Pope Francis on Lent

newsletter

In his message for Lent, Pope Francis chose the theme “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19)

He invites believers to prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed, warning that “Sin leads man to consider himself the god of creation, to see himself as its absolute master and to use it, not for the purpose willed by the Creator but for his own interests… Let us leave behind our selfishness and self-absorption, and turn to Jesus’ Pasch. Let us stand beside our brothers and sisters in need, sharing our spiritual and material goods with them”. The Pope highlights how the season before Easter must be a time to “welcome Christ’s victory over sin and death into our lives”, and attract “its transforming power to all of creation”

Appealing to the faithful to not allow this season of grace to pass in vain, Francis says that if, “the Lent of the Son of God ’was an entry into the desert of creation’ to make it become again that garden of communion with God” that it was before the original sin, Christians today are invited “to embody the paschal mystery more deeply and concretely in their personal, family and social lives, above all by fasting, prayer and almsgiving.”

Fasting means turning away from the temptation to “devour” everything to satisfy our voracity;
Prayer teaches us to abandon idolatry and the self-sufficiency of our ego;
Almsgiving, whereby we escape from the insanity of hoarding everything for ourselves in the illusory belief that we can secure a future that does not belong to us.

If we follow this journey, it “is possible to rediscover the joy of God’s plan for creation and for each of us, which is to love him, our brothers and sisters, and the entire world, and to find in this love our true happiness”. The path to Easter, therefore, demands that “we renew our faces and hearts as Christians through repentance, conversion and forgiveness” the Pope said pointing out that it is a call that involves the whole of creation.

This “eager longing”, this expectation of all creation, Pope Francis says, will be fulfilled in the revelation of the children of God, that is, when Christians and all people enter decisively into the “travail” that conversion entails.

From Linda Bordoni, Vatican News www.vaticannews.va

Christ the King Bidding Prayers for the 8th Sunday of Year C, 2019

bidding prayers, Christ the King

Priest: Acknowledging our weakness we come before the Father to ask for healing and growth in His love.

Reader: The response to our prayers is “Hear our prayer”

As we approach Lent may the Church, our parish and ourselves respond to the Pope’s call to renew our hearts through repentance, conversion and forgiveness..

Pause

Merciful Father: Hear our prayer. 

We pray for world peace, especially at this time between India and Pakistan.

Pause

Merciful Father: Hear our prayer. 

May our society find a way to rescue and support those young people involved in gangs and drug running, and also to help remedy those family and other circumstances that make children and young people vulnerable to exploitation.

Pause

Merciful Father: Hear our prayer.

We pray for Arthur James Calnan and Delyth Itoro who are being baptised this weekend; may the seed of faith grow and flourish in their lives, nurtured by their family and god-parents.

Pause

Merciful Father: Hear our prayer

We remember Lilian Dyer, John Hall and Evelyn Trueman who have died recently; receive them into the joy of Your kingdom, and comfort those who grieve for them.

Pause

Merciful Father: Hear our prayer.

In the silence of our hearts we pray for all our other needs.

Pause

We ask Mary, our mother, to join our prayers to her own, us as we say

Hail Mary ….

Priest: Heavenly Father, we ask you to look with kindness on our petitions for our growth and the growth of the world in your loving service. We ask You this through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

 

 

 

Journeying on into Lent

lent

During Advent and into January over 30 people from our 3 Churches met together in groups of 5 or 6 to reflect on the significance of the season, using the book ‘Journeying towards Jesus’ by Denis McBride.

In the 5 sessions (each one lasting 1 – 1/2 hours) the groups explored the various Advent themes from the Second Coming of Jesus to the feast of Christmas, challenging us “to move from being onlookers to active followers of Jesus”.

People agreed that they found the experience very relaxed, encouraging and inspiring; they said that they learnt a lot, enjoyed sharing their thoughts and making new friends, as they got to know members of their group.

Following this success, we are offering everyone the opportunity to be part of a group during Lent and Easter using another seasonal book by Denis McBride – ’Journeying with Jesus’, reflecting on “the movement of the Jesus story”.

The aim, Denis McBride says, “is to promote a conversation between Jesus’ journey and your own, so that you might share some of that insight in your group”. We start with ’In the Wilderness’ and move through passages in the life and death of Jesus to ’On the Road Again’ – the Emmaus story.

Denis McBride approaches reflections with a light touch while giving us thought-provoking questions to consider.

There will be a gathering on Shrove Tuesday (5 March) 7.30pm at St Brigid’s to mark and celebrate the successful Advent and Christmas “journey” and to explain more about this Lent and Easter one. Warmly invited are all those who took part in Advent and / or the previous “Do You Love Me?” series, all who would like to be involved this time, and of course, those who just want to find out more!

Marie York

Christ the King Bidding Prayers for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2019

bidding prayers, Christ the King

PRIEST – Let us turn to God our Father and ask Him to look favourably on all the needs of the world, the Church and ourselves.

Reader – We pray for the Church throughout the world that she may always be true to the teaching of Jesus in guiding your people…………..Lord hear us…….

As this weekend we remember the need for racial justice, we pray that we will always treat others as brothers and sisters irrespective of their race or country of origin………….Lord hear us………..

Let us pray for the repose of the souls of all who have died recently and for the comfort of their families and friends……………….Lord hear us……………

We  remember in our prayers those who are ill, infirm or disabled in any way that they may experience the healing comfort of God and have compassionate care………….Lord hear us…………..

In a few moments of silence we place our own needs before our Heavenly Father……………..Lord hear us

We now ask Mary our Mother to join our prayers with hers as we say……………..

Hail Mary… 

PRIEST – We make all our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour,

Amen.