Newsletter-23rd-August-2020
Author: George
We welcomed parishioners back to Mass last Sunday and Wednesday, and it was joyful. We had 22 attending on Sunday and 12 on Wednesday. The Masses will continue every Sunday and Wednesday at 9.30 am, currently with a maximum of 28 people in Church and still available via livestream for those who cannot attend at this time. The stewards as usual were at their best and everywhere much organised with a comprehensive hygiene standard in place.
We are also going to start a Saturday evening (vigil) Mass on the 25th July at 6.00pm in the car park. It will be a typical drive in Mass. Drive into the car park and stay in your car or stand out beside your car. A small chair may be of help if you cannot stand for 35 minutes. This is an outside Mass only and there will be no access to the Church itself. We pray for clement weather to have it going and welcome more people back to Mass.
Have your name and contact number ready
As you arrive, we will be asking for names and a contact number (please have this ready). This is to comply with regulations for “test, track and trace” – your information will not be shared other than in the event of someone testing positive for the virus. The information taken will be shredded after 28 days.
Sanitise your hands on entry
Hand sanitising is provided and is essential for entry to the Church even if you are using disposable gloves. Face masks are also available and are advisable. There will be no Offertory collection during Mass – a box will be on the hygiene station table as you leave for any donations.
Follow the one-way system, and keep 2 meters apart
Holy communion will be at the end of Mass, please wait in your seat until the Steward signals for you to come forward, follow the one-way system keeping 2 metre distance, receive Communion with arms stretched and in silence and then please leave Church without returning to your seat.
Protect others
Please do not come to Mass if you are unwell, have a temperature or have been exposed to Covid19
Month of Our Lady
Dear brothers and sisters,
I hope everyone is keeping well and staying safe these strange times.
May we please join the Holy Father for daily rosary during this month of May. I have attached below the full text of Pope Francis’ letter to all the faithful this month of May.
You can join us everyday at 6.00pm, starting from tomorrow Friday May 1st.
Meeting: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78145203409?pwd=cXc1U3gxcUU4clVPWFNLMmJrWWFWZz09
Meeting ID: 781 4520 3409 Password: 8F5rty
Masses from our Church St. Clare’s will be streamed live starting from Sunday 3rd of May at 9.30am. Find out more here!
Wishing you every grace and blessing,
Fr. Emeka.
Psalm 61
In God alone be at rest, my soul; for my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock, my stronghold, my fortress: I stand firm.
In God is my safety and glory, the rock of my strength.
Take refuge in God, all you people. Trust him at all times.
Pour out your hearts before him for God is our refuge.
For God has said only one thing: only two do I know:
that to God alone belongs power and to you, Lord, love;
and that you repay each one according to their deeds.
Litany of Praise
(Give praise and thanks for all God is and all He does in your life)
Response after each prayer:
Lord, you are my rock and my stronghold!
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:17-22
Christ came to bring the good news of peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Through him, we both in the one Spirit have free access to the Father. So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the holy people of God and part of God’s household. You are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. Every structure knit together in him grows into a holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built up into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
The word of the Lord.
Reflection: (Fr.Raniero Cantalamessa)
Through the Spirit we are “at home” with God! St.John in his first letter writes: “We can know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit”.
This has a practical consequence for us. The Holy Spirit is the answer to loneliness, which, along with fear and weakness, is the greatest cause of human suffering. What really overcomes suffering? Certainly not finding yourself in the midst of a great crowd, but rather having a friend, someone to share thoughts with, a companion. If we are open to him, this is what the Holy Spirit wants to be to us. It was Saint Basil who said that the Holy Spirit was “the inseparable companion” of Jesus during his life on earth, and that the Spirit wants to be the same for us. St.John Chrysostom adds that Jesus “always had the assistance of the most agreeable Spirit” just as he seems to suggest that Moses, all his life long, had his brother Aaron as companion and counsellor.
If it is possible for weakness to provide an occasion for us to experience the strength of the Spirit, it is possible for loneliness to be the occasion and also the stimulus for us to experience the Spirit as “sweet guest”. By faith we know that no one is ever truly alone in this world. If we need to speak with someone about something, and it is simply not possible to find anyone to speak to, we can learn, little by little, to talk it over with that guest who is discretion itself and who also is “perfect consoler” and “wonderful counsellor”.
The Spirit reveals himself at various times, either in power and dynamism or in tenderness and intimacy, and we experience him, sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, depending on our need, our disposition and the grace of the moment. On Sinai, Moses perceived God in the thunder and the stormy wind; Elijah, on the same Mount Horeb, perceived God in the gentle breeze.
Intercessions
Lord, in your mercy . . . Hear our prayer
Closing Prayer: (Timothy Dudley Smith)
Spirit of life within me, possess this life of mine;
come as the wind of heaven’s breath, come as the fire divine!
Spirit of Christ, the living Lord, reign in this house of clay,
till from its dust with Christ I rise to everlasting day.
As the sons and daughters of our Almighty Father, let us ask for His help as we travel through the joys and the sorrows that we meet along our pilgrim path.
Let us pray for Pope Francis, for our bishops and all who explain the Scriptures to us; may our hearts be set alight by the power of God’s word and may our souls be restored to their youthful vigour.
Risen Lord . . . Stay with us on our journey
Let us pray for our government, for the National Health Service and for all who provide their equipment; through mutual co-operation and prompt action, may they help to bring an end to the present pandemic and save the lives of countless people.
Risen Lord . . . Stay with us on our journey
Let us pray for the front-line workers in the fight against the coronavirus, especially the scientists working to find a reliable vaccine to protect against future outbreaks; may the Lord bless their work and reward them for their dedication and skill.
Risen Lord . . . Stay with us on our journey
Let us pray for all who have died in recent weeks, especially those in care homes and hospices; may they be safe in the tender embrace of the Father and may the pain of those who mourn for them be softened by their happy memories of the past and the sure hope of the fullness of joy their loved ones will come to know in God’s everlasting presence.
Risen Lord . . . Stay with us on our journey
Despite being unable to come together for the Breaking of Bread, let us pray for Father Emeka and our parish community; may we recognize the presence of Christ in every person and strive to accompany them in their daily lives by our prayers and our practical help.
Risen Lord . . Stay with us on our journey
Let us turn to Mary, Mother of Christ and Mother of us all, and ask her to walk with us each day: Hail Mary . . .
Let us make our own petitions to the One who always hears us.
Father, in a world filled with fears, uncertainties and bewildering challenges, but with faith in the truth of your promises, we place our lives in your hands and rest in your unending love. We make this prayer through Jesus, our Saviour, our Lord and our Brother. Amen.
Psalm 33
I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
Glorify the Lord with me. Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
Look towards him and be radiant; let your faces not be abashed. This poor man called him; the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
The angel of the Lord is encamped around those who revere him, to rescue them. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.
Litany of Praise
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good
for his love endures for ever.
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:1-7
Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth as his sons, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is being kept for you in the heavens. Through your faith, God’s power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the end of time. This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials; so that, when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been tested and proved like gold and then you will have praise and glory and honour. The word of the Lord.
Reflection: (Fr.Silvester O’Flynn OFM.Cap.)
The familiar saying goes: ‘Seeing is believing’. But seeing is not sufficient for believing. For seeing only touches the outer, physical evidence, whereas believing belongs to the interior, invisible areas of life. Once, there was one preacher of the kingdom: Jesus, sent by the Father. And then, in the time of the resurrection, the one became many when the Church was born: the risen Lord sent out the disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit, in time, inspired four evangelists to write down the Church’s memory of Jesus Christ for teaching all ages. Four gospels, one for each point of the compass, N,E,W and S. But even four gospels are not enough to convince people that the Messiah has come. A fifth gospel is needed: the gospel written by you and me in the evidence of our lives.
Cautious Thomas needed time. He was sceptical of words alone. He would wait to observe the behaviour of those who were speaking so excitedly of the appearance of the Lord to them. Down the years of history the witness of people like Francis and Dominic, Clare and Therese, stirred the faith of people more effectively than libraries of learned books. People are moved to believe when they meet the risen Lord in authentic people of grace.
Easter is to hear the risen Lord say to you: ‘I am sending you out’. To easter with him is to rise into . . . believing that you are loved by God, and daring to hope and trust in his presence and power. In the power of the Spirit let there be . . . new life in your heart, new light in your face, and new joy in your believing. The Messiah has been sent by the Father. And he has sent you, baptised Christians, to win the world from the darkness of sin. Blessed are those whose life enables others to see and to believe.
Intercessions
Hear us, Lord of Life!
Closing Prayer
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain, he that for three days in the grave had lain. Quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen: love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain, thy touch can call us back to life again. Fields of our heart that dead and bare have been: love is come again like wheat that springeth green!
Rejoicing in this day made by the Lord, let us make our petitions to the Father with deep faith, constant hope and fervent love.
For the Church led by Pope Francis under the guidance of God’s Spirit, that the people of God will proclaim their faith in the Lord by their generous and loving service to their most vulnerable brothers and sisters: we pray to the Lord.
Hear us, Lord . . . You are our strength and our song.
For world governments, that the present pandemic will lead to a new understanding and recognition that all peoples are united in the one human family in which every person must be valued and supported: we pray to the Lord.
Hear us, Lord . . . You are our strength and our song.
For the victims of the coronavirus, that the dead will receive the inheritance of eternal life in heaven, in all its fullness, and the sick will be strengthened by their sure hope in the truth of God’s promises: we pray to the Lord.
Hear us, Lord . . . You are our strength and our song.
For all who care for the sick, that their skill, compassion and courage will be richly blessed by the Lord and that they will be supported by our prayers, our self-discipline and our generosity: we pray to the Lord.
Hear us, Lord . . . You are our strength and our song.
For all who face an uncertain future in our weakened economy, that the end of the pandemic will herald a time of renewed employment, financial stability and a redistribution of the wealth of our nation: we pray to the Lord.
Hear us, Lord . . . You are our strength and our song.
For all our parishioners that we, the Church, despite our forced isolation, will continue to be a praying community, giving glory to the Risen Lord and placing all our hope in Him: we pray to the Lord.
Hear us, Lord . . . You are our strength and our song.
Let us ask the help of Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted and Queen of Peace: Hail Mary . . .
Let us make our own particular petitions for those who have asked for our prayers.
Father Almighty, hear our prayers and empower us with your love to be the community You want us to be, the Church Christ formed us to be, and the family the Spirit inspires us to be. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.