Ash Wednesday
Webmaster • February 14, 2026
Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, a day of Fasting and Abstinence, when all Catholics fast from one meal and abstain from meat. Age restrictions apply to the fast. Lent is a good time to remember that all faithful Catholics are expected to keep abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year.
There will be two Masses on Wednesday, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church at 10am and at St. Teilo’s at 7pm. Ashes will be distributed during both Masses.
Clothes donations for the SVP – This Weekend The Parish St. Vincent De Paul (SVP) Conference undertakes a monthly collection of clothing for the SVP Charity Shop. Clean, good quality clothing, books and toys are welcome. Donations may be left outside the confessionals at the rear of St. Teilo’s next weekend, June 14th , and on the weekend of the Second Sunday of each month. Please ensure that donations are brought to the Church only on the specified Sundays, as we do not want the Church to become cluttered during the week. Thank you from the parish SVP.
This month’s craft session takes place in the Parish Hall at St. Teilo’s next Saturday, June 13th after Mass, from 10.45am - 12.30pm . The session is suitable for absolute beginners to experts. This month we are focussed on creating Pop-up Cards. The session is free. Hope to see you there! Any enquiries please contact simplycraft@btinternet.com or speak to Erica.
There will be no Mass or Coffee and Tea at Our Lady of Lourdes this Wednesday due to the Chapter Mass taking place at the Cathedral that morning.
This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Corpus Christi. This beautiful Solemnity gives the whole Church on earth the opportunity to praise God for the blessing of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One of the most fundamental beliefs of the Church is that in Holy Communion, we receive the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Saviour, Jesus. Not a sign, a promise, a symbol or a token, but the REAL PRESENCE of Him Who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit is God. So, today, on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord, let us thank God for His closeness to us, in the Sacraments, in his Word, in our prayers and celebrate our wonderful Catholic faith which has always and will always, proclaim the truth of the Presence of Jesus in our midst. O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving, be every moment Thine
Those Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion who were not available to renew their ministerial vows on Maundy Thursday will be able to do so at the 10am Mass next Sunday, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. We will also institute a new Extraordinary Minister at this Mass.
Canon John’s swearing in as the new Provost of the Chapter and the installation of Canons-elect Tim McGrath, Cyril Thadathil and Michael Doyle will take place on Wednesday this week at 11:00am in St. David’s Cathedral, Cardiff. All are welcome to join the celebration of the Chapter Mass by Canon John in the presence of the Archbishop and the rest of the Chapter of Canons. The Chapter Mass will replace the Parish Mass on this occasion. For those unable to attend, the Chapter Mass will be live-streamed from the Cathedral – https://g0.ipcamlive.com/player/player.php?alias=5ed0e7c219233
Many of you will know that Canon John acts as chaplain for the HCPT group 547 which goes on pilgrimage from Cardiff to Lourdes each September. This year they will be travelling from September 25th to October 2nd. If anyone is interested in travelling with Canon and the other members of the group, please email Canon John on whitchurch@rcadc.org as soon as possible.
On Thursday at 10am we will be joined for Mass by a group of school pupils, and their teacher, from Christ the King. The young people will lead the readings and hymns at this Mass.
The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is celebrated on Saturday, the day following the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Mass will be at 10am. The feast reminds us of the joys and sorrows, virtues and hidden perfections of Our Lady and above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus and her compassionate love for all persons. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is based on the imitation of Mary’s ‘yes’ to God as the Mother of Jesus. In this devotion, love is the result, rather than the “object” of the devotion; the object being rather to love God and Jesus by uniting one’s self to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues, to help one achieve this. As we sing in the great Marian hymn, “Immaculate Mary! Our hearts are on fire; your title so wondrous fills all our desire.”
Friday is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mass on the Solemnity will be at 10am. As St. John says in his Gospel (19:33), when Jesus was dying on the cross "one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water." The celebration of the Sacred Heart is associated with the physical wound and the associated sacrifice, the "mystery" of both blood and water pouring from Christ's chest and the devotion God asks from humankind. Pope Pius XII wrote about the Sacred Heart in his 1956 encyclical, Haurietis Aquas (On Devotion To The Sacred Heart). Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself, but in the particular ways of meditating on His interior life and on His threefold love: His divine love, His burning love that fed His human will and His sensible love that affects His interior life. We come to the Sacred Heart as those who love Jesus and wish to align our hearts to His. At Mass on Friday, we have the opportunity to renew our dedication to Jesus’s Sacred Heart. The Mass readings and prayers for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are on page 87 of the Parish Mass Book.