Month: February 2018

As we embark upon our second week of Lent. We are reminded in our Gospel that the ultimate prize of a life lived well in faith, will be eternity with God. The Apostles glimpse the future glory of Jesus, and are reassured as to who he really is, the Son of God! Learning about Jesus Christ is fundamental to being a Roman Catholic Christian. The Scriptures give us the greatest insight into the life of Christ. This Holy Season of Lent affords us the opportunity to study and pray the Scriptures; reading a short passage every day is a wonderful way of gaining in knowledge and understanding! Even the little Day-by-Day booklets are a great help.

Our Weekly attendance at the Holy Eucharist, apart from being our obligations at Catholics, is the invitation given to us by the Lord Himself, to “Do this in memory of me.” As we gather together as a Community of Faith, we bring with us all our joys and sorrows, we lay them at the Altar of the Lord and we ask him to receive us into his loving embrace. The Eucharist is the “Source and summit” of the Christian life, where earth unites with heaven in this Sacred action. To be fed and nurtured by the Body & Blood of Jesus fulfils the greatest longing of the human spirit, to be one with Christ! Lent give us this opportunity to deepen our love for the Holy Eucharist. If you get a chance during the week to pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, you will never be disappointed with the time you spend with the Lord.

Dear Friends in Christ 

Peter’s witnessing of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor wasn’t sufficient to enable him to withstand the overwhelming doubt and confusion he experienced when, gripped by fear and cowardice in the midst of the events of Jesus’ Passion and death, he denied Christ three times. This foretaste of the kingdom high on Mount Tabor couldn’t help him resist the temptation to betray his Lord. We do know that once he turned back, he would strengthen the believers with his witness of what occurred on the mountain.

Peter bears eloquent testimony to the  Transfiguration event, proclaiming that it was when he saw first-hand Jesus’ majesty and glory and heard the Father’s voice say: ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. For a moment Jesus disclosed his divine glory and revealed that the way of the cross is the way into God’s glory. First the shame (the cross), then the glory (resurrection). Just before Jesus began his public ministry, he was baptised and the Blessed Trinity was revealed. Just before he entered his Passover, he was transfigured and the Blessed Trinity was revealed. As St. Thomas Aquinas said: ‘The Father in the voice, the Son in the man Jesus, the Spirit in the shining cloud.’

Through baptism we are immersed into the death and resurrection of Jesus and the blessed life of the Trinity. Our dignity and our destiny rest on the living hope that at the coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead we will be raised up body and soul, just as Jesus was raised up body and soul. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of the resurrection life to come, but first we too must embrace the cross of suffering.

The walk of holiness means that day after day we are being transformed, so that one day, like Jesus on Mount Tabor, we will reflect the glory of Christ, and this life will make us shine resplendently. Lent is a time for us to taste and see that the Lord is good, and part of this means glimpsing, rather as the disciples did, the future glory of being a son and daughter of God.

We are about to embark on our Lenten Journey once again! Ash Wednesday, (14^th February) marks the beginning of this Penitential Season. Every year we make this journey with various resolutions and promises. Some may make the personal sacrifices of giving up some luxury or pleasure; others may embrace an additional penance or task, which of course, is always personal to the individual. But the main objective of the Lenten Season is to help to prepare us for the greatest event within the whole history of creation and the world, that at a moment in time, God’s only Son Jesus Christ was raised from death, and through the saving action of the Cross, won salvation for the whole human race!

Hopefully, the desire of every Catholic Christian is to deepen their relationship with the Living Lord Jesus, and anything that can help in this process can only be a good thing! Whether it’s our personal sacrifices or our additional penances, we have these next several weeks to really enter into the spirit of the Season.

On Ash Wednesday, we are starkly reminded of our own mortality; we are signed in ash on our foreheads with the Cross of Christ, reminding us of the Saving Action of Jesus Christ, but also our own mortality, “remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return” – and we are invited to enter into the Divine Mystery with the Lord; to travel with him through these forty days, ultimately through to his Passion Death and Resurrection. There will be three masses on Ash Wednesday: 9.00am, 12.15pm & 8.00pm. What more fitting way to enter into the Holy Season than to ask the Lord to bless us and our families. Please come and receive your ashes, which will be distributed at all the masses!

“Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12).This is the theme of Pope Francis’ Lenten message this year. God in his providence offers us each year the season of Lent as a “sacramental sign of our conversion”. Lent summons us, and enables us, to come back to the Lord wholeheartedly and in every aspect of our life. May God Bless You All

Dear Friends in Christ 

We tend to think of leprosy as an ancient disease when, in fact, it is actually sadly very much also a modern one, infecting millions of people even today. Over six hundred people are diagnosed every day, fifty of which are children. Over three million people are living with undiagnosed leprosy and over four million are living with a disability caused by leprosy. Now as then, the disease carried a terrible stigma, with sufferers being cast out and rejected by their families and their communities.

Leprosy is a bacterial infection which affects the skin and nervous system. 

The first symptom is usually a patch of discoloured skin and, if left untreated, the disease can cause loss of sensation, resulting in amputation, ulcers and blindness. Leprosy is passed through coughing, sneezing a long-term contact with someone who has the disease. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it is now completely curable through multi-drug therapy.

 

In Jesus’ day things were even worse for lepers – they were cast out of the community and all contact was forbidden. For Mark, Jesus is the healer of every disease and sickness, both physical and spiritual. Although we are unlikely to be infected with leprosy. We are all afflicted with the leprosy of sin. We all sin against God, ourselves, and against others. Furthermore, sin is infectious: if we are angry, we pass on anger; if we are resentful we pass on resentment; if we are impatient, intolerant and unkind, these vices are passed on, one to another.

Jesus came to make us all clean – clean of sin and free of its debilitating consequences. Jesus wants us to know his healing touch but this can only happen if we recognise, as the leper does into today’s gospel, that we need healing. Lepers of old would cry our ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ We know deep in our hearts that we need to be cleansed, purified and liberated from the sin that prevents us from enjoying life to the full. We seek the healing of Christ in many ways; through prayer and in reading the Scriptures, but supremely through the healing presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

FORMING INTENTIONAL DISCIPLES UPDATE: FEBRUARY/MARCH

Thank you to the many parishioners who came to our meeting in February. A number of people also took the trouble to send their apologies that they were unable to attend this time. We hope to see you next time! There is a lot of goodwill and positive energy to build our parish community and actively welcome new members as well as those who may have lapsed from their faith. We should like to encourage all of you to help and take part in the following initiatives:

Daffodils for Mothering Sunday: We would like to buy some daffodils for our children to give out to parishioners on the weekend of Mother’s Day (Sunday 31^st March). Would you be willing to sponsor the daffodils? If so, please let Fr John know. We would also like to encourage our teenagers to help the younger children distribute the daffodils. Teenagers willing to help should speak to Kathryn Poulter kathrynpoulter@hotmail.com or Iain McLay.

Parish forest walk on Sunday 28^th April: An informal chance to socialise with fellow parishioners. Further details to come nearer the time. Bring family and friends!

Car pool: We are aiming to form a list of volunteers to provide lifts for people to our weekend Masses. Could you help? If you could volunteer or would like more details, please contact Grainne 07402 907594, Emma 07790 767829 or Marjorie 07905 619566.

Bible study/faith sharing group: Open to all who are interested in the Sacred Scriptures and in understanding them. The six-week programme will meet on Wednesdays, beginning on 15^th May. Everyone welcome!

Moving forward with our Parish Evangelisation Team!

Following the popular and fruitful Forming Intentional Disciples programme in the autumn, we now have a Parish Evangelisation Team (PET) that meets monthly to:

1. Pray together;

2. Reflect on, and to discuss, opportunities to spread the Good News among our own parishioners and the wider community;

3. Plan and organise a wide range of activities in our parish;

4. Help each other to develop our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ through words and actions.

WHAT DOES EVANGELISATION MEAN?

Zealous proclamation of the Gospel in order to bring others to Christ and his Church. In the words of Pope Paul VI, “Evangelizing means to bring the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new, ‘Now I am making the whole of creation new’ (Revelation 21:5). But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by baptism, and by lives lived according to the Gospel” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 18). Evangelization, therefore, includes three distinctive elements: 1. interior conversion to Christ and his Church; 2. affecting not only the individual person but the whole culture; and 3. as a result, changing this culture and its institutions to make them Christian and Catholic. (Etym. Latin evangelium; from Greek euangelion, good news, reward for bringing good news, from euangelos, bringing good news: eu-, good, + angelos, messenger.)

The ‘New Evangelisation’ initiated by Pope St. John Paul II & Pope Benedict XVI recognise the Church’s mission to proclaim Jesus Christ in the Twenty-First Century, and the various challenges involved in that process.

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These are the prayers that we will say together during our Forming Intentional Disciples meetings.

Forming Intentional Disciples: Prayers for our Parish

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Monday 16th July 2018. 8:00pm in the Parish Retreat.

This is an extremely important meeting. I would ask that all members of the Parish Pastoral Council please be present. But I would also like to extend the invitation to anyone in the parish who is interested in learning more about Evangelisation. Realistically, the survival of the Roman Catholic Church in this country is rooted very much in the various methods of Evangelisation that we employ in our parishes. This is a really serious time in the Church, and I would encourage as many parishioners as possible to attend. I have managed to get Mr Mark Lambert to come and speak about the Evangelisation Initiative of ‘Forming Intentional Disciples’. Hopefully this will dove-tail into our Stewards of the Gospel Initiative. Reaching out to our lapsed Catholics and also to be welcoming to new members in the Church. At present we’re running a Faith Sharing Programme; and in September we will begin our Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults once again. Evangelisation is at the heart of all parish life, preaching the Gospel message of Jesus Christ is fundamental to our commitment in faith. In truth, many people are leaving the practice of their faith; the reasons are many and varied, but anything that can help us understand why we are at Mass each Sunday and why we’re Roman Catholics, can only be a good thing! Hopefully these two new initiatives will help us!

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Bishop Alan Williams outlines the vision and direction for the Stewards of the Gospel initiative.

Dear Friends in Christ,

On behalf of our Stewards of the Gospel, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of the parishioners who attended the Parish Consultation Group Meeting last Wednesday, there were a good number of parishioners, and to receive your input will be extremely beneficial when we have to make our report to the diocese with regards the proposals and changes that will take place at parish and diocesan levels! One cannot become complacent about our parish structures and provisions, that’s why the diocese is seriously looking at all aspects of parish and diocesan life. In truth, the reality is, that there are far fewer priests than there were 25 years ago. Most priests are on their own in parishes, this also applies to parishes that would have had three and four priests in the past, our own included. Many priests have other functions and ministries in the diocese on top of their parochial duties, and the proposals to link two and three parishes within the next ten years are going to affect every community!

On a positive note, I feel that this is a wonderful opportunity for the gifts and talents of all our parishioners to come to the forefront. The greatest asset to every parish community is the people. Your giftedness, your good will, your kindness and generosity, are the building blocks of a great parish. I have been here 16 years, and have been extremely happy to have worked with so many wonderful people. The future is exciting; it gives us an opportunity to explore new methods of parochial ministry, with the training of Catechists, and other people who can assume various apostolates and ministries throughout the parish. My philosophy as a priest of nearly 37 years has always been to enable and encourage all of our parishioners to assume their rightful place within the life of faith and the Church. And to this end it is incredible to witness wonderful growth and strength within the parish community.

Each one of you has something incredible to offer to God and the Church! If you feel that you would like to be involved, perhaps as a member of our newly constituted Parish Council, please see Leona Foster or myself. There are many other groups in the parish that you can be involved in, there is something for everyone. Also we will be starting some new groups, Bible Study, Apologetics Course, Series of talks, etc. Anything that can help in the mission of Evangelisation – proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ – can only be a good thing! When you know and understand about your faith it helps our commitment! Let us pray daily for our Parish!

May God Bless You All,

Fr. John

Dear Friends in Christ Fourth Sunday of the Year 2018

Jesus’ healing ministry included delivering people from oppression and possession of evil spirits. In other words, Jesus bore witness both to the reality and personification of evil. He affirmed the reality of demons, demon possession and the devil. The devil has various names: the Evil One, Satan, Beelzebub and the Father of lies. It is impossible to read the New Testament without encountering this reality.

There is certainly at work and at play nowadays a tendency to pooh-pooh evil and certainly the idea of personified evil in the form of the devil – we like to feel we have grown out of this, deliverance from evil and the demonic realm is considered extreme or unscientific, and those suffering from such torment are directed towards medical intervention or psychiatry. The idea of being prayed over to be liberated from the clutches of demons or evil isn’t embraced or accepted today. This is despite the Scriptures bearing eloquent witness to the reality and power of evil over us, despite the testimony of the saints. St. John Vianney wrestled with ‘the Grappin’ (as he called the devil) so violently that his bed would shake. St Ignatius of Loyola taught that the gift of discernment within the movement of God’s Spirit and without the influence upon us of evil spirits.

Pope Francis himself has invited fierce criticism for his bold and unambiguous teaching about the reality of the devil and demons. In so doing, he is following in the footsteps of Pope Paul VI, who famously said that ‘the smoke of Satan’ had entered the temple of God and that one of the major needs of the Church was to ‘defend ourselves from that evil that we call the devil.’

Every time we pray the ‘Our Father’ we humbly ask that we be delivered from evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reinforces this teaching: ‘In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposed God. The devil (dia-bolis) is the one who ‘”throws himself across” God’s plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ’. (para 2851)