Website of the Week
8th March: 3rd Sunday in Lent
Not Too Late for Lent
8th March: 3rd Sunday in Lent
Not Too Late for Lent
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The Saddest Noise" is a setting of Emily Dickinson's poem "The Saddest Noise, the Sweetest Noise". It begins the story of The Lost Birds in spring: the season of birth and renewal, and a time of year when bird songs flood the skies. But what is ordinarily a joyous sound is now riddled with sorrow, as the songs of the remaining birds remind us of the ones we've already lost.
Dickinson's reflections on the birds' songs--at once tuneful, but tainted with melancholy--inspired my musical language for The Lost Birds. Heavily influenced by the vernacular of the 19th-century, the work is both pastoral and romantic, with lyrical melodies and soaring strings. But for all its romanticism and loveliness, there remains a sense of loss that permeates the music: for though the melodies we can still hear are sweet, it is the ones that are lost which we truly wish to hear.
This heartbreaking composition by contemporary American composer, Christopher Tin, is from his work The Lost Birds: An Extinction Elegy. It is sung by the superb VOCES8 ensemble.
You can listen to the entire work here. It is 50 minutes long, and is subtitled.
The Saddest Noise" is a setting of Emily Dickinson's poem "The Saddest Noise, the Sweetest Noise". It begins the story of The Lost Birds in spring: the season of birth and renewal, and a time of year when bird songs flood the skies. But what is ordinarily a joyous sound is now riddled with sorrow, as the songs of the remaining birds remind us of the ones we've already lost.
Dickinson's reflections on the birds' songs--at once tuneful, but tainted with melancholy--inspired my musical language for The Lost Birds. Heavily influenced by the vernacular of the 19th-century, the work is both pastoral and romantic, with lyrical melodies and soaring strings. But for all its romanticism and loveliness, there remains a sense of loss that permeates the music: for though the melodies we can still hear are sweet, it is the ones that are lost which we truly wish to hear.
This heartbreaking composition by contemporary American composer, Christopher Tin, is from his work The Lost Birds: An Extinction Elegy. It is sung by the superb VOCES8 ensemble.
You can listen to the entire work here. It is 50 minutes long, and is subtitled.
Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudate Deum, makes it clear that each of us has a personal responsibility to our planet and our own role to play in arresting Earth’s seemingly headlong plunge into disaster. We are all called to be stewards of the Earth. It is through a combination of our own individual efforts, added to those of all other individuals, that real change can occur.
The Christian Brothers of Oceania have produced a simple checklist of possibilities to help individuals assess their own daily behaviours in terms of environmental impact. It provides a host of suggestions for making small changes in behaviour and actions which, cumulatively, can make an enormous difference.
Click here to assess your own performance against these checklists!
The Christian Brothers of Oceania have produced a simple checklist of possibilities to help individuals assess their own daily behaviours in terms of environmental impact. It provides a host of suggestions for making small changes in behaviour and actions which, cumulatively, can make an enormous difference.
Click here to assess your own performance against these checklists!
Click on the image to access.
The Mass for the Care of Creation is a new set of prayers and readings added to the Roman Missal by the Catholic Church to encourage prayer and action for our common home. Introduced in July 2025 by Pope Leo XIV, it provides specific liturgical texts, including unique prayers, readings, and antiphon texts, to deepen a sense of integral ecology and care for the environment. This Mass is intended to be celebrated any time but especially during the Season of Creation, which runs from September 1st to October 4th.
Click here to access the text for this Mass.
Click here to access the text for this Mass.
The ecumenical Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI) movement encourages churches of all denominations to take an eco approach to worship, lifestyle, property and finance management, community outreach and contact with the developing world. It aims to help churches celebrate the gift of God’s creation, recognise the inter-dependence of all creation and care for it in their life and mission and through members’ personal lifestyles. The movement is also active in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary and Norway.
The 500-year old Ignatian Examen is a daily prayer of review, used across many Christian denominations. The purpose is to discern the ways in which God has been present to you, the times when the Holy Spirit was drawing you towards life. A special ‘Ecological Examen’ has been developed as a tool for reflection and action to help deepen our call to care for creation and the most vulnerable.
Click on the image to engage with the ecological examen.
Click on the image to engage with the ecological examen.
Lent is a season of return. For forty days, we are invited to come back to God with our whole hearts — through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But in this time of ecological crisis, Lent is also an invitation to return to a right relationship with God’s creation.
Click on the image to access a reflection by the Catholic Climate Covenant.
Click on the image to access a reflection by the Catholic Climate Covenant.