Month: April 2023

Dear Parishioners,

Once more it is good to be able to send you the Newsletter and the Readings for Holy Mass this weekend, at the centre of which is the magnificent Gospel story of the appearance of the Risen Lord to the two disciples journeying to Emmaus. At the core of this Gospel is food for the journey and spirit, found in Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist. Each time we celebrate Mass an invitation is offered by the Lord to “Come Dine WIth Me” on the Word and Eucharist. As our doors open this weekend may be delight in the banquet provided. 

Be assured of daily prayerful remembrance, for both yourself and those you hold dear, together with kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas

Dear Parishioners,

With the dawn of Low Sunday weekend, and the continuing Octave of Easter, I once more wish you – and those you love and carry in the homes of your hearts – all the blessings and joys of Easter. It would be good to think that we celebrated both Holy Week and Easter itself well as parish communities last weekend. A golden thread in the post-resurrection Gospel accounts is Jesus’s gift of peace to those He encounters. May this gift be granted to us at a personal level.

With an assurance of daily prayerful remembrance, kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas  

Dear Parishioners,

It is good to be able to greet you on this Holy Saturday, the very cusp of our Easter celebration, with the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass on Easter Sunday.

May every joy and blessing of this most sacred time of the year be yours in abundance !

With an assurance of daily prayerful remembrance of yourselves and those you hold dear, together with kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas 

A Resurrection Prayer 

Christ our life,
You are alive – in the beauty of the earth
in the rhythm of the seasons
in the mystery of time and space
Alleluia 

Christ our life,
You are alive – in the tenderness of touch
in the heartbeat of intimacy
in the insights of solitude
Alleluia 

Christ our life,
You are alive – in the creative possibility
of the dullest conversation
of the dreariest task
the most threatening event
Alleluia 

Christ our life,
You are alive – to offer re-creation
to every unhealed hurt
to every deadened place
to every damaged heart
Alleluia. 

You set before us a great choice.
Therefore we choose life.
The dance of resurrection soars and
surges through the whole creation,
This is grace, dying we live.
So let us live.
Amen.

Dear Parishioners,

It is good to be able to greet you this weekend with the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass on Palm Sunday. Please do be aware of both the times and venues of our Holy Week Liturgies, and very specially that our Easter Vigil will be at Holy Spirit, but at 6.30 p.m. and not the usual time.

May the week ahead be enriching for each of us as we make our annual journey with Jesus through the events of that first Holy week; walking on, until we eventually come to the garden of resurrection on Easter Day. 

Be assured of a continued daily remembrance in prayer, kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas

A Holy Week Reflection:

Dear Lord,                                                                                                                                                          

Your dis­ci­ple Peter want­ed to know who would betray you. You point­ed to Judas but a lit­tle lat­er also to him. Judas betrayed, Peter denied you. Judas hanged him­self, Peter became the apos­tle whom you made the first among equals. Lord, give me faith, faith in your end­less mer­cy, your bound­less for­give­ness, your unfath­omable good­ness. Let me not be tempt­ed to think that my sins are too great to be for­giv­en, too abom­inable to be touched by your mer­cy. Let me nev­er run away from you but return to you again and again, ask­ing you to be my Lord, my Shep­herd, my Strong­hold, and my Refuge. Take me under your wing, O Lord, and let me know that you do not reject me as long as I keep ask­ing you to for­give me. Per­haps my doubt in your for­give­ness is a greater sin than the sins I con­sid­er too great to be for­giv­en. Per­haps I make myself too impor­tant, too great when I think that I can­not be embraced by you any­more. Lord, look at me, accept my prayer as you accept­ed Peter’s prayer, and let me not run away from you in the night as Judas did.  

Bless me, Lord, in this Holy Week, and give me the grace to know your lov­ing pres­ence more inti­mate­ly. Amen. (Henri Nouwen)