St Teresa & St John Southworth Churches, Cleveleys
Fr Chris Cousens—Phone: 853340
Rev Bernard Ward (Deacon) (Tel: 858346)
Enquiries for St John Southworth: Phone: 853340
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Contents: Gospel Reflection
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel
John 17.11-19
Jesus raised his eyes to Heaven and said: ‘Holy Father,
Keep those you have given me true to your name,
So that they may be one like us.
While I was with them,
I kept those you had given me true to your name.
I have watched over them and not one is lost.
Except the one who chose to be lost,
And this was to fulfil the scriptures.
But now I am coming to you
And while still in the world I say these things
To share my joy with them to the full.
I passed your word on to them,
And the world hated them,
Because they belong to the world
No more than I belong to the world.
I am not asking you to remove them from the world,
But to protect them from the evil one.
They do not long to the world
Anymore than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth;
Your word is the truth.
As you sent me into the world,
I have sent them into the world,
And for their sake I consecrate myself
So that they too may be consecrated in truth.’
Gospel Reflection : Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder?
On Ascension Day Jesus withdrew his physical presence from his disciples. But physical absence does not mean absence of presence. People can be very close to each other even though separated by thousands of miles.
In fact, physical presence can sometimes get in the way of close relationships. Some of our disappointments in life are caused by the fact that seeing and touching do not always create the closeness we seek.
For people to grow together there must be periods of absence as well as presence. In absence we see each other in a new way. When we think of people with love, a different, even spiritual, bond is created between us, and we enter into a new intimacy. For those who love one another there is no such place as ‘far away’.
In these days before Pentecost, which we celebrate next weekend, we ask the Holy Spirit to create a bond of love between us and Jesus, now ascended to heaven, so that when we think of Him we will never be alone.
We Remember In Our Prayers Audrey Jordan whose Funeral was last week, and Ann Walker whose Funeral Service is at St. Teresa’s on Wednesday, 26th May. We remember them and their families, and all those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they be in God’s peace.
This Sunday The Catholic Church Celebrates World Communications Day, when we are asked to pray for those who work in the media, and when a special collection is taken to fund this important work. The Communications Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales supports the Bishops, in their witness and engagement with current issues, and the Church more widely in promoting the Gospel through digital, social, print and broadcast media. The office is the central point for media enquiries, and is a key resource for national and international media professionals. It also plays an important role in developing the public profile of the Church through word and image.
Volunteers Needed At St. Teresa’s
The technology advances at St. Teresa’s Church, with respect to the video projector screen and the live streaming of Mass, are now at a stage where all that is needed for them to work is a few button presses. Unfortunately we need real people to push those buttons, and we cannot rely on Giles and Adam to be there all the time to do so. We therefore urgently need volunteers to go on a rota to push those buttons.
If you are interested in helping out, after having the appropriate training (being shown which buttons to press!), then please contact Adam either by phone, where you can leave a message, on 01253 423047, or email on adambajk@gmail.com
We are so grateful to Adam and Giles for all the work they have been doing for months now, on the screen and live streaming respectively. It really has opened up a new ministry for our Parish family – to help people be with us, by sight and sound, who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to do so – and it has been very much appreciated. Please do seriously consider being part of this ministry and service.
At The.Moment The Times Of Masses At Our Two Churches Are :
Sundays : St. Teresa’s : Saturday Vigil Mass 6.30 pm, Sunday 9.00 am and 10.30am (live streamed)
St. John Southworth : 5 pm
Weekdays : St. Teresa’s : Mondays and Fridays 9.30 am
St. John Southworth : Wednesdays 9.30 am
Daily Reflections for this week
From time to time, God allows peace to well up from the soul and to pervade the nature of our senses. There is, as it were, a sudden uprising which makes us conscious of it. It is by faith that we perceive the divine Truth, and in particular the presence and action of God with us. Faith introduces us into another and higher world, that of God of which it is the light. Ask Jesus, then, to make this wonderful light shine more and more in our hearts—this light which, little by little, becomes love, and which is the true life.
Scripture (Psalm 33:13-15,18,20-22)
From heaven, the Lord looks down, he sees all the children of Adam. From the place where he sits he watches all who dwell on the earth; he alone moulds their hearts, he understands all they do. We are waiting for the Lord; he is our help and our shield, for in him our heart rejoices, in his holy name we trust. Lord, let your faithful love rest on us, as our hope has rested in you.
Tuesday (St. John of the Cross)
Tranquillity and repose in God is not all darkness to the soul but tranquillity and repose in the divine light and in a new knowledge of God, whereby the mind is raised to a divine light. The mind, tranquil and reposing in God, is raised up from the darkness of natural knowledge to the morning light of supernatural knowledge of God; not clear, indeed, but dim, like the night at the approaches of the dawn. In this tranquillity the understanding is lifted up in a strange way above its natural comprehension to the divine light.
Acts 1:3-4,9-11
He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the Kingdom of God. While at table with them he told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. Now, having met together, he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky as he went when two men in white were stood beside them, and they said, ‘This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way as you have seen him go into heaven.’
Wednesday (Fr. P Lallemant, SJ)
Without contemplation one will never make much progress in virtue, and will never be much use in helping the progress of others. One will never be quite free from imperfections, always being attached to earth and never rising above the feelings of nature. But with contemplation, one will do more, both for oneself and for others, in a month than one could do without it in ten years. Contemplation produces the very acts of sublime love of God and it perfects faith and all other virtues, lifting them to the highest degree to which it is possible to rise.
Scripture (Matthew 28:16-20)
The eleven disciples set out for Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always, yes to the end of time.”
Thursday (Fr. Richard Rohr)
As a people, we are afraid of silence. That’s our major barrier to prayer. I believe silence and words are related. Words that don’t come out of silence probably don’t say much. They are probably more unloading our own thoughts than a communicating. Yet words feed silence—that’s why we have the word of God. But that word doesn’t bear much fruit—it really doesn’t break open the heart of the Spirit—unless it’s tasted and chewed, unless it’s felt and suffered at a level beyond words. That running from silence is undoubtedly running from our souls, ourselves, and therefore, from God. If I had to advise on thing for spiritual growth, it would be silence.
Scripture (Lamentations 3:22-26)
Surely the Lord’s mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted; every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness! ‘The Lord is all I have,’ I say to myself, ‘and so I shall put my hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who trust him, to all who search for him. It is good to wait in silence for the Lord to save.
Friday (Brother Lawrence)
When the mind has developed some bad habits of wandering and inattention, they are difficult to overcome and they draw us, in spite of ourselves, to earthly things. I do not advise you to do much talking at prayer, for much talking is often the occasion of wandering. Hold yourself before God, keeping in mind the presence of the Lord. If your mind wanders and withdraws at times do not be disturbed; the will must call it back quietly. One way to do this during the time of prayer is not to allow it to strive too much during the day. It must be kept strictly in the presence of God. Being accustomed to remember him from time to time, it will be easy to remain quiet during your prayers.
Scripture(Col.3:1-4)
Since you have been raised up to be with Christ, you must look for the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on things above, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed—and he is your life—you, too, will be revealed with him in glory.
Martin Bennett