Monthly Prayer: June 2026

A reflection by Deacon Kieran Burt, who is due to be ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Motherwell this month.

Just a few weeks ago, I was on an eight-day silent retreat in Manresa, Spain. It was there that St Ignatius of Loyola is said to have experienced his “second conversion” - a spiritual conversion - and where he began writing his ‘Spiritual Exercises’.

One of the Spiritual Exercises invites the retreatant to contemplate hell and what that experience might look and feel like. During this time of prayer, my retreat director encouraged me to think not only of hell in a spiritual sense, but also of the “hell situations” that exist here on earth.

As I prayed, the image that kept coming to mind was one of emptiness and dryness like the dry ground cracked beneath the heat of the sun, parched and longing for even the smallest drop of rain.

After this contemplation, I was struck by how easy it was to recognise these “hell situations” throughout our world today. Across the globe, we witness a profound lack of love, empathy, and compassion. In their place, we find emptiness, desolation, despair, and division.

Every continent is scarred by war. Every country knows poverty. Every city feels the effects of climate change. Every town experiences political division. Every street is touched by gossip and hostility. Every household carries its struggles. Every person wrestles in their relationship with God.

In the midst of such a world, it is understandable that we can feel drawn toward fear and despair. At times, we ourselves may feel like that dry and cracked ground, longing for peace and renewal. Yet the message of the Risen Lord is always: “Peace.”

Peace is not something we can stop longing for, praying for, and striving toward. As our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, reminded us at the beginning of his pontificate:

“Peace be with all of you... The world needs Christ’s light. Humanity needs him to be the bridge so that God and his love can reach us.”

This search for peace is a journey the Church has undertaken in every age. In another troubled time, another Pope Leo, Pope Leo XIII wrote:

“It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troubled times to fly for refuge to Mary, and to seek for peace in her maternal goodness.”

In a few weeks’ time, the day after I am ordained as a priest, I will celebrate Mass as the principal celebrant for the first time. I have chosen to offer a Votive Mass of Our Lady, Queen of Peace. In her apparitions at Fatima, Lourdes, and elsewhere, Our Lady continually calls her children to pray for peace. That call remains as urgent now as ever.