All posts by 3 churches

Beginning Lent

lent

Worship Why not be part of an extra weekday Mass?
Worship Together Come along to the Cardiff Deanery Lenten Station Mass at St Teilo’s 7pm Wednesday 25th February.
Repent Is it time to come to Reconciliation? Saturdays – St Brigid’s 10am St Paul 5.30-5.45pm Christ the King 5.45-6.15pm or 3 Churches Penitential Service Wednesday 11th March 7.00pm
Follow The Way of the Cross St Paul’s Fridays 9.00am; St Brigid’s Saturdays 9.00am Christ the King Sundays 3.00pm first 3 Sundays then as announced.
Read The reflection booklet for Lent : “Walk with me” £1 each
Fast It’s CAFOD Family Fast day this Friday…
Reflect We use this prayer at Mass this Sunday. You could use it during the week too…

Lord Jesus Christ,
your time in the wilderness teaches me not to fear it; your facing temptation shows me that it can be overcome.

On my journey through this Lent, be my constant guide. Teach me to pray with new joy;
to fast with a willing heart;
and to give generously to those in need.

Remind me to pause in my busy life
and refocus on what really matters;
to let go of so many things – and leave more room for you.

Help me to listen to and respond to your call –
to repent;
to change my ways;
to turn back to you
and to strive to build up your Kingdom here on earth. Amen

Dame Julian and the nut

newsletter,

When the great English mystic Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) was 30 years old, she contracted a grave illness and came so near to death that she received the last rites. At the end of her illness she had several visions, or “showings”, that she understood to have come from God. She spent the next 20 years reflecting on these visions and writing down what she had learned from them. Perhaps, the most famous of those showings is this one:

“And he showed me a little thing, the size of a hazel nut, that seemed to lie in the palm of my hand. It was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, ‘What may this be?’ And the answer came, ‘It is everything that is made.’ I wondered how it could last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen into nothing, so little was it. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts, and will for ever, because God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it…” (1st Revelation)

Seeing the fragile thing in the palm of her hand, Julian wondered how it could last. She had reason to wonder if the world she knew might fall into nothing. As a child she lived through the Black Death, the plague that decimated Europe from 1348 – 1351. Nearly half of her city of Norwich died in a three-year span, and she herself nearly died from serious illness.

Sometimes our own lives seem so tenuous they might dissolve into nothing. It might be serious illness. It might be job or economic problems. It might be family or relationship difficulties. It might be doubts about faith or uncertainty about love or our competency or our worthiness. Whatever the cause, life can seem uncertain and our hold on it unsure. Our hold on ourselves and on God can seem tenuous and uncertain. Julian of Norwich found her comfort, not in grasping and clinging to the ephemeral littleness of created reality, but in uniting herself to the abiding love and joy of the uncreated God.

Fr Matthew, with acknowledgments to Rev Matt Gunter

After Sts Paul and Brigid… Teilo

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Monday is the feast of St Teilo, patron of our neighbouring parish. Saint Teilo, also known by his Cornish name Eliud, was a British Christian monk, bishop, and founder of monasteries and churches. He was born at Penally in Pembrokeshire around the year 500. He was the son of Saint Issel and uncle of Saints Ismael and Euddogwy. He was educated by the renowned Church leader and educator St Dyfrig, and by Paulinus of Wales, probably at Whitland. There he met and became a close companion of St David, and travelled to Mynyw (present St. Davids), where David founded his abbey. When St Dyfrig retired to a hermitage on Bardsey Island, Teilo succeeded him as Bishop of Llandaff. Here he founded the first church, headed a monastic school, and become bishop over present Glamorgan and Gwent.

In the 540s yellow plague affected Britain. In 549 Teilo, with a small group of monks, moved to Dol in Brittany. He is reported to have stayed in Brittany for seven years and seven months. They joined St Samson at Dol, and to this day the fruit groves they planted are known as the groves of Teilo and Samson. Legend has it that Teilo was asked by Budic II of Brittany to subdue a belligerent winged dragon, which he tamed and tied to a rock in the sea off Brittany.

He returned to his foundation at Llandeilo Fawr, where he died on 9 February, around 560. He became one of the most venerated men in Wales. His relics were said to lie in Llandaff Cathedral, though Llandeilo Fawr, and Penally Abbey also claimed to have them. His tomb in Llandaff lies to the right of the altar, but his skull is kept in the south chapel. It is stated that many miracles were witnessed there while he was alive and also later at his tomb.

At least 20 ancient churches in Wales, Brittany, and Cornwall and Devon are dedicated to him, as are several modern parishes and schools, while there are three villages in Brittany named Landelau, Landêliau and Saint-Thélo after him.

Fr Matthew

Open door

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In 2011/12 we developed a vision for our 3 Churches, leading to some priorities and projects, such as our “Open Door” monthly gatherings, a renewed emphasis on being welcoming communities, the “Phone-a– Friend” project on Tuesday mornings, and the revamped Bereavement Support Group. We also homed in on one or two “Big Issues” – namely Youth and Evangelization, which would need exploring in more depth. While efforts have been made on the first, over the last year we have been also approaching the enormous topic of spreading the Gospel – Evangelization.

A year ago we ran two series of gatherings looking at various aspects of this area, under the guidance of our 3 Churches Pastoral Group. In the last few months a second group dedicated specifically to evangelization has been moving from principles to practice. There are currently three projects being developed.

Open Churches

There are several notable examples of churches inviting people in simply to pray or even just to rest and “be”. A prominent one is St Patrick’s Soho Square in London – take a look at http://london.nightfever.org How can our churches become more part of their communities? A start has been made by having Christ the King open Fridays during term-time 6.30-7pm.

Sacramental preparation

The need to give our programmes a more evangelizing nature, not just preparation for a particular situation, led to the recent Catechists Evening at St Brigid’s, which many found valuable, and which is already bearing fruit.

Youth

Work with young people needs to be better resourced and prepared. A small team is developing a programme to follow up Confirmation.

Other projects planned include prayer for our 3 Churches area, carried out week by week.
Jesus sent out his Apostles into the whole world, to teach and baptise. So we have no option but to reflect on our carrying out of this so-called “Great Commission”. You can help these projects first by praying in support. Then there will be the chance to get more involved with some of these in coming months – might that be for you?

Under the guidance of our patrons – St Paul the great evangelizer of the Gentiles, St Brigid, whose feast is this Sunday, a great leader in the Celtic church, let us all take on the Great Commission given us by Christ the King himself.