Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Only last September we welcomed Saint Therese and her relics to Scotland and to our Diocese of Paisley. 

Who can forget the sight of the faithful in their tens of thousands flocking with their roses and petitions, often in long queues inside and outside of their churches, just to touch Therese’s casket and meet with the Little Flower heart to heart.  The days that Saint Therese was in Scotland were like a national retreat, full of prayer and reflection and many graces and blessings of mercy, renewal and hope.

Who could have believed that only a few months later the whole world would be gripped in a Pandemic, and here in Scotland those same churches would be locked down and our Masses and Devotions closed to the faithful.  Who, at the same time, could have imagined how wonderfully we would come together and hold firm as a family of faith through our online Masses and Devotions, Teachings and Reflections.  All of this has served us well as our churches reopen, our public Masses resume and parish life gets back up and running.
 
Who knows if the visit of Saint Therese did not prepare us with renewed strength of faith and devotion to face this unprecedented challenge to our Catholic religion!  I, personally, am convinced that the graces we received there really have helped us through.
 
For this very reason I will be praying our Anniversary Novena to Saint Therese in thanksgiving for all the graces we received from her as a Church and Diocese, and to pray her intercession to make a full recovery of our faith and religion, and even a new growth. 
 
I encourage you to join me in asking the Little Flower’s intercession so that in these unprecedented times, in her words, we may both ‘trust God that we are exactly where we are meant to be’ and, at the same time, ‘not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.’
 
With every prayer and blessing,
 
+John

The Novena runs for 9 days from 22nd September till 30th September and when you sign up you will receive an email for the meditation and prayer for each day.
 

To sign up for the Novena click