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 January 2024
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : The Epiphany
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel : Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. ‘Where is the infant King of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they told him ‘for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah
You are by no means least among the leaders of Judah,
For out of you will come a leader
Who will shepherd my people Israel.’
Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared, and sent them to Bethlehem. ‘Go and find out all about the child,’ he said ‘and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.’ Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Bur they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.
Gospel Reflection : Good Advice On How To LIve The Christmas Message
If, as with Herod, we fill our lives with things,
and again with things;
If we consider ourselves so important that we must
fill every moment of our lives with selfish activity,
when will we have the time :
To make the long , slow journey across the burning
desert, as did the Magi?
Or sit and watch the stars, as did the shepherds?
Or brood over the coming of the child, as did Mary?
For each of us :
There is a desert to travel,
A star to discover,
And a being within ourselves to bring to life.
(From an Iranian Christmas Card)
We Remember In Our Prayers Barry Kershaw whose funeral was last week, Paul Smith whose Funeral is at St. Teresa’s on Wednesday 10th January at 2 pm, not 2.15 pm as was previously announced, and Peggy McLoughlin whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on Thursday 18th January at 11 am. We remember them and their families, and those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they all be in God’s peace.
This Weekend, 6/7th January, at each Mass there is the Annual Special Collection for SPUC, the organisation which defends and upholds the sanctity of human life from conception until death.
The St. Teresa’s Parish Pastoral Council meets this Monday, 8th January, at 7 pm in the church sacristy.
A Very Important Message About A Change Which Takes Place Next Weekend which has been explained over many weeks now : – From Sunday 14th January there will be just one Sunday morning Mass at St. Teresa’s, and that at 10 am. The 9 am and 10.30 am Masses will no longer be provided. There will still be the 6.30 pm Saturday evening Mass at St. Teresa’s, and the 5.pm Sunday evening Mass at St. John Southworth. The Parish Pastoral Council is fully aware and sorry that this will upset the long-established routine of Sunday morning parishioners, but still sincerely hopes that you will feel able to accept and support this change as being both a necessary and important change for the parish.
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.
The New Lancaster Diocesan Directory Is Now On Sale- in the church shop at St. Teresa’s, and in the church porch at St. John Southworth.
This Year Marks The Centenary Of The Founding Of Our Lancaster Diocese. Until 1924 our own part of the world here, and therefore some of our ancestors, was in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, and the whole of Cumbria up to Carlisle was in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. From 1924 on, there were less Liverpool and Geordie accents heard in our presbyteries!
Finding One’s Work
I think it is a great blessing when people find their work.
I often feel I am rich, not in money, but because I have found my work.
In that work I have something to which I can devote myself, heart and soul,
and which gives meaning and inspiration to my life.
Even though I have lots of difficulties, and there are many gloomy days in my life,
I count myself among the fortunate. This is not the road on which one perishes.
This is a powerful stream that will bear me powerfully to port.
(Vincent Van Gogh)
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (Fr. Richard Rohr)
The incarnation of Jesus demonstrates that God meets us where we are. It assures us that we do not have to leave the world or relinquish our humanity in order to know God. We may want the spiritual without the fleshly; we may want the cosmic without the concrete. But if the Word is ever to be loved and shared, we must risk embodiment, which is always concrete and ordinary. There God is both perfectly hidden and perfectly
revealed.
Scripture (Matthew 3:13-17)
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. John tried to dissuade him. “It is I who need baptism from you,” he said “and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.” At this, John gave into him. As soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.”
Tuesday (Martin Buber, “Tales of the Hasidim)
A helper is needed. A helper for both body and soul, for both earthly and heavenly matters…..who can teach you to conduct your affairs so that your soul remains free, and he can teach you to strengthen your soul, to keep you steadfast beneath the blows of destiny. He has to mix with the people and, in order to raise them to the rung of what perfection they are capable of, he has to descend from his own rung.
Scripture (John 3:11-13,16)
Jesus said “In truth I tell you, we speak about only what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak of earthly things, how will you believe me when I speak of heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man; for this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Wednesday (A New Catechism)
We must be careful not to start from our human ideas of God, as though apart from Jesus we knew God fully. Jesus is not for those who (think they) know who God is, but for those who seek to know who God is. All we can do is fix our eyes on the man Jesus. Only by thus paying attention to him can we begin to realise something of the God who reveals himself in him. God is much greater than all the ideas we have of “greatness.” In Jesus’ truly human knowledge, something of his likeness to God radiates. In Jesus, God has become accessible to us.
Scripture (Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7)
Thus says the Lord: Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true justice to the nations. He does not cry out or shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the quavering flame. Faithfully he brings true justice; he will neither waver nor be crushed until true justice is established on earth. I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right; I have taken you by the hand and formed you; I have appointed you as a covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.
Thursday (St. Teresa of Avila)
God is greatly pleased when He beholds a soul in its humility making His Son a mediator between itself and Him. I know this by experience. I have understood that the whole foundation of prayer must be laid in humility, and that the more a soul humbles itself in prayer, the more God lifts it up. I do not remember that He showed me any of His marvellous mercies at any other time than when I was as one brought to nothing. Moreover, His Majesty contrived to make me understand matters that helped me to know myself, but which I could never have even imagined of myself.
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 (Bede Griffiths)
We do not overcome darkness by fighting it but simply by bringing it into the light. All the weaknesses we find in ourselves, and all the things that upset us, we tend to try to push aside and get rid of. But we cannot do this. We have to accept that ‘this is me’ and allow grace to come and heal it all.
Scripture (Luke 1:76-79)
And you, little child, you shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you will go before God to prepare a way for him, to give his people knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of their sins, because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising of the Sun has come down from on high to visit us, to give light to those who live in darkness and to guide our feet in the way of peace.
Martin Bennett