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
14 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 : Sixth Sunday of Easter
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel: John 14:15-21
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.
I shall ask the Father
And he will give you another Advocate
To be with you forever,
That Spirit of truth
Whom the world can never receive
Since it neither sees nor knows him;
But you know him,
Because he is with you, he is in you.
I will not leave you orphans;
I will come back to you.
In a short time the world will no longer see me;
But you will see me,
Because I live and you will live.
On that day
You will understand that I am in my Father
And you in me and I in you.
Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them
Will be one who loves me;
And anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,
And I shall love him and show myself to him.’
Gospel Reflection : Love One Another As I Have Loved You
It was one of those days. Things had gone wrong all day – some tensions at work, annoyance with people, criticism behind their backs. One of those days!
The words sometimes go through my mind on those occasions : “Love one another as I have loved you”. They don’t make it easier, but somehow it makes things look a bit different, and I think a bit more kindly of someone else.
Sometimes it’s the “love one another” that I remember, and that gets me. Why should I love him? Why should I care for her? They don’t seem to want to care for me. And I hear in the ear of the mind and the memory of the heart, the words of Jesus, “as I have loved you”.
‘Lord, your total love of me should be like a wave coming over me, refreshing, cooling me, and that gives me another chance, to cool off hot words, refresh tired judgements, and believe that as you love me you also love everyone.
So, thank you Lord for the words “Love one another as I have loved you”. They spur me on. cool me down, centre me and focus me on the gift of love and hope that is your gift to everyone.
We Remember In Our Prayers Dorothy Greaves whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on Wednesday 17th at 11.15 am, and Anne Beswick and Ronald Cole whose Funerals have yet to be arranged. We remember them and their families, and all those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they be in God’s peace.
We Welcome This Sunday And Congratulate the eleven children who are receiving Holy Communion for the first time at the 10.30 am Mass. A very big thank you is due to the families, and our Parish Catechists, Clare ( our First Communion Programme Coordinator), with Anne, Bernadette, Maria, and Rachael, who have all supported the children so well throughout their preparation for this very special day. We also thank our Head Teacher and school staff for their support, and for arranging for the First Communion children, and Key Stage Two pupils, to be with us at the Parish 9.30 am Mass on Monday morning, and then to celebrate in school afterwards.
The SVP are very grateful for the £147 which was donated in their collection ‘for those in need’ last weekend.
Please Note : At St. John Southworth Church there is no Mass there next Wednesday, 17th May.
Next Thursday, 18th May, is the Feast of The Ascension. This is a Holyday of Obligation, and Masses for both our churches are as follows.
St. Teresa’s : 6.30 pm on Wednesday, 17th May (Vigil Mass),
and 9.30 am on Thursday, 18th May
St. John Southworth : 6.30 pm on Thursday, 18th May
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, 29 May (bank holiday).
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 ‘Warm Space’ takes place in St. Teresa’s Church Hall on Wednesday afternoons, 2 pm – 4 pm. All welcome.
God Gives Us Power
God has given us the power
to create beauty,
to make another smile,
to be a healing presence in someone’s sorrows,
to bring justice to the oppressed,
to support those in difficulty,
to bring peace and joy to others,
to help those in need,
to laugh and enjoy life,
to forgive those who have hurt us,
and most of all, to love.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (The Epistle to Diognetus, c.A.D.124)
Before the advent of Jesus, who among mankind had any notion at all of what God is? He conceived a design, great beyond all telling, and he imparted it to none but his Son. As soon as he disclosed it, and revealed what had been planned from the beginning, than straightway he poured out all the fullness of his bounty upon us, permitting us to share his benefactions and to see and know such blessings as none of us could ever have looked for.
Scripture (John 14: 15-18, 20-21)
Jesus said, ‘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 forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world can never accept since it neither sees not knows him; but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you. I shall not leave you orphans, I shall come to you. You will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.
Tuesday (Caryll Houselander)
Instead of appearing in dazzling light all over the world, he sent other people to carry the news of his resurrection. He would not only be the voice in their ears, he would be the silence in their souls. His life had become peace, joy, the absolute power of consummated love; and now by a supreme expression of that love, he gives us that life of joy. It is through his Risen Life in us that Christ sends his love to the ends of the earth. So it is that we, sinners, wranglers, weaklings, provided that we only love God, are sent to give the life of the Risen Christ to the whole world, through the daily bread of our human love.
Scripture (Acts 8: 5-6,14-17)
Philip went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people unanimously welcomed the message Philip preached, because they had heard of the miracles he worked and because they saw them for themselves. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and they went and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them; they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit
Wednesday (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh)
All holiness is God’s holiness in us: it is a participation and, because we participate in what we can receive from God, we become a revelation of that which transcends us. Being a limited light, we reveal the light. When we read books on spirituality we find that it is repeatedly defined as an attitude, an inner condition, a type of interiority, and so on. But if you look for the inner core of spirituality, you find it does not consist in the states of the soul that are familiar to us, but that it is the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in us, by us and through us in the world. There is no other holiness than that of God; it is as the Body of Christ that we can participate in holiness, in Christ and in the Holy Spirit.
Scripture (Colossians 2:6-9)
So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him, be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving. Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a ‘philosophy’ of the kind that human beings hand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ. In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in all its fullness, and in him you, too find your own fulfilment.
Thursday (John Main, OSB)
Whenever we discover ourselves acting as an instrument of the Word, it is when we know ourselves directed by the Spirit. And to know this is to have seen our own Spirit; it is to have glimpsed the depths of our own Spirit and know that our Spirit is of God. To know this is to undergo the seminal experience which ignited the early Church and burst into the preaching of St. Paul and of the saints down the ages. Only one condition needs to be fulfilled, namely, that we subject everything else to it in order to obtain that complete simplicity which opens our eyes to the living presence of the loving Lord Jesus within us and his Spirit ever returning into communion with the Father.
Scripture (Ephesians 1:17-20)
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, how rich is the glory of the heritage he offers among his holy people, and how extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with the strength of his power at work in Christ.
Friday (Cardinal Newman)
Let us never lose sight of this great and simple view which the whole of Scripture puts before us: what was actually done by Christ in the flesh two thousand years ago is in type and resemblance really wrought in us one by one even to the end of time. He was born of the Spirit, and we too are born of the Spirit. He did great works by the Spirit; we too are led by the Spirit into and through the world’s temptations; we, too, do our works of obedience by the Spirit. He impresses us with the seal of the Spirit, in order to vouch that we are his. As the king’s images appropriate the coins to him, so the likeness of Christ in us separates us from the world and assigns us over to the kingdom of heaven.
Scripture (Romans 5:1-5)
So, then, now that we have been justified by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ; it is through him, by faith, that we have been admitted into God’s favour in which we are living, and look forward exultantly to God’s glory. Let us understand that hardship develops perseverance and perseverance develops a tested character, something that gives us a hope that will not let us down, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.
Martin Bennett