Author: HS Admin

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) 

Dear Parishioners,

It is once more good to be able able to send you the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass this weekend. Our Liturgy on this fifth Sunday of Lent introduces us to a family in Bethany – Martha, Mary and Lazarus. It is a sad scene, and carefully woven into the teaching Gospel of St. John is the strong character of Martha. Full of spirit she confronts Jesus, and He responds by offering her one of the seven revealing “I am” statements to be found in St. John’s account of the Good News. It is quite an amazing encounter, reflecting the depth of relationship that existed between Jesus and Martha, and how by the end of the text that which seemed so damaged and broken at the outset has been reconciled, healed, restored and enlarged. It is a reminder that relationships can be strengthened and enriched through uncomfortable and difficult encounters. 

With an assurance of daily prayerful remembrance of you and those you hold dear, kindest thoughst and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas 

  Prayer:

O blessed St. Martha, your faith led Jesus to proclaim, “I am the resurrection and the life”; and faith let you see beyond his humanity when you cried out, “Lord I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” With firm hope you said, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him, and Jesus called your brother Lazarus back from the dead. With pure love for Jesus you welcomed him into your home. Friend and servant of our Saviour, I too am “troubled about many things.” (Pause for silent prayer.) Pray for me that I may grow in faith, hope and love, and that Jesus, who sat at your table, will hear me and grant me a place at the banquet of eternal life. Amen.

Dear Parishioners,

Once again it is good to be able to greet you with the delivery of the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass this weekend. It is certainly a time to greet and think about others as yesterday (Friday) we celebrated the Feast of St. Patrick, tomorrow is Mothering Sunday and on Monday we celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, delayed by a day due to March 19^th falling on a Sunday, which takes precedence in our liturgical life. In honour of the significant role that St. Joseph continues to have if the life the Church I offer a short prayer that some may find helpful.

To all of our Mothers I wish a very happy and blessed Mothering Sunday ! We remember to those Mums that some have been called upon to hand back to Almighty God, grateful for the maternal gifts that enhanced and enriched the lives they touched.

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

As ever, Fr. Nicholas 

     Prayer to St. Joseph.

St. Joseph, patron saint of the unexpected,
how freely you stepped into the unknown
with your unwavering yes.

St. Joseph, dreamer of dreams,
how attuned your heart was, waking or sleeping, 
to the promptings of angels.

St. Joseph, nurturing father,
how openly you accepted your unconventional family,
lighting the way for us, too, to embrace all.

St. Joseph, there is still so much we don’t know about you,
but maybe that is your gift to us,
that we may see in the father of Jesus a mystery
that sanctifies the hidden and untold in our own lives.
May we, too, live our days in the holy shadow of your son.

Amen.  (Cameron Bellm)

Dear Parishioners, 

It is good once more to be able to greet you and send the weekly Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass. As we enter the third weekend of Lent, amid snow and an icy blast, we could be tempted to console ourselves with creature comforts. At the school Mass on Thursday we were gifted with some words from our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in regard to, perhaps, the hardest Lenten ‘ask’, that of fasting. They seem appropriate to include here.   

Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words and be silent so you can listen. (Pope Francis)

Be assured of daily prayerful remembrance for yourselves and those you hold in the home of your heart, together with kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas

Dear Parishioners,

Once more I am pleased to be able to greet you, and send the weekly Newsletter and the Readings for Holy Mass this weekend. 

The Second Sunday of Lent invites us to share the mountain top experience of the Transfiguration. Rather like St. Peter and his companions I’m sure that we would all like to reside on the mountain top but the landscape of life is often more about the journey up the mountainside that the view from its summit. As a journeying people in this Lenten Season may we appreciate the companionship of our fellow travellers and be prepared to listen to their story along the way, as well as have the trust to share our own. 

With an assurance of prayerful remembrance, kind thought, and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas    

Dear Parishioners,

It is good to be able to greet you along with weekly offering of the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass on the First Sunday of Lent. 

A number of parishioners after Mass on Ash Wednesday asked for the words used during the Mass as they were invited to pledge themselves each day of Lent to its gifts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The request has also come from some who were not at Mass but who subsequently heard about the invitation to connect the Season with their baptism. I make no claim on the words – although I have slightly adapted them – as I found them personally very helpful during the Lent of 2020 which was celebrated in Lockdown. Hopefully they will once more prove a useful spiritual tool as we embrace a collective experience of Lent in 2023. 

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

As ever, Fr. Nicholas 

Prayer for Ash Wednesday.

God our Father,
on the day of Baptism we were claimed for Christ our Saviour by the sign of his cross. 

On this Ash Wednesday, and each and every day, we come before you desiring to fulfil our baptismal promises, by dying to selfishness and by living for Christ. 

And so, we pledge ourselves, in this Lenten Season, to pray, to fast, and to give alms. 

Father in your kindness, pour out your blessing upon us, as we make this threefold pledge:

(While making the pledge the forehead, right and left hands are signed with the Cross in turn with the thumb.)

I pledge myself to a time of prayer each day – as I do so, I sign my forehead + with the sign of the Cross.   

I pledge myself to fast by denying myself some luxury – as I do so, I sign my right hand + with the sign of the Cross.

I pledge myself to give to others, by supporting CAFOD, or some other charity – as I do so, I sign my left hand + with sign of the Cross.

By your grace, may I keep this Lenten pledge, in preparation for the joy of Easter. grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dear Parishioners,

It is good to be able to send you the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass again this week. 

With Lent starting this coming Wednesday a wonderful and enriching opportunity is given to us all to put ourselves out for the Lord as He did for us, by taking on some form of discipline for the Season. 

Please be assured that you (and your loved ones) are remembered daily in prayer, the reassurance of which comes your way together with kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas  

Dear Parishioners,

It is good to be able to send out the Newsletter together with the Readings for Mass this weekend.

I am sure that all of us have been moved by the tragic images coming out of northern Syria and Turkey this week, making us feel so helpless in many ways, and I hope, too, hugely appreciative for what we have. The hands that we can touch deserve a longer squeeze this week, as we value their presence in our lives.

The Newsletter contains details of CAFOD’s appeal and that of the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) with whom CAFOD works in partnership in situations like the earthquake if you feel able to offer any financial help.

At times such as these we are grateful for the enormity of God’s hands, and it is into those hands that we place all of our prayers, for the nameless and unknown to us in Syria and Turkey, and the known and named much closer to home.

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

As ever, Fr. Nicholas