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Remembering Christopher

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February 11  Our Lady of Lourdes

I’ll never forget Christopher. He was a young lad with physical and learning difficulties and was part of our group on my first visit to Lourdes back in 1979. I was just one year ordained, wet behind the priestly ears you might say. There was a HCPT Group in the parish to which I was appointed, St Therese in Port Talbot. As curate I was automatically the chaplain to the group. Each HCPT group has about 10 young people, 10 helpers, a nurse and a priest. I was anxious to help as much as I could and to do the full priesty bit.
But I hadn’t reckoned on one of the children in our group, Christopher, attaching himself to me and in doing that, to teach me so much. I wasn’t ready for his acceptance of his circumstances, the trust he put in me, the laughs we would have together, the simple Christian love he would draw out of me.
I learned a huge amount that week about ministry. Many people, helpers especially, have gone to Lourdes, like I did, ready to give – give of our time, our care, our work – and it is, indeed, hard work. What I didn’t expect was that I would be the one to receive more than I gave. In seminary we tended to get the impression that it would be all about what we could do for others. In fact it is about what we all can do for each other, no matter our age, health or position in life. We Christians are to be a family, a network of love in action.
This is really one of the miracles of places like Lourdes. There, through the gentle presence of Our Lady, we are given a glimpse of how it should be. A good convert of mine had been struggling with RCIA and the whole business of becoming Catholic. It was visiting Lourdes that did the trick. He said “If this is how Catholics want to be, that’s how I want to be too”.
I only stayed in Port Talbot for nine months. I never saw Christopher again after I left. But in those early years of priesthood his laughter, his hugs and a few tears too, made as much impression as anything I experienced.

Fr Matthew

Enriching weekday mass

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When we come to Mass, we encounter Jesus in many ways. The two principle ways we do this are through the Liturgy of the Word, in which we hear God’s Word speak to our hearts, and through the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Our Lord, who nourishes us, giving us food for our journey of faith.

The priest, during the Eucharistic celebration, acts in the person of Christ. This means that it is Christ we listen to when the Word of God is proclaimed, and Christ himself who feeds and nourishes us in the Holy Eucharist. As well as this, all of us, gather together – our parish community – become a way of encountering Jesus. We are the parish; we are the Body of Christ. During our Sunday liturgies, this community is built up and manifests its oneness through singing; the purpose of the opening hymn is for us to bring our individual selves together, and form one voice, to give praise and glory to God.

During the weekdays, it is not always possible to sing, and so the Church provides antiphons that enable us to do this. These are short verses that are from the Scripture or that are relevant to the feast of the day. There is an antiphon provided for the beginning of Mass, as the ministers enter the sanctuary, and there is an antiphon before we receive Holy Communion.

Deacon Daniel will provide each of our Churches with weekly antiphon sheets, which will set out the various antiphons for the week ahead. Let us lift up our hearts and so give glory to Almighty God.

Deacon Daniel

The candle of peace

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Our Peace Candle has started its now annual way around our 3 Churches homes. Please sign the list in your church if you wish to be part of its journey. Here is a message from Fr Rob Esdaile to help our thoughts…

God is love – the fundamental Gospel message. Jesus refused to hate his enemies, to retaliate or to seek their destruction. For 300 years nearly all Christians took these two truths for granted, until Constantine lifted the Church out of persecution and set it on the road to power. And then the cross gradually took on the shape of a weapon in many people’s eyes.

Today the Church is no longer needed by secular power as a prop. That frees us to articulate a different vision; no longer as guardians of a ‘Just War’ but as prophets of a ‘Just Peace’. That requires, firstly, our own conversion of heart. Next it means reaching beyond the rhetoric of conflict to try to hear the real hopes and fears of our opponents and to identify what we have in common. Then initiatives to promote dialogue must follow, with measures which can ‘de-escalate’ tensions and resolve disputes, learning both from recent conflict resolution processes and from our own Christian tradition of peacemaking. And through all of this must run an effort to articulate a vision of the sort of people we want to be and the sort of world we wish to create: how can we make it easier to live together in harmony?

The vision is a radical one, a new style of politics, as Pope Francis has said. The transformation won’t be easy, but it’s the only path which offers hope to our divided world. There are many others who are already committed to this new way, in organisations such as the international Catholic Peace Movement, Pax Christi, groups which have already developed training and techniques for those who dare to believe that another way is possible. But our greatest resource is the message and example of Jesus, calling us to love our enemies and to walk the way of peace together. In that sign we have our victory.

Fr Matthew