All posts by 3 churches

World Youth Day 2016

youth

World Youth Day is taking place in Krakow, Poland, from 25 – 31 July, and we have two representatives there flying the flag for Cardiff and our 3 Churches – Mark Aziz and Allan Mathew! www.rcadc.org/world-youth-day-blog/ WYD events have been celebrated for three decades. In 1986, Pope St John Paul II began the tradition in St Peter’s Square, Rome, with a global youth celebration to which the entire Church was invited. Now, three decades later, Pope Francis will open the 21st gathering of what has become a worldwide youth phenomenon – the opportunity for a million plus Catholics to celebrate their faith with the Holy Father. Mark and Allan will tell us about their experience when they come back! Meanwhile here is the official World Youth Day Prayer…

“God, merciful Father, in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman. We entrust to you in a special way young people of every language, people and nation: guide and protect them as they walk the complex paths of the world today and give them the grace to reap abundant fruits from their experience of the Krakow World Youth Day.

Heavenly Father, grant that we may bear witness to your mercy. Teach us how to convey the faith to those in doubt, hope to those who are discouraged, love to those who feel indifferent, forgiveness to those who have done wrong and joy to those who are unhappy. Allow the spark of merciful love that you have enkindled within us become a fire that can transform hearts and renew the face of the earth.

Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us. Saint John Paul II, pray for us.”

Fr Matthew

The year of St Luke

newsletter,

As well as being the Year of Mercy and the Centenary year of our Archdiocese, we remember that in the Catholic Church the Sunday readings revolve around a three year cycle. This follows the Gospels of Sts Matthew, Mark and Luke – with bits of St John scattered here and there. So this year we are in the Year of Luke, through to the Feast of Christ the King in November.

The New Testament mentions Luke a few times, and the Letter to the Colossians refers to him as a doctor; so he is thought to have been both a physician and a disciple of St Paul. He was in Rome with Paul, as the Acts tell us. His style of writing, described by some as the most human of the evangelists, and ancient traditions that he painted portraits of Our Lady and others, have him also as an artist. Many think Our Lady was one of the original sources for His Gospel..

After some interest shown last week in the poetry of Malcolm Guite, here is his sonnet on St Luke.

His Gospel is itself a living creature
A ground and glory round the throne of God,
Where earth and heaven breather through human nature And One upon the throne sees it is good.
Luke is the living pillar of our healing,
A lowly ox, the servant of the four,
We turn his page to find his face revealing
The wonder and the welcome of the poor.
He breathes good news to all who bear a burden,
Good news to all who turn and try again,
The meek rejoice and prodigals find pardon,
A lost thief reaches paradise through pain,
The voiceless find their voice in every word
And, with our Lady, magnify the Lord.
From “Sounding the Seasons”, Malcolm Guite, 2012

St Mary Magdalen

newsletter,

In this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has raised 22nd July, when we remember St Mary Magdalen, from being a Memorial to a Feast (Gloria etc). She suffers from mistaken identity, being confused with the woman taken in adultery or the one who came in from the street, whereas the only reference to her past in the Gospels is that Jesus cast out 7 spirits from her. More importantly, she was a faithful disciple right to the Crucifixion. Then she was the first to meet the risen Lord, and so became the first to share the Good News – the “Apostle to the Apostles”.

Here Malcolm Guite, Anglican priest and poet based in Cambridge, writes about her in sonnet form.

Men called you light so as to load you down,
And burden you with their own weight of sin,
A woman forced to cover and contain
Those seven devils sent by Everyman.
But one man set you free and took your part,
One man knew and loved you to the core.
The broken alabaster of your heart
Revealed to him alone a hidden door,
Into a garden where the fountain sealed,
Could flow at last for him in healing tears,
Till, in another garden, he revealed
The perfect love that cast out all your fears,
And quickened you with love’s own sway and swing,
As light and lovely as the news you bring.

From “Sounding the Seasons”, Malcolm Guite, 2012