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
28 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 : 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflections for the coming week
Gospel : Mark 1:21-28
Jesus and his followers went as far as Capernaum, and as soon as the sabbath came Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.
In their synagogue just then there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, and it shouted, ‘what do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus said sharply, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him. The people were so astonished that they started asking each other what it all meant. ‘Here is a teaching that is new’ they said ‘and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’ And his reputation rapidly spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.
Gospel Reflection : Switch On – And Still Save It
In earlier times in our part of the world, the Feast celebrated on February 2nd, the Presentation of the Lord, marked the end of the Christmas season, forty days after Christmas Day itself. When we think of the infant Jesus being presented in the Temple by his parents, we are reminded of what we celebrated to end the old year and begin the new – our God, the Light of the World. Of course we associate the light at Christmas not just with what we put on the tree, but with the star of Bethlehem – a dazzling sign, yet also high and distant.
This week we reflect on the fact that Jesus the Light of the World, when presented in the Temple, was placed in human arms, and given over to human hands. The Light of the World is to shine in us, and through us.
We Remember In Our Prayers : Susan Feeney whose Funeral is at St. Teresa’s on Thursday, 15th February at 10.30 am. We remember her and her family, and those whose anniversaries are at this time.
May they all be in God’s peace.
Please Remember There Is Now Only One Sunday Morning Mass At St. Teresa’s, And That At 10 am.
The Sunday Mass Times In Cleveleys Are Now :
At St.Teresa’s : Saturday 6.30 pm (Vigil Mass); Sunday 10, am. (The weekday Masses remain the same – 9.30 am, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.)
At St. John Southworth : Sunday 5pm, ( The weekday Mass is on Wednesdays at 9.30 am)
The Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession will be available, from this Saturday 27th January, each Saturday from 6-6.20 pm at St. Teresa’s, that is, before the 6.30 pm Mass, or by appointment.
First Holy Communion for St. Teresa’s and St. John Southworth parishes will be celebrated this year on Sunday 12th May, at the 10 am Mass at St. Teresa’s. We will soon be starting our 2024 Reconciliation and First Holy Communion preparation, for Baptised children in Year 4 and above. Some of these children may be in another school besides St. Teresa’s, and they are welcome to join the programme too.
Our first meeting will take place after the 10 am Sunday Mass on 25th February 2024. The meeting will take place in the Parish Hall immediately after the end of Mass. Each meeting in the preparation programme will be after the end of the 10 am Mass
In order for the preparation to convey the full meaning of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it is necessary for the child and parent or guardian to attend the 10 am Mass each Sunday. Parents and guardians will be expected to work alongside their child, and our catechists, to support their children in their preparation. You are the first and best teachers for your children, and it is through your encouragement, love and care that they will grow in their understanding of God’s love and care.
Please could you let us know if you intend your child to take part in our Preparation Programme this year by contacting Fr Chris through st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com or 01253 853340. If you have to leave a message please remember to leave your own contact number. We look forward to welcoming you and your child at our first meeting on 25 February.
A New ‘Fit For Purpose’ Kitchen Is Needed For Our Parish Hall. To start off our fundraising we are holding a ‘Table Top Sale’ on Saturday, 24th February, 10 am – 1 pm in the Parish Hall. Table Hire is Available for only £10 per table. For further information please contact Sue on 07889 532158.
One of the stalls at the Table Top Sale will be selling plants (indoor and outdoor), and all things linked with gardening. If anyone would like to contribute to this stall, for example potted cuttings etc, please let Sue or Bernard know. You can leave a message on the following mobile 07889 532158.
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.
And also the “Walk With Me ” booklets have now arrived in the church shop, and will be on sale there from this Saturday, priced £1. These could be very useful for a daily reflection throughout Lent, and Lent begins shortly, on February 14th.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (A New Catechism)
The gospels have a word for the unassuming and unquestionable majesty of Jesus. The word is “authority”. We must not think of the “authority” of his personality as a dignified aloofness or an equable mildness: let us forget for a moment the pink and white plaster statues, and think of Jesus’ sharpness as he drove out the demons. We should not be doing justice to his “authority” if we only saw in him a great pastor and preacher. The gospels point to something else: the event of the coming of the kingdom. He perfects all that went before him with words more enduring than heaven and earth, which must pass away. God reigns definitively through him. This is what gives him his authority: the unique and final coming of God’s infinite lordship and revelation.
Scripture (Mark 1:21-27)
He went into the synagogue and began to teach. And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority. And at once there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked it saying “Be quiet! Come out of him!” And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him. The people were so astonished they said “Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it. He even gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey him.”
Tuesday (1st Epistle of Clement)
Through Christ we see God’s face as in a mirror, spotless, exalted. Through Christ the eyes of our heart have been opened. Through Christ our dim and clouded understanding unfolds like a flower towards the light. Through Christ the Lord of the Universe willed that we should taste knowledge of eternity. For he is the very brilliance of the rays that shine from God’s majesty.
Scripture (John 1:1-2, 14)
In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word was made flesh and lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Wednesday (Martin Buber)
The reality of the holy can only be grasped from the standpoint of the mystery. Then one sees that the holy is not a segregated, isolated sphere of Being, but signifies the realm open to all spheres. The face of the holy has not turned away from but towards the profane; it does not want to hover over the profane but to take it up into itself. The contradictions between the spheres of the holy and the profane exist only in the subjectivity of man who has not yet attained to spiritual unity and is unable, with his limited understanding, to mediate between the two.
Scripture (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
Moses said “This is exactly what you asked Yahweh your God to do—at Horeb on the day of the Assembly. When you said ‘Never let me hear the voice of Yahweh my God or see the great fire again, or I shall die.’ Then Yahweh said to me ‘What they have said is well said. From their own brothers I shall raise up a prophet like yourself; I shall put my words into his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him.”
Thursday (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium)
Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too.
The integrity of the Gospel message must not be deformed. What is more, each truth is better understood when related to the harmonious totality of the Christian message. (p33) Before all else, the Gospel invites us to respond to the God of love who saves us, to see God in others and to go forth from ourselves to seek the good of others. Under no circumstance can this invitation be obscured!
Scripture (Col. 1:15-16, 18-19)
He is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth; everything visible and everything invisible. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that he should be supreme in every way; because God wanted all fullness to be found in him.
Friday (Caryll Houselander)
The supreme expression on earth of the rhythmic law of God is the Liturgy. The whole cycle, from birth to death, from death to resurrection, moves through the Liturgy. It expresses every passion, every emotion, every experience of the human heart. It is the song of the whole world; but it is also much more: it is the love-song of Christ in us, the voice of the mystical Body of Christ lifted up to God. All our inarticulate longing and adoration, all our stammered, incoherent love, set in the tremendous metre of the Liturgy and lifted up on the voice of Christ to our heavenly Father.
Scripture (Ephesians 3:17-21)
May Christ live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, with all God’s holy people, you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God. Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
Martin Bennett