Letter from the Rectory - August 2026

Dear Friends,

On 15th August the Catholic Church celebrated one of festivals remembering Mary, the mother of Jesus.  In his address, Pope Leo said that Mary ‘teaches us that our true beauty does not lie in hiding the signs of aging, but in revealing the signs of love that never end.’  He quoted 1 Corinthians 13 – part of that reading we often hear at weddings – that ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails’.

The Pope went on, ‘With this in mind, we are invited to reexamine many of the aesthetic standards, predominantly hedonistic and consumerist in nature, that the world imposes on us. These standards risk trapping us in burdensome expectations, causing us to waste precious energy on what does not really matter and does not last forever.  In everyday life, we encounter people whose faces are marked by the years and by suffering, yet who are capable of radiating serenity, kindness and peace around them; just as we may observe others who are perhaps outwardly attractive but hard and cold at heart. It is easy to see where true beauty lies and where, on the other hand, there is still a need for conversion, forgiveness and healing.

If we truly wish to discover and nurture the divine beauty that surrounds us and for which we were made, and to share it with those around us, we must learn to see it in the wrinkles of an elderly person as in the tender face of a child as well, in the maturity of an adult as in the liveliness of a young person as well, in work clothes and tools as well as in festive decorations. We must listen to the unique love stories that each of these realities tells us, recognizing in them small glimpses of heaven.  

Love is humanity’s most beautiful adornment. Love transfigures, transforms, ennobles and lifts us up, making us light, free and close to God, even amid life’s ups and downs.’

As the Pope reminds us, the search for ‘true beauty’ can be found just as much in someone like my mother-in-law, who celebrates her 100th birthday this month, as in our latest grandchild, two-month-old Haleluya, even though it’s the latter who may attract more interest.  

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James Campbell