The Final Word

And yet violence and evil seems everywhere around us: the cruelty of war and its horrible consequences for the innocent, especially in the Middle East, and the many horrors of the past 100 years that we almost cannot bear to think of. Just contemplate one: World War I. Think of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, one century ago this year, where on a line of 26 kilometres, a million human beings were killed in five months!

Recently I spent some days with three other bishops at the Royal College of St Alban in Valladolid, Spain. The college was founded in 1589 for the training of priests for England and Wales, who often returned to almost certain death. It numbers six saints and 16 beati among its alumni. Valladolid is the ancient Spanish capital and the place where Christopher Columbus and Cervantes lived.

In this month of August we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, our Mother and Mother of the Church.

Many of us, since we were children, have prayed the Hail Mary almost effortlessly: it is so much a part of our Catholic way of life. As adult disciples we need to continue to grow in our relationship with the Mother of Jesus.