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
18 December 2022
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : 4th Sunday of Advent
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Gospel Reflection
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
And they will call him Emmanuel,
A name which means ‘God-is-with-us’. When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.
Gospel Reflection : Afraid, Even With All These Christmas Lights On ?
For this last Sunday before Christmas, we have a real human story, a story of fear and faith – Mary afraid of what God wants her to be, and Joseph afraid of the consequences of Mary agreeing to carry out God’s plans.
Fear and faith can somehow go together. You believe in a person, but maybe they will let you down. You believe in God, but where is he at times? So much of life is lived in trust – that love once promised will last; that children will be safe and do the right thing; that health will be good and old age manageable. We want our security.
Mary and Joseph were the same. They wanted security in relationship and religion. And their real safety was only found when they trusted enough in God, that he was with them in everything he was asking them to do. To Mary, the Lord says “do not be afraid”.
Worry and fear are a part of human life, but the whole Christmas message tells us that God is with us in everything, and at all times, even or especially when the lights have gone out, or we can’t afford to switch them on!
We Remember In Our Prayers Mavis McQuillen whose Funeral was last week, Kathleen McTaggart whose Funeral Service is at St. Teresa’s on Wednesday, 21st December, at 1.45 pm, Kathleen Hikes, whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on Friday, 23rd, December, at 10 am, Joe Guiney whose Funeral Service is at St.Teresa’s on Thursday, 29th, December, at 10.15, and Scarlet Clegg whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on Tuesday, 3rd January at 1.45 pm. We remember them and their families, and all those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they be in God’s peace.
With Great Gratitude,The Members Of Our St. Vincent de Paul Society (the SVP) Write: “The amount raised in the collection ‘for the needy’ last weekend was £496, which included two generous donations. Thank you so much for your kindness, and best wishes and prayers for Christmas and the New Year.”
This Sunday, 18th December at 2 pm The Dream Team Singers and Health Singers are kindly giving us a Christmas Concert in St. Teresa’s Church, including carols and well-known songs. All are very welcome.
Please note that there is no 9.30 am Mass next Friday, 23rd. There is a Funeral Mass at 10 am (see above)
Christmas Mass Times
St. Teresa’s : Saturday, 24th December, 6.30 pm
Sunday, 25th December, 9.00 am and 10.30 am (live-streamed)
St. John Southworth : Sunday, 25th December, 10.00 am
(There is no 5 pm Mass that Sunday)
St. Georges Avenue Food Pantry @ St.Teresa’s Are you, or someone you know, struggling to meet the cost of living? Members of our Community are committed to helping anyone who finds themselves at this point of need. We, at St. Teresa’s, have created a small ‘Food Pantry’ in the church kitchen, which is capable of providing basic foods, for individuals, couples or families. Please do contact us in advance on this dedicated mobile number 07841 610655 to talk about how best we might be able to help you, OR visit us at the back of church between 10.30 am and 12 noon Monday. Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, or Wednesday, 2.30 pm – 4 pm. A volunteer will be able to put together a bag(bags) of food to help see you through the week. Alternatively, we would be happy to deliver a free food parcel to peoples’ doorstep on a weekly basis. The types of food we give out depend partly on what our church members donate. We have plenty of pasta and pasta sauces, cereals, rice, biscuits, tinned goods, i.e. soup, veg, fruit, long-life milk, and a small selection of toiletries, and even pet food.
‘Warm Space’ In St. Teresa’s Hall on Wednesdays 2. pm – 4 pm. All are very welcome to call in, and spend some time with others in a safe, warm environment, where you can enjoy a hot drink and a snack.
100 Club Winners for December, Plus Two Christmas Specials
Martin Brady, £15, John Tirrell, £10, Sue Ward, £5.
Stuart Murray £100, Catherine Redfern £100
The Church Shop, in the outer porch of St. Teresa’s Church, is open before and after each weekend Mass. Christmas cards are available, as well as many other cards and gifts, including 2023 diaries, and the latest 2023 Lancaster Diocese Directory, with all the latest information about our Parishes, and every aspect of our whole Diocese, including the support it gives us.
Stamps : With the increased amount of mail at this time of year, please remember we collect used stamps for the Missions. There is a box for them in the church porch.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday The emptying of the Word in the Incarnation is the visible expression of what the Father is doing all the time in expressing his interior Word. Jesus Christ is the fullest manifestation of this extraordinary love that we call unconditional or divine love. This boundless love emerges from the Father into the Son, and through the Son is communicated to all creation. The invitation is given to every human being to enter into the stream of Divine love, or at least to enter a big toe into the river of eternal life. As we let go of our false self, we move into this stream of love that is always flowing and bestowing endless gifts of grace.(Thomas Keating
Scripture (Matthew 1:19-24)
Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare Mary’s disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ This fulfilled the words of the prophet: Look! The virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’. When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.
Tuesday Let us then view God’s providences to us more religiously than we have hitherto done. Let us humbly and reverently attempt to trace his guiding hand in the years we have hitherto lived. Let us thankfully commemorate the many sins he has not remembered, the many prayers he has answered, the many mistakes he has corrected, the many lessons, the much light. How he did gently guide us towards the strait gate! How he did allure us along his everlasting way, in spite of its strictness, in spite of its loneliness, in spite of the dim twilight in which it lay! He has been all things to us. (Cardinal Newman)
Scripture (1 John 4: 9-12)
This is the revelation of God’s love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love each other. No one has ever seen God but as long as we love each other, God remains in us and his love comes to perfection in us.
Wednesday The Saviour was born: what a joy for us! This is the birthday of Life – the Life which annihilates the fear of death, and engenders joy. Nobody is an outsider to this happiness, for as our Lord found no one free from guilt when he came, so he came with redemption for all: let the sinner be filled with joy, for pardon is offered. When the time had come, God’s son took our human nature upon himself in order to reconcile man to his creator. Let us offer thanksgiving to God the Father through his son. In giving life to Christ, he gave life to us too, so that in him we might be a new creation, a new work of his hands. O Christian, be aware of your nobility – it is God’s own nature that you share. You have been rescued from the power of darkness, and have been transferred to the light of God, the Kingdom of God. (From a Sermon by Pope Leo the Great)
Scripture (Hebrews 1:1- )
At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son, the Son that he has appointed to inherit everything and through whom he made everything there is. He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature, sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty.
Thursday With Christ, God injected himself into history. With the birth of Christ, God’s reign is now inaugurated in human time. Every year we recall that God’s reign is now in this world. His birth attests that God is now marching with us in history, that we do not go alone. Humans long for peace, for justice, for a reign of divine law, for something holy, for what is far from earth’s realities. We can have such a hope, not because we ourselves are able to construct the realm of happiness that God’s holy words proclaim, but because the builder of a reign of justice, of love, and of peace is already in the midst of us (Oscar Romero)
Scripture (Micah 5:1-4)
The Lord says this: You, Bethlehem, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of old. When she who is to give birth gives birth, the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel. He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord, with the majesty of the name of his God. They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land. He himself will be peace.
Friday Let us suppose we possess parts of a novel and someone now brings us a newly discovered piece of manuscript and says, ‘This is the chapter on which the whole plot of the novel really turned.’ Our business would be to see whether the new chapter did actually illuminate all the parts we have already seen and ‘pull them together’. If it were genuine then at every fresh reading of the book, we should find it making itself more at home and eliciting all sorts of details in the whole work which we had hitherto neglected. Something like this we must do with the doctrine of the Incarnation. The credibility will depend on the extent to which the doctrine, if accepted, can illuminate and integrate the whole mass of our knowledge. (C.S.Lewis)
Scripture (Titus 3:3-6) There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves. But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for mankind were revealed, it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing waters of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Martin Bennett