A Midweek Prayer Custom based on Lectio Divina
Two Versions – One Mission!
Strengthening your parish school and church!
Within the tradition of the Catholic Church, each Wednesday is dedicated to St Joseph. The Wednesday Word Midweek Mission is therefore also dedicated to St Joseph, the Patron Saint of Families and Protector of the Church.
The Wednesday Word invites parish priests, parishioners, schools and school families into a weekly prayerful encounter — a midweek meditation rooted in the Sunday readings.
The Wednesday Word seeks to bridge the gap between the family and the local church community through the school. Each week, the Sunday Gospel is sent into school family homes, furthering the mission of the Church and strengthening the living relationship between school families and the local church community.
Through two distinct yet complementary leaflets — one version for Mass-attending parishioners (also a great support for homily preparation) and another for parish primary schools and their connected families — both versions present a weekly, Christ-centred, prayerful encounter and are united in the Church’s mission of evangelisation.
The Wednesday Word supports parish renewal and strengthens the vital school–home–parish partnership, bringing the Good News of Christ into every corner of your community.
All of our resources are offered without charge, in support of the Church’s mission. We invite you to share in the joy of The Wednesday Word — it truly is Good News for Everyone!
The primary school version of The Wednesday Word has been created in response to Jesus’ Great Commission and inspired by the Parable of the Sower. The school edition provides a consistent and welcoming outreach to families throughout each child’s time in the Catholic parish school.
The primary aim of this Midweek Mission for schools is to help headteachers share the Gospel with the parents of children in our primary schools — many of whom, as you know, do not go to church. Statistics tell us that, typically, more than 80% of Catholic school families do not regularly come to church. This specialised, high-impact outreach resource, rooted in evangelisation, shares the Gospel with families and seeks to encourage them in a weekly Family Time custom, helping them grow in their understanding of the Christian faith and the Catholic Church.
Each week, The Wednesday Word gives your parish primary school a ready-made opportunity for evangelisation — reaching beyond the regular congregation to school parents and their families, especially those who may currently feel distant from parish life.
The weekly distribution of the primary school edition also ensures an unbroken invitation to Sunday Mass, welcoming Catholic and non-Catholic families alike throughout school life — a further way for our Church to demonstrate care and concern for parish school families. For parents of baptised children, the weekly appearance of The Wednesday Word can also act as a regular reminder of the responsibility they accepted at their child’s Baptism: to bring their children to the knowledge and practice of the Good News we have received in Jesus.
A further aim is to support our parish primary schools in their weekly prayer and Celebrations of the Word. Hundreds of schools throughout England and Wales already use The Wednesday Word for their weekly teacher- and pupil-led assemblies and class prayers. If your school is not currently benefitting from our resources, we would be very grateful if you would draw it to the attention of your local headteacher. The Wednesday Word primary school resource is sent — without charge — to participating schools each week, supporting them in their Catholic mission (more information can be found in the Schools section of this website).
With the full backing of the CBCEW and the Catholic Education Service, our schools outreach resource also carries an imprimatur, so your parish school can distribute it with complete confidence.
The parish version of The Wednesday Word helps unite parish communities in prayer with their parish school families. However, regardless of the parish school’s involvement, the parish edition — rooted in the Sunday readings and designed especially for adult parishioners to prepare for the proclamation of the Gospel at Sunday Mass — also supports priests in homily preparation, bulletin inserts, Lectio Divina, and parish prayer gatherings, helping the faithful draw more deeply into the life of the Church. It is also an excellent resource to help Ministers of the Word prepare both spiritually and practically for the coming Sunday, as it includes the text of each reading with reflections for group or individual study — offering both the biblical context and a short spiritual reflection.
Primarily, the parish edition is designed to be distributed to parishioners at Sunday Mass in advance of the following Sunday’s readings. In this way, parishioners — like the schoolchildren and their parents around the country — can unite in prayer and reflect on the coming Sunday’s Gospel during the course of the week (preferably on a Wednesday), together in spiritual solidarity.
Each week, our resident writer, Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB, assists parishioners in their understanding of the Sunday readings. This Christ-centred parish version of The Wednesday Word provides an excellent way for all parishioners to prepare prayerfully for the proclamation of the following Sunday’s readings and also acts as a national powerhouse of parish prayer to support outreach to parents.
You may like to consider adopting the parish version of The Wednesday Word in your own parish, which is also offered free of charge and is updated on our website each week. The Wednesday Word can be distributed as a double-sided stand-alone leaflet. Alternatively, one or both sides of the resource can be easily printed on the parish bulletin. To obtain the parish edition each week, simply download it from the “Get your parish resource here!” section of our website (or simply click here).
Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB writes the weekly reflections for all three Sunday readings in the parish version of The Wednesday Word.
Fr Henry is a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a world-renowned biblical scholar. He was the General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible and, for many years, was a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. He has written more than twenty books, over sixty articles and more than a thousand book reviews.
“This is an original and unique initiative to bring the message of the Gospel to Christians at home. Even those who don’t go to church have the right to hear and think about the Gospel, and The Wednesday Word gives them a chance to do just that. It will also be a great support to know that others all over the country are joining in this reflection.”
Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB
Offered without charge in support of the Church’s mission — it’s truly Good News for everyone!
To read what parents of Catholic school children are saying about the primary school version of The Wednesday Word, please click here.
To see a sample of the primary school version, please click here.
