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 April 2024
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : 2nd Sunday of Easter
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflection
Gospel: John 2:19-31
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.
‘As the Father sent me,
So am I sending you.’
After saying this he breathed on them and said:
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.
For those whose sins you forgive,
They are forgiven;
For those whose sins you retain,
They are retained.’
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the ‘Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord,’ he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put you finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe. Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:
‘You believe because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’
There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.
Scripture Reflection : Have We Ever Breached Hadrian’s Wall?
Aristides, though not a Christian himself, was employed to defend a group of Christians before the Roman Emperor Hadrian. He made the following statement :
“Christians love one another. They never fail to help widows. They save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have things, they give freely to those who have nothing.
“If they see strangers, Christians welcome them into their homes, and treat them as if they were part of the family. If one of them is poor, and there is not enough food to go round, they themselves fast to give whatever food is needed.
“We are dealing with a new kind of person here. There is something divine in them.”
We don’t know what Hadrian’s reaction was to all that. But, it is well-known that those who build walls, albeit just for protection, are rarely people who share everything with others – and rarely seem to be divine!
We Remember In Our Prayers Sheila Davies whose Funeral was last week, Andrew Heys whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on Friday 12th April at 12.30 pm, and Sheila Devlin whose Funeral Service is at St. Teresa’s on Friday, 26th April at 11.00 am. We remember them and their families, and those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they all be in God’s peace.
We Welcome Into The Family Of The Church Hattie Hope Aplin, whose Baptism is at St. Teresa’s this Sunday.
Some ‘Thank Yous’
* To everyone for making the Holy Week and Easter Services so special. The attendance was excellent and the participation wonderful. We came together as a community, parishioners and visitors. and all we shared helped us to become a Community, not just for ourselves but for others. Thank you to those who made it all possible, by preparing the church with cleaning and with flowers, by supporting the Services with music, and with words for the Screen, and by reading and serving. Our Deacon Bernard Fr. Chris C. and Fr. Chris W. would also like to thank everyone for all their kindness at Easter. This is a very warm and caring community which is truly appreciated.
* To all who organised and catered for the lovely Afternoon Tea last Wednesday. It was not intended to be a fund-raising enterprise, just fun, but through a raffle and donations given, £300 was raised, which will go to support our Food Pantry so that others can benefit too. Thank you so much.
* From the S.V.P (the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Teresa’s) who received £178.35 in their recent collection for those in need locally.
Preparing for Pentecost With the Apostles ; A series of Meetings has been organised for all the Catholic parishes in our Deanery, leading up to Pentecost at the end of the Easter Season. Each week we will look at the Readings for the following Sunday. We will read, reflect and share on them. Come for all or just one. All are very welcome. These will take place at English Martyrs Church, 154, High Cross Road, Poulton, for just one hour, 7pm – 8pm on the following Wednesdays: April 10, April 24, May 1, and May 8. For further information please contact Ursula Walker – 07821 691888.
A Diocesan Pilgrimage To Walsingham, led by Bishop Paul, has been organised for 2-6 September 2024. For more details please see the notice at the back of church, and for more information contact Deacon Charlie Conner on 07895 742732 or email charlie.conner@lrcd.org.uk
The Food Pantry, situated at the back of church at St. Teresa’s, is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10,30 am -12 noon, and on Wednesdays 2.30 pm – 4 pm. We are so grateful for all the volunteers who work in the Pantry, and all those who donate contributions.
The Church Shop in the porch at St. Teresa’s is open before and after each weekend Mass, and has cards and gifts for First Holy Communion. Please call in and browse. You will be most welcome.
Daily Reflections for this week
Monday (Timothy Radcliffe, OP)
This is, potentially, a wonderful moment for Christianity. If we are able to find ways to live and share our Christian hope, then we shall offer something for which the world is thirsting. Now, we have something extraordinary and rare to offer, which is hope stripped of its secular crutches, new and fresh and desirable. As Christians, we have no special economic or political insight into how this may be done, but we may perform signs that speak our hope. This requires of us imagination and boldness. If people see that Christians are prepared to make slightly crazy gestures, instead of always timidly drawing back because they might not work, or people might not like them, then they will catch the whiff of our extravagant hope.
Scripture (Acts 2:42-46)
The converts remained faithful to the teachings of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. And all who shared the faith owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and distributed the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed. Each day, with one heart, they regularly went to the Temple but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously; they praised God and were looked up to by everyone.
Tuesday (John Main, OSB)
If we Christians fail today to proclaim the gospel of Jesus with sufficient conviction and enthusiasm, it is due above all to our forgetting that the very essence of our meaning is to exist for others. The church does not exist to perpetuate itself, to increase its own security. It exists to lead others into an awareness of the redemptive love of God in Jesus. If the world does not believe what we say about Jesus, what we say about the reality of the human spirit, is it not mainly because they do not believe we really believe it and know it?
Scripture (John 15:11-16)
I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learned from my Father. You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last.
Wednesday (The Epistle to Diognetus, 2nd century)
Christians are not distinguished from others by nationality or language or customs. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead an eccentric lifestyle, yet they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They are in the flesh, but do not live after the flesh. They obey the established laws, but surpass them in their private lives. They love all people, but are persecuted by all. They are dishonoured, yet are glorified in their very dishonour. They are insulted, yet repay the insult with honour. It was no merely earthly invention which was entrusted to them, nor is it a mere human system of opinion which they guard so carefully. But truly, God himself sent from heaven Him who is the truth and firmly established him in their hearts.
Scripture (Philippians 2:13-16)
It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and the powers to act. Let your behaviour be free of murmuring and complaining so that you remain faultless and pure, unspoilt children of God surrounded by a deceitful and underhand brood, shining out among them like bright stars in the world, proffering to it the Word of life.
Thursday (Ignatius of Antioch)
Regarding the rest of mankind, you should pray for them unceasingly, for we can always hope that repentance will enable them to find their way to God. Give them a chance to learn from you, or at all events from the way you act. Meet their animosity with mildness, their high words with humility and their abuse with your prayers. But stand firm against their errors. Let us show by our forbearance that we are their brothers and sisters.
Scripture (John 20:19-23)
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those sins you retain, they are retained.’
Friday (A Carthusian)
If only we realised how we complicate life, when it really is so
simple. All our troubles come from this: we do not know how to seek God where he is. We seek him far away and all the while he is quite close to us. ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ The saints kept themselves before the face of the living God, and God communicated himself to them and lived in them. Truly, then, we can say that the divine life was generated in them, and became their life. And so it can be with us, even in our busiest moments. It is not necessary to seek the stillness of a sanctuary or of a special place to pray. All we need to do is make an act of faith and love: “My God, I believe in you, and I love you”: A simple movement in the depths of our soul that we call forth from time to time.
Scripture (Colossians 2:6-10)
So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him, be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving. Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a ‘philosophy’ of the kind that human beings hand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ. In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in all its fullness, and in him you too find your own fulfilment.
Martin Bennett