Dear brothers and sisters, You stand before us at the end of your long period of catechetical instruction and ready to be received into full communion with the Church. It is a big moment for you and a nice time to take stock of the spiritual journey you have made thus far. Maybe your minds have been going back to that first moment when you began to feel the Holy Spirit touching your heart and awakening inside of you some interest in the Catholic faith and how, after a while and some promptings, the same Spirit gave you the courage to inquire about it.

Dear brothers and sisters, at the Last Supper Jesus revealed to His disciples that He was not dying out of necessity, but that He had freely accepted death for them and for the world. And so, taking Bread He gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body, for you. And, after the Supper, taking the Chalice in the same way He said, ‘This is my blood poured out for you and for many’.

Dear brothers and sisters, this evening we gather in memory of that Sacred Supper which Our Lord Jesus entrusted to the Church as a Banquet of Love. We come, in the Holy Spirit, to carry out the sweetest of tasks for any Catholic and say thanks to God Our Father and His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the surpassing gift of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for the Sacred Food of Holy Communion and for His real, abiding Presence among us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. We come to celebrate the Liturgy which the Son of God, Our Friend and Saviour, instituted at the point when He showed how perfect His love was for the world, being about to hand Himself over to death for the salvation of all peoples.

Dear brothers and sisters, we gather in a year of two-fold grace. We gather in a Holy Year of God’s mercy. As a diocese we also gather in Our Paisley Synod year, called by the same Holy Spirit whose inspiration has moved the whole people - clergy, religious and lay faithful- to desire a renewal that will see us All Together Sharing the Good News and reaching out, especially through our laity, to every place of darkness in our territory, to bring in new faith and life.

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