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
4 June 2023
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : Trinity Sunday
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel: Gospel – John 3:16-18
Jesus said to Nicodemus,
“God loved the world so much
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him will be condemned,
but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already,
because he has refused to believe
in the name of God’s only Son.”
Gospel Reflection:
A shamrock, a three-barred fire might help, but it is still difficult for us to grasp our Christian belief that we have three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in one God. In its simplest form, the Trinity expresses our one God revealed to us in three connected but different ways.
It might also seem an easy way out from the mystery, but in our daily lives many of us find that the most profound way in which God’s nature is shown to to us is in Jesus – Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter turned itinerant preacher, who slept, ate, got tired, knew fear and understood failure.
This fully human being was, in a way that is difficult to explain in human terms, also God. In Him we see what God is like ‘for us’, expressed through words, and compassionate and forgiving actions. Never before had God’s qualities of tenderness and compassion, patience and loving kindness, been so clearly seen.
Having seen and heard Jesus in the Gospels, and in the work and words of those who came after Him, we can understand more of God, and by believing, or putting our trust in Him instead of just ourselves or man-made commodities, we can be saved – set free of so many things that way us down. But we can also turn a blind eye and deaf ear to God’s offer, and reject it and all the hope it contains. The choice is ours. But remember – if we choose to see and hear what Jesus means for us, we might also appreciate the Father who sent Him, and the Holy Spirit who helps us respond with love. So much is expressed in the Gospel phrase we read for this Feast – “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son
We Remember In Our Prayers Michael Martin whose Funeral was last week , Ronald Cole whose Funeral is at St. Teresa’s church on Friday 9th, June at 11 am, and Anne Beswick, whose Funeral is at St. Teresa’s church on Monday 19th, June at 12 noon. We remember them and their families, and all those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they be in God’s peace.
We Welcome Into the Family of the Church Freya Grace Finnigan-Haynes whose Baptism takes place this Sunday at St. Teresa’s.
We Extend Our Good Wishes Too and Pray For Every Blessing For Fr. Chris Webb. This Sunday, 4th June, is the 40th Anniversary of his Ordination as a Priest of the Archdiocese of Westminster. Of course, since his retirement from serving as a Chaplain in the Royal Air Force he has lived amongst us, and supported us in so many ways. We thank him most sincerely for all his kindness and warmth of friendship. May it long continue!
We Also Congratulate and Pray for Every Blessing for Eileen and Phil Waters who are also celebrating a very significant Jubilee this weekend – their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, on 3rd June. The 5 pm Mass at St. John Southworth church this Sunday (4th June) is part of their celebration.
On Monday 26th, June, Our Parish Deacon, Bernard Ward, Celebrates His 25th Anniversary of Ordination. There will be a Silver Jubilee Mass that day at 6.30 pm in St. Teresa’s Church, followed by a celebration in the Parish Hall. Anyone from both our parishes is most welcome.
Because we need at least a rough number of those who intend to be in the Hall that night, for food catering purposes, please will you help us in one of two ways. Either add your name to the piece of paper which will be at the back of church this weekend, or phone Isobel on 01253 859952, and leave a message with her. If for any reason you cannot stay for the celebration after Mass you are of course still very welcome to attend the Mass itself.
The SVP have their regular collection, ‘for those in need’, this weekend, 3/4th June.
A Very Big Thank You for your generosity in the Special Collection last weekend.
Next Weekend, in both our parishes, there is a special appeal for the charity known as ‘Survive-Miva’. This is a Catholic Lay Association and Registered Charity which was founded in Liverpool in 1974, and is so appreciative of our support over the years. ‘Survive-Miva’ exists to provide funding for essential transport for health outreach work in isolated rural areas, and for the Church’s pastoral and spiritual care in places of difficult access.
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.
The ‘Warm Space’ takes place in St. Teresa’s Church Hall on Wednesday afternoons, 2 pm – 4 pm. All welcome.
The Next Day of Renewal will be held on Saturday, 17th June, from 10 am to 4 pm, at St. Clare’s Church, Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9HH, beginning with Mass at 10 am. This Day, with the title “The Obedience of Faith”, will be led by Barbara Mason, who has been in faith formation, including giving retreats in the UK and internationally, for over 35 years.Please bring a packed lunch. Tea and coffee available. For further information contact Christine, Tel. 07745 009694.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (Thomas Merton)
The Lord made his world not in order to judge it, not in order merely to dominate it, to make it
obey the dictates of an inscrutable and all-powerful will, not in order to find pleasure or
displeasure in the way it worked. The Lord made the world and humans in order that he himself
might descend into the world, that he himself might become man. The world was not made as a
prison for fallen spirits who were rejected by God. The world was made as a temple, a paradise,
into which God himself would descend to dwell familiarly with the spirits he had placed there to
tend it for him.
Scripture (1John 4:14-19)
We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world.
Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in
God. We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God
is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. Love comes to its
perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this
world we have become as he is. In love there is no room for fear, because fear implies
punishment and whoever is afraid has not come to perfection in love.
Tuesday (Julian of Norwich)
We are enfolded in the Father, and we are enfolded in the Son, and we are enfolded in the Holy
Spirit. And the Father is enfolded in us, and the Son is enfolded in us, and the Holy Spirit is
enfolded in us. Our soul rests in God its true peace; our soul stands in God its true strength, and
is deep-rooted in God for endless love. And if we in our blindness and weakness should at any
time fall, we should quickly rise and go at once to God in love; not on the one hand crawling
abjectly as if we were in despair, nor, on the other, bein over-bold as if we thought it did not
matter.
Scripture (Exodus 34:4-6,8-9)
Moses went up Mount Sinai in the early morning as Yahweh had ordered. And Yahweh
descended in a cloud and stood with him there and pronounced the name Yahweh. Then
Yahweh passed before him and called out, ‘Yahweh, Yahweh, God of tenderness and
compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy.’ Moses immediately bowed
to the ground in worship, then he said, ‘If indeed I do enjoy your favour, please, my Lord,
come with us, although they are an obstinate people; and forgive our faults and sins, and
adopt us as your heritage.
Wednesday (St. Athanasius)
The Trinity is endowed with the complete power of creating and energising. The gifts which the
Spirit distributes to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all things that
belong to the Father likewise belong to the Son: so that those things that are given by the Son in
the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit is in us, the Word by whom we
receive him is also in us, and in the Word is also the Father, and this is the meaning of the text,
‘We (that is the Father and I) will come to you and make our home in you.’
Scripture (2 Cor. 3:12-18)
Moses put a veil over his face so that the Israelites should not watch the end of what is
transitory. But their minds were closed; indeed, until this very day, the same veil remains
over the reading of the Old Testament: it is not lifted for only in Christ is it done away with.
As it is, to this day, whenever Moses is read their hearts are covered with a veil, and this
veil will not be taken away until they turn to the Lord. Now this Lord is the Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with our unveiled faces like
mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image that we
reflect with brighter and brighter glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.
Thursday (St. Thomas Aquinas)
The meaning of possessing something is that it is in our power to use it and enjoy it at will. To
have the power to rest joyfully in a divine person is ours by reason of grace alone. Still, as grace
is given the Holy Spirit is possessed and dwells in a person and so it is he himself who is given
and sent. Admittedly, effect of grace is also from the Father, who abides in us through grace even
as do the Son and the Holy Spirit. The entire Trinity abides in the soul by reason of sanctifying
grace.
Scripture (Ephesians 2:17-22)
He came to bring peace to you who are far off and peace to those who are near. Through
him, then, we both in the one Spirit have free access to the Father. So you are no longer
aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the Holy people of God and part of
God’s household. You are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, and
Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. Every structure knit together in him grows into a
holy temple in the Lord; and you, too, in him, are being built up into a dwelling-place of
God in the Spirit.
Friday (St. John of the Cross)
It should not be held as incredible in a soul that the promise of the Son of God be fulfilled, the
promise that the most Blessed Trinity will come and dwell in anyone who loves him. The Blessed
Trinity inhabits the soul by divinely illumining its intellect with the wisdom of the Son, delighting its
will in the Holy Spirit, and absorbing it powerfully and mightily in the
unfathomable embrace of the Father’s sweetness.
Scripture (Jn. 14:10-11,23,25-26)
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. You
must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; anyone who
loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall love him, and we
shall come to him and make a home in him. I have said these things while still with you,
but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you
everything.
Martin Bennett