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
5 November 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 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel:
Matthew: 23:1-12
Addressing the people and his disciples Jesus said, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say but do not be guided by what they do since they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.
‘You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exults himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exulted.’
Gospel Reflection : God’s Work of Art
We began this month of November by celebrating the Feast of All Saints. We are all different, all unique, all God’s work of art.
We remember today all our saints, all the human race who have reached God. Each person, man or woman, young or old, mirrors something of the face of God.
And there is a common thread which unites us all : our need for love and community, for home and acceptance, for respect and forgiveness; and the need to love : the desire to make this world a better place, to create with God a world of justice, love and peace.
Because the world is full of people, it is “charged with the grandeur of God”. We look at everyone and listen to them, and see and hear in them the glory of God.
The Feast of All Saints honours us all, living and dead. The Feast celebrates those gone before us, and proclaims with love that the finest thread among us is that we are children of God, friends of Jesus Christ and the place where God’s glory dwells now.
We Remember In Our Prayers Emma Hinchcliffe and Stan Rawcliffe whose Funerals were last week, Veronica Parker whose Funeral Mass is at St.Teresa’s on Thursday, 9th November at 12 noon, and Eileen Malnacs whose Funeral Service is at St. Teresa’s on Thursday 16th November at 12 noon and Margaret Dupont, whose Funeral is at St. Teresa’s on Tuesday 14th November at 2.30 pm. We remember them and their families at this sad time. May they all be in God’s love and peace.
SVP. This Sunday there is the regular collection for the SVP, the St.Vincent de Paul Society at St. Teresa’s. Whatever is collected goes to the support of those in need locally
A Big Thank You :
* For the annual collection taken last weekend in support of the Sick and Retired Priests of our Diocese – £280 .88 at St. Teresa’s and £77.91 at St. John Southworth.
* From the Thornton Cleveleys Friends of Trinity Hospice, who are so grateful for the turn-out at their Coffee Morning last Saturday, and for ‘the brilliant’ amount of money raised for Trinity Hospice at that event – just over £1000. A huge thanks to those concerned.
St.Teresa’s Parish Christmas Fayre Is On Sunday, 26th November, 10 am – 2 pm. Raffle tickets are now on sale at the weekend Masses. As always, donations, prizes, bottles, cakes etc would be greatly appreciated, as would offers of help for the day. Hopefully, together we will make the Fayre a happy occasion, bringing us a little closer as a community in the run up to Christmas. There are now only three weeks to this event, which is the first Christmas Fayre here for four years. Hopefully there will be something entertaining for those young, and those young at heart, so let’s make it a really happy occasion. Donations for the bottle stall, prizes, and cakes (nearer the time) are now really welcome, and can be left in the church sacristy. Thank you so much for your help so far.
Each Year The Season of Advent Helps Us In Our Spiritual Preparation For Christmas. This year the first Sunday in Advent is on 3rd December, and we are fortunate in Cleveleys to be given the opportunity to help us in our preparation. Our Catholic parishes in the Fylde are organising a series of meetings where we can meet and reflect on the Readings for the three Sundays leading up to Christmas, and these are to take place at St. Teresa’s, in the church Sacristy. They are 7 pm – 8 pm, just one hour, on the Fridays 1st, 8th and 15th of December. Please don’t pass this good opportunity by, but think about coming to all or just one of these meetings. You will be very welcome. These details are on the notice board in the church porch.
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
Being Genuine
A peacock’s feathers are very colourful; they are worn more for show than for warmth.
The Pharisees wore their virtue for show; they wanted to be seen and praised by others.
They were more concerned with appearing good than with really being good.
Today there is great emphasis on appearances. The image is more important than the reality.
We may deceive others but we cannot deceive God, but then it would be foolish even to try.
We don’t have to put on an outward show, or pretend to be what we are not.
All we have to do is to try to be true to what we are – human beings as God has made us.
Lord, help us to shun all falsity and pretence, and to live a life of genuine goodness.
Then our deeds will flow from what we are, as naturally as good fruit from a good tree. Amen.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (Cardinal Newman)
A person who is religious is so morning noon and night. Their religion is a mould in which their thought, words and actions are cast, all forming part of one and the same whole. They see God in all things; every course of action is directed towards those spiritual objects which God has revealed to them; every occurrence of the day, every event, every person met with, all news, are measured by the standard of God’s will. Knowing that they are in God’s presence, they are continually led to address him reverently.
Scripture (1 Peter 1:13-17)
Your minds, then, must be sober and ready for action: put all your hope in the grace brought to you by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Do not allow yourselves to be shaped by the passions of your old ignorance, but as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity, after the model of the Holy One who calls us, since scripture says, ‘Be holy for I am holy.’ And if you address as Father him who judges without favouritism according to individual deeds, live out the time of your exile here in reverent ways.
Tuesday (Fr. Michael Ivens, SJ)
In the Contemplation to Attain Love, the Creator/creature relationship is proposed with explicit reference to the things, events and situations of the everyday world. As God gives himself in love through all things, the totality of the self, everything we call our own, every element of our experience has as its context a certain vision, a perception of the world in which the love of God is so sensed in everything that nothing can come as an interference between God and his creature because everything is a means of encounter and union.
Scripture (Mark 12:28-34)
One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, ‘Which is the greatest of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, wiht all your mind and with all your strength. The second is you must love your neighbour as yourself.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, master; what you have said is true. This is far more important than burnt offering or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’
Wednesday (Edward le Joly: Mother Teresa)
When she came to Cambridge to receive an honorary Doctorate in Divinity, Mother went to the convent around midday. People came to meet her. A reporter asked her,” What made you start your work, what inspired you and kept you going during so many years?” Mother answered, “Jesus.” The reporter looked disappointed; he must have expected long explanations. For Mother, one word sufficed to sum up her whole life, to explain her faith, her enterprise, courage, love, devotion, single-mindedness: Jesus. Everything was due to him, every effort and sacrifice made for him
Scripture (Ecclesiasticus 1:12-16,18)
The fear of the Lord gladdens the heart, giving happiness, joy and long life. For those who fear the Lord, all will end well: on their dying day they will be blessed. The basis if wisdom is to fear the Lord; she was created with the faithful in their mother’s womb; she has made her home in mankind, an age-old foundation, and to their descendants she will faithfully cling. The fullness of Creation is to fear the Lord; she intoxicates them with her fruits. The crown of Wisdom is to fear the Lord.
Thursday (Thomas Merton)
God touches us with a touch that is emptiness and empties us. He moves us with a simplicity that simplifies us, All variety, all complexity, all paradox, all multiplicity cease. Nothing more is desired. Nothing more is wanting. Our only sorrow, if sorrow be possible at all, is that we ourselves still live outside God. A supernatural instinct teaches us that the function of this abyss of freedom that has been opened out in our midst is to draw us utterly out of our own selfhood and into its own immensity of liberty and joy.
Scripture (James 1:21-25)
Humbly welcome the Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. But you must do what the word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive your selves. Anyone who listens to the Word and takes no action is like someone who looks at their own features in the mirror and once they have seen what they look like, go off immediately and forget it. But anyone who looks at the perfect law of freedom and keeps it – not listening and forgetting, but putting it into practice – will be blessed in every undertaking.
Friday (1st Epistle of Clement)
Let us contemplate God with our mind and with the eyes of our soul gaze on his patient purpose. Let us observe how close God is, and that none of our thoughts, none of the inner debates we have, escape his attention. Awe and respect for the Lord is a beautiful thing, a real bonus, bringing salvation to all who live with that attitude, with a pure mind and holy lifestyle. For God is a searcher of thoughts and desires. We have his breath in us.
Scripture (Deuteronomy 4:32-33)
Put this question to ages past, from when God created the human race on earth: was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything like it ever heard? Hence, grasp this today and meditate on it carefully: Yahweh is the true God, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his commandments as I give them to you today, so that your children after you may prosper.
Martin Bennett