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
15 October 2023
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : The 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel:
Matthew: 22:1-14
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He set his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invited everyone to the wedding.” So those servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment”. And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called but few are chosen.”
Gospel Reflection : An Invitation – RSVP Now
We are here this day at God’s invitation. There are no VIP areas in this building, and no conditions for being invited. God has prepared his banquet for all people.
To get the most out of this banquet, we must want to be here. We must know our need to be nourished and strengthened so that we can share our lives with others.
So, be nourished with His word to us, and with the food you find here; the food which satisfies our hunger for companionship and love, and our thirst for meaning and direction in our lives.
There are no conditions for joining in this banquet. Come to God as we are, and we will return blessed, refreshed, and strengthened to share what we have received.
We Remember In Our Prayers Maureen Wilson whose Funeral Service is at St Teresa’s next Friday, 20 October at 10 am, Don Eckley, whose Funeral Mass is at St.Teresa’s on Tuesday, 24th October at 2.15 pm, and Stan Rawcliffe whose Funeral Mass is at St.Teresa’s on Friday, 3rd November at 12 noon. We remember them and their families, and all those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they all be in God’s love and peace.
We Welcome Into The Family Of The Church Ezra Murray Sewell whose Baptism takes place at St.Teresa’s this Sunday.
A Big Thank You For Your KInd Donations To The Recent CAFOD “Harvest Collection” Which Have Come In So Far – £797.20 at St.Teresa’s and £160.00 at St. John Southworth. These amounts at both our parishes are much higher than for any other special collection we have to take during the year. Thank you so much.
Thornton Cleveleys Friends of Trinity Hospice Are Holding A Coffee Morning, Next Saturday 28th October, 10 am – 12 noon In St. Teresa’s Parish. Entrance £1, which includes coffee/tea and biscuits. There will be various stalls, a raffle and tombola. Please help our wonderful local Hospice in Bispham which needs, like all the others, the funding of the general public to survive.
The Church Shop, In The Porch At St.Teresa’s, is open before and after each weekend Mass. Diaries, gifts and Christmas cards are now on sale. You are welcome to go in and browse.
100 Club Winners For September : £15 Alice Freshney, £10 Kathleen Miller, £5 Paula Billington
A Date For Your Diary : St. Teresa’s Parish Christmas Fayre is on Sunday 26th November, 10.00 am – 2.00 pm. Further details will be announced in forthcoming Parish Weekly Bulletins.
The ‘Hub in the Hall’ Meetings take place in St. Teresa’s Church Hall each Wednesday, 2 pm – 4 pm. All are very welcome.
The Food Pantry At St. Teresa’s Church is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10.30 am – 12 noon, and on Wednesdays, 2.30 pm – 4 pm
God’s Call
God’s call comes to us in many ways, and at many different levels.
However, his call is not so much a voice as a tug at our hearts, which we feel at quiet moments in our lives.
He is calling us to a deeper life. He is calling us to intimacy with himself.
He is calling us into community with others, and at death he will call us into eternal life.
To accept means to admit our need.
Jesus said “Woe to you who are full now, for you will go hungry.
But blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled”.
A sense of something missing in our lives is not always a curse but a blessing.
A spiritual hunger is God’s way of inviting us to his banquet.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (From the Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius)
There are three types of person who wish to be free enough to
follow God’s call wherever it may lead. The first keep saying that they would like to stop being so dependent on things which get in the way of giving their life unreservedly to God, but never actually take any steps; the second type would rather work harder, or fast, or pray more—anything rather than face the problem which is holding them back. They act as thought they are negotiating with God; the third type strive to be in balance ready to move in any direction that the call of God may lead. Their whole desire and choice is for whatever seems better for the service of God.
Scripture (Philippians 4:11-13,18-20)
I have learned to manage with whatever I have. I know how to live modestly and how to live luxuriously too: in every way now that I have mastered the secret of all conditions—full stomach and empty stomach, plenty and poverty. There is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me. And my God will fulfil all your needs out of the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. And so glory be to God our Father for ever and ever, amen.
Tuesday (John Main, OSB)
We have to realise that when we talk about ‘our prayer’ we are really talking about our disposing ourselves for the full liberation of the life of the Spirit within us. That is why we pray to the degree that we turn away from ourselves, from the possessive self-consciousness and trivial distractedness of everything we sum up in the word ego. The call of Jesus to ‘leave everything behind’ is easily muted or compromised. Most often it is just postponed. We are ‘too busy’, or the work we are doing is just at this moment too important. It is also easier to drift into reverie rather than to ‘stay awake and pray’, or into self-conscious reflection than opt for the still, alert simplicity of being who and where we are.
Scripture (Romans 12: 2,10-13)
Let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God. In brotherly love let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression and regard others as more important than yourself. In the service of the Lord, work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit. Be joyful in hope,
persevere in hardship; keep praying regularly. Share with any of God’s holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Wednesday (Jean Vanier)
To enter a new covenant and belong to a new people, a community with new values, we have to leave another people – those with whom we have lived – with other values and other norms: wealth, possessions, social prestige or whatever. This passage from one people to another can be a very painful uprooting. Many do not achieve it because they do not want to choose or to cut themselves off from their old life. They keep a foot in each camp and live a compromise. To enter into covenant you have to eliminate certain values and adopt new ones.
Scripture (Mt.22:2-7)
Jesus said “The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next, he sent more servants. ’Tell those who have been invited,’ he said’ ‘that I have my banquet all prepared.’ But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious.
Thursday (St. Teresa of Avila)
If God sees that after he has set the kingdom of heaven within the soul, it turns to this world, not only will he desist from revealing to it the mysteries of his kingdom, but he will only show it the former favours at rare intervals and for a short time. I believe that the reason why there are not more spiritual persons is that they do not respond worthily by their actions to this signal grace by preparing to receive it again. As they withdraw their will form the Lord and centre it on worldly things, he seeks other souls whose love for him is so fervent that he can grant them even more sublime favours.
Scripture (Ps. 119:1-8)
How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of Yahweh! Blessed are those who observe his instructions, who seek him with all their hearts, and, doing no evil, who walk in his ways. You lay down your precepts to be carefully kept. May my ways be steady in doing your will. Then I shall not be shamed if my gaze is fixed on your commandments. I thank you with a sincere heart for teaching me your upright judgements, I shall do your will.
Friday (Dorothy Day)
It was in Chicago as a child, living in tenements, that I had my first glimpse of supernatural beauty, in Mrs. Barrett, mother of Kathryn and six others who lived upstairs. It was around ten o’clock in the morning that I went to call for Kathryn. There was no one on the porch or in the kitchen. The breakfast dishes had all been washed. Thinking the children must be in the front room, I burst in and ran through the bedrooms. In the front
bedroom, Mrs. Barrett was on her knees saying her prayers. She turned to me to tell me all the children had gone to the store and went on with her praying. And I felt a warm burst of love towards her that I have never forgotten, a feeling of gratitude and happiness that still warms my heart when I remember her. She had God, and there was beauty and joy in her life, in her sordid little tenement flat.
Scripture (Ps. 84:1-2, 4-5,10-12)
How lovely are your dwelling places, Lord. My whole being pines for Yahweh’s courts, my heart and my body cry out for joy to the living God. How blessed are those who live in your house, who find their strength in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. Better one day in your courts than a thousand at my own devices. Yahweh refuses nothing to those whose life is blameless. Blessed is the one who trusts in you.
Martin Bennett