

Our tenth video: The Eucharist – Canon Christopher Whitehead, Parish Priest – St John the Evangelist, Bath                  .

Our seventh video: Liturgy as Mission – Cath McCarthy, Parishioner –  Clifton Cathedral                                                                             .

Our fourth video: Liturgy – Liturgy as Encounter is by Fr Michael McAndrew, Parish Priest of St Mary’s, Swindon.                                               .

Doreen Wyatt, Chair of our Diocesan Liturgy Office, introduces the series to us and gives us an insight into what we can expect over the coming weeks.