All posts by 3 churches

Christ the King bidding prayers, 13 December 2015 (3rd Sunday of Advent)

bidding prayers, Christ the King

 

 

The Celebrant will introduce and also conclude the prayer.

The reader should pause for several moments between the intercession and its response.

Leave about 20 seconds for the quiet prayer. There is no response after this – move straight to the Hail Mary.

CELEBRANT: Brothers and sisters, as St Paul writes to the Philippians, if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving. Let us have confidence then to ask God for our needs.

READER: (The response is): Hear our prayer.

READER:  Let us pray for the church. May its tolerance be evident to everyone, particularly in this Year of Mercy. May it shout out the Good News with Joy.

…….. (PAUSE)……….. In Your mercy, Lord ……. Hear our prayer.

READER:  We pray for the leaders of the world that they may show wisdom and justice in considering the actions needed to alleviate climate change, considering the needs of poor as well as wealthy nations and the needs of future generations as well as our own.

…. (PAUSE)…… In Your mercy, Lord  …. Hear our prayer.

READER: We pray for those who continue to be affected by floods and also those who suffer the longer consequences of drought, in Namibia, China and elsewhere. We pray that in a world of plenty there will be the people and means to help them.

…… (PAUSE)…… In Your mercy, Lord ……. Hear our prayer.

READER: Let us pray for the lonely, who perhaps will not share the Joy of Christmas. May the Lord offer them comfort and encourage us to reach out to them and show them friendship and love….(PAUSE)…… In Your mercy, Lord …. Hear our prayer.

READER: Let us quietly ask for any personal needs or the needs of others (Long Pause)…. Let us ask the intercession of Mary, mother of the Lord: Hail Mary, etc.

After a short pause the Celebrant will conclude the prayer.

CELEBRANT:  Father, You are our salvation and we trust in You. Listen then to our petitions and grant them through Your Son, Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

3 Churches youth

3 churches, youth

We are blessed with a wealth of dynamic young people in our 3 Churches, and surely we all feel it to be so important to cultivate this vibrant gift. Now a programme has been put together to give the younger members of our parishes a voice, and the opportunity for some fun together.

This initiative will take the form of a 3 Churches youth group for ages 11-13, (pre-Confirmation), meeting each Sunday evening in term time for an hour and a half. We believe that people of this age want more from a youth group than simply socialising. So, taking inspiration from Pope Francis’s letter “Laudato Si” we have devised a programme which enables our youth to get into some ecological discussion and action on a global, community and personal level.

The sessions will be friendly and informal, involving speakers, relevant videos and topical discussion, mixed in with games and refreshments. The goal is to encourage and support our young people in planning and carrying out initiatives themselves, while enjoying creating their own community and friendships.
We hope to plan walks and trips, perhaps start a parish garden or give an opportunity for music or drama, and so enable our rising generation to share their own gifts and talents. There will be scope for them, if they wish, to organise prayer services or Mass. We will also take a lead from them in planning nights out…..pizza, bowling, cinema…..

Do you think this all sounds interesting, exciting? It can happen – with your help. We would be so grateful for adult volunteers in three capacities: leadership, specific skills and supervision. As with all voluntarily run groups, the more people we have, the less often you will be needed. So…

Can you lead and inspire young people? We currently have three leader volunteers. We need more, in order to have a required minimum on any particular night and, at most, every fortnight.

Do you have a skill you could share with our youth? We hope to tap into the vast pool of skilled and talented adults in our churches. If you can volunteer to share your particular skill, or know someone else who could, we would be delighted to create one or more sessions around it.

Can you give some precious time to the youth of our parish? All this can happen only if we have a substantial number of adult volunteers to help supervise on a rota basis.

Pope Francis says that ‘young people have a new ecological sensitivity and a generous spirit’ and that ‘Christian communities have an important role to play in ecological education.’ He goes on to say, ‘we must not think that these efforts are not going to change the world. They benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread. Furthermore, such actions can restore our sense of self- esteem; they can enable us to live more fully and to feel that life on earth is worthwhile.’

We are inviting our youth to come forward with their ideas and vision. We appeal to our adults to join us in volunteering to help with this brave initiative for the benefit of our young people and all of us.

Fr Matthew and Helen McSherry for the 3 Churches Youth Task Group

Archbishop Stack on the year of mercy

newsletter

‘Miserando atque Eligendo’ are the rather enigmatic words of the episcopal motto of Pope Francis. They are variously translated as: Lowly but chosen; By having mercy and choosing him; Through pity and choosing him. They are taken from the commentary of the great English saint, Bede the Venerable, on the call of Matthew the tax collector by Jesus. “Jesus therefore saw him, and because he saw him by having mercy and choosing him, said to him ‘Follow me’. And he got up and followed him”.

That sentence contains a deep truth about our relationship with God – and perhaps more importantly, God’s relationship with us. It is through the eyes of mercy that, like Matthew, we are forgiven and chosen to share in God’s life through Jesus Christ. Even though we may feel unworthy and even unforgiveable, the measure of God’s love for us is the measure of our need for forgiveness, even when we do not realise it ourselves. How far does the love and mercy of God stretch? ‘This far’ says Jesus, with arms outstretched on the cross.

These thoughts take us to the mind and heart of the life and ministry of Pope Francis. They are summed up in the word ‘Mercy’. The Year of Mercy which he will open in Rome on 8 December will be a gradual unfolding of the mystery of God’s love and mercy and an invitation to each person to enter into the realm of mercy. Pope Francis will open the Holy Door at St. Peter’s this Tuesday. The Holy Door at our St. David’s Cathedral will be opened on 13 December to inaugurate the Holy Year in the Diocese of Cardiff. Four other churches have been designated as places of welcome and pilgrimage in different parts of the Diocese. These are: Belmont Abbey, St Mary’s Merthyr Tydfil, St. Mary’s Bridgend and St. Mary’s Newport. Each one will have a ‘Holy Door’ through which pilgrims are invited to enter, remembering the words of Jesus: ‘I am the door; if anyone enters through me he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture’ (John 10:9)
‘The Light of the World’ is the title of a famous picture by William Holman Hunt, painted in 1853. It is often referred to by words from the Book of Revelation: ‘Behold I stand at the door and knock’. There are two sides to every door. In this picture the door is closed, with no handle on the outside. It can only be opened from within. Jesus does not impose. Does not demand. Does not restrict our freedom. He waits to be invited in. ‘If you hear my voice and open, I will come and we will sit side by side, and share a meal together’ (Revelation 3:20).

(edited from this Sunday’s pastoral letter)