SUNDAY 4th September – Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

I go to the school mass, always a sad moment but the past has gone. An inspiring sermon on St. Theresa of Calcutta whom the Pope makes a saint today.

MONDAY 5th September

Parliament resumes and I take part in two statements on Yemen, abuse of humanitarian law and Brexit.

Psalm 5
“Lead me Lord in your justice”.

TUESDAY 6th September

Psalm 149
“The Lord takes delight in his people”.

I chair the Higher Education Bill legislature sitting.

WEDNESDAY 7th September

I meet Peter for our little prayer group and Theodore for lunch. In the afternoon of glorious weather I pay a little visit to the Chelsea Physic Garden. If you are depressed about something it is good to take delight in the plants.

Entrance antiphon:
You are just o Lord and your judgement is right, treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.

THURSDAY 8th September – The Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We fly to Gibraltar for the National Day Celebrations.
The sight of the Rock revives my spirits, as it always foes as one lands.

Luke 6
“There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit”.

FRIDAY 9th September

A series of briefings with the Military Commander, the Chief Minister and the Governor and in the evening a Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Europe in the open air, the breeze coming off the Atlantic and less than fifteen miles away the Pillars of Hercules and the mountains of Africa.

Psalm 84
“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord God of Hosts”.

SATURDAY 10th September

We gather with a few thousand others for the National Day celebrations in the evening. I say a few words in support of British Gibraltar.