January…Eanair
Let’s make this a year of Peace in our world.
World Day of Peace: Theme for 2026: An unarmed and disarming peace.
Today we start the new year by celebrating World Day of Peace.
In his 2026 World Day of Peace message, Pope Leo situates nonviolence at the heart of Christian discipleship and calls communities everywhere to become “houses of peace” witnessing to reconciliation, justice, and hope in a world of conflict and violence.
Catholic Nonviolence Initiative January 2026 Newsletter
https://paxchristi.net/cni-about-us/
and
Archbishop Dermot Farrell’s message for the World Day of Peace on Jan 1st 2026 speaks of the hard won processes that led to peace on this island and how various communication campaigns today threaten peace globally.
“It is worth noting that the same processes are at work in our response to the climate crisis. The remembering and the contribution of every single person is important. Like peace building, care for our Common – and only – Home, is the work of everyone.”
You might like to read the full message!
“https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/peace/documents/20251208-messaggio-pace.html
Now more challengingreading.
Pope Leos first letter or Apostolic Exhortation I have love You or Dilexit Te
Read it HERE
or if you want a SUMMARY
…begun by Pope Francis in the final months of his life and promulgated by Pope Leo XIV, affirms that love for the poor is not optional but a path to holiness and a constitutive dimension of the Church’s identity and mission. Rooted in Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the witness of the saints, it emphasizes that the poor reveal Christ’s presence and embody the “preferential option for the poor.”
Visit your local woodland, you might meet or hear a blackbird feasting on the holly or ivy berries!
All of January…’Have a Green January’
Action:
“Our Moral Imperative of Action on Climate Change-and 3 steps we can take”
An idea…Could you help to start a ‘Care of Creation Group’ in your parish during 2026?
There are plenty of ideas here.
and this wonderful booklet from Laois County Council
6 January/Eanair
Epiphany & Women’s Christmas
Action: Celebrate all women, young and old who are following the star of justice in our global village.
15 January/Eanair
Martin Luther King Day
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Martin Luther King
Action: Be a voice for justice in your workplace, school, parish….
18-25 January/Eanair
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Theme: One Body One Spirit.
https://ctbi.org.uk/resources/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2026/
Action: Why not accept this invitation and take time to pray for Christian Unity across the week.
19 January/Eanair
World Religion Day (Baha’i)
The aim of World Religion Day, held on the third Sunday in January every year, is to promote inter-faith understanding and harmony.
Through a variety of events held around the globe, followers of every religion are encouraged to acknowledge the similarities that different faiths have.
Action: Consider what you can do to foster harmony.
21 January/Eanair
Birth of John Main OSB
“We encounter the living Lord in our own hearts and then find him everywhere: in our lives, relationships, and in the living word of Scripture”.
“Learning to pray is learning to live as fully as possible in the present moment” John Main.
Action: Consider your own call to contemplative prayer, the prayer of the heart.
Visit www.christianmeditation.ie or www.wccm.org or www.thespiritualsolution.com
24 January/Eanair
Foundation Day, Sisters of Bon Secours
Action: Show compassion today.
25 January/Eanair
Conversion of St. Paul
“Blinded by the light Paul fell to the ground”. Acts 22
Action: Think about an area of YOUR life in need of conversion.
“This (ecological) conversion must be understood in an integral way, as a transformation of how we relate to our sisters and brothers, to other living beings, to creation in all its rich variety and to the Creator who is the origin and source of all life” Pope Francis, Jan 1st 2020
25 January/Eanair (afternoon)
Fossa Sustainability Fair
Community Hall, opposite the church (details later)
27 January/Eanair
Holocaust Memorial Day, or International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the day that the many governments worldwide, have designated as a day of remembrance for the millions that were murdered by Nazi persecution during the Holocaust. It also remembers those killed through atrocities committed during conflicts in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
From 2005, Holocaust Memorial Day has been commemorated each year on January 27th. This date represents the same day that the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in 1945.
Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong, be prepared every day to try and do some good.
“The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the good” Richard Rohr OFM
Save the Date(s)
8, 9, 10 and 11 February
24 Feb, 10 March and 24 March
Series of JPIC Webinars