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
7 May 2023
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : Fifth Sunday of Easter
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel: John 14:1-12
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God still, and trust in me.
There are many rooms in my Father’s house;
If there were not, I should have told you.
I am now going to prepare you a place,
I shall return to take you with me;
So that where I am
You may be too.
You know the way to the place where I am going.’
Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:
‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.
If you know me, you know my Father too.
From this moment you know him and have seen him.’
Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him ‘and you still do not know me?
‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father,
So how can you say, “Let us see the Father”?
Do you not believe
That I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself:
It is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.
You must believe me when I say
That I am in the Father and the Father is in me;
Believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.
‘I tell you most solemnly,
Whoever believes in me
Will perform the same works as I do myself,
He will perform even greater works,
Because I am going to the Father.’
Gospel Reflection : I Am The Way, The Truth And The Life
‘The Way that guides our steps’ could be another name for Jesus. Like a path guides us through a forest in the mist, the Lord guides our way of life. He has walked our ways before, knowing bereavement and failure, knowing rejection and poverty, knowing loneliness and loss of faith.
He is the Truth that enlightens our minds; like a glimpse of light in the fog. He gives meaning in times of emptiness, some experience of peace during confusion, and certainty that we can find the Truth of Life in the gospel of his Father.
And he is the Life. He gives hope and comfort in our yearnings for fullness. He gives a confidence that the biggest gift of all is life, and that in emptiness and in pain, in doubt and confusion, he offers a new surge of life, the life that comes from knowing that we are loved intensely and called to love as best we can.
So we live in the way, the truth, and the life of God, in Jesus himself, for he says “I am the Way, the Truth and the LIfe”..
We Remember In Our Prayers Alain Lebon, whose Funeral was last week, and Dorothy Greaves whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on May 17th at 11.15 am. We remember them, and their families, and all those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they be in God’s peace.
First Holy Communion : We also keep in our prayers the children who are celebrating their First Holy Communion, supported by their parents and families, school staff and parish catechists. The First Holy Communion Mass is the 10.30 am Mass next Sunday, 14th May, at St. Teresa’s.Church.
This Weekend the SVP have their regular collection at each Mass ‘for those in need’,
The Church Shop which is in the porch at St. Teresa’s Church, is open before and after each weekend Mass, and currently has a selection of cards and gifts for First Holy Communion. Please call in and have a look around. You will be most welcome.
The Food Pantry at St. Teresa’s Church is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10.30 am – 12 noon, and on Wednesday, 2.30 pm – 4 pm. NB the food pantry is not open on Monday, 8 May and 29 May (bank holidays).
The ‘Warm Space’ takes place in St. Teresa’s Church Hall on Wednesday afternoons, 2 pm – 4 pm. All welcome.
Going Home
Going to heaven!
I don’t know when,
pray do not ask me how.
Going to heaven!
How dim it sounds!
And yet it will be done,
as sure as flocks go home at night
unto the shepherd’s arms.
If you should get there first,
save just a little place for me
close to the two I lost.
The smallest ‘robe’ will fit me,
and just a bit of ‘crown’;
for you know we do not mind our dress
when we are going home.
(Emily Dickinson)
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (Bede Griffiths)
I remember a friend who joined a team working with the poor in Brazil. The idea was that there was no need for mass or prayer because Christ was in the poor. One only had to go out to the poor and one would meet Christ in them. So they concentrated only on active service to the poor. Within a few years the work totally disintegrated. I think that unless we find Christ within, we will not find him among the poor, though we may be doing good to them in various ways. The two are reciprocal: the more we find Christ within, the more we become aware of Christ without.
Scripture (John 15: 1,4-5)
Jesus said, ‘I am the true vine. Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in them, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing.
Tuesday (Dorothy Day)
This work of ours towards a new heaven and a new earth shows a correlation between the material and the spiritual, and, of course, recognizes the primacy of the spiritual. Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul. Hence the leaders of the work must go daily to mass. And as our perceptions are quickened, and as we pray that our faith be increased, we will see Christ in each other. We must practice the presence of God. He said that when two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is in the midst of them.
Scripture (John 14:10-16)
Jesus said, ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?’ What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father. If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth.
Wednesday (A New Catechism)
It is easy to recognise that Jesus’ prayer is always spoken of in connection with his mission. His withdrawal into the desert is described as a preparation for his task. Later he also took refuge in isolation, when the world tried to force a worldly Messiahship upon him. It shows how much we should reproach ourselves if we neglect our intercourse with God and devote all our time to work or charitable works. It is through prayer that the compass which directs our activities remains true.
Scripture (Luke 10:38-42)
Martha welcomed Jesus into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said “Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Pleases tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed, only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part.”
Thursday (Jean Vanier)
Sharing the word can be a powerful means of piercing armours and routines to let the living waters flow. It can be a nourishment which brings strength, energy and a new hope. It is not words which are abstract, based on research or reason which can do this; it is those which reveal the faith, hope and love of the speaker. The talks which nourish come from people who allow God to speak through their lips. These talks come from the deep, hidden and silent places where God lives, to nourish those same places in the listeners.
Scripture (Romans 8:11, 14-17)
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his spirit living in you. All who are guided by the Spirit of God are children of God. The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Friday (Malcolm Muggeridge)
If it is true, as St. Paul tells us – and it surely is – that all things work for good to them that love God, then all that is required of us is that we should love God, and, in loving him, fall in with his purposes. I once scribbled down my own version of the prayer of St. Augustine: “Oh God, stay with me. Let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thought enter my mind that is not your thought, no deed be ever done or entertained by me that is not your deed.”
Scripture (1 Cor. 12:4-6,12-13.)
There are many different ways of serving, but it is always the same Lord. There are many different forms of activity, but in everybody it is the same God who is at work in them all. For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts, so it is with Christ. We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink.
Martin Bennett