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
23 February 2025
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflection
Gospel – (Luke 6:27-38)
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.
Gospel Reflection : Looking Beyond The Obvious
A tough message – to love people we find difficult, people who drive us mad, or worse still, people who have wronged us. And often the only motive is the motive Jesus gives – love others with the love of God, love others as God loves us.
God looks into the depths of everyone’s personality and sees there what he has made. Like an artist looks on a picture, or a photographer on a photo, and you see there both what you did, and what you tried to do. Like a parent looks on their child and sees in the child the gift of their life, and the love that goes beyond anything done or said, or not done and not said, by the child.
God looks on each of us and sees in us his creation. And what he sees and loves in Jesus, he sees and loves in us. His eyes shine with compassion, seeing beyond everything to the spark of life and light that shines in us all.
We Remember In Our Prayers Margaret Joyce Martin, whose Funeral Mass is at St. Teresa’s on Friday 28th February at 11.30 am. We remember her and her family, and those whose anniversaries are at this time. May they all be in God’s peace.
Household Support Fund – Important Information. People in the community struggling to pay for essentials such as food, heating and water this winter, can now apply for Support Funding from Wyre Council. Wyre residents can make an application now, using the online form on the Wyre Council website at www.wyre.gov.uk/household support. The closing date is 31st March 2025. Eligible residents are encouraged to seek support early, as the scheme may close earlier if the funds are exhausted due to demand.
The Next Day of Renewal will be held on Saturday 1st March, from 10 am to 4 pm at St. Clare’s Church, Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9HH. It will be led by Daniella Stephens, who will be speaking on ‘Do whatever he tells you’ John 2:5. As always, please bring a packed lunch. Tea and coffee are available. The day begins with Mass at 10 am.
There Is A Lancaster Diocese Pilgrimage To Walsingham, led by Bishop Paul, on 20-24th October, 2025. For details, please see the poster on the noticeboard at the back of church.
A Table Top Sale will take place on Saturday 22nd March, 10.00 am – 1.00 pm in St. Teresa’s Parish Hall. If you want to reserve a ‘Table’, then please give your name to Sue Ward at the back of church, or phone/leave a message on 01253 858346. All proceeds of the event will go towards the upkeep of St. Teresa’s, including our ‘Food Pantry’. Thank you for your anticipated support.
The SVP (St. Vincent de Paul Society) are very grateful indeed for your generous offerings in their collection last weekend, totalling £243.10 at st. Teresa’s and £47.50 at St. John Southworth. These amounts make a huge difference to the help the SVP can give to anybody in need.
Lent, the Season of Reflection and Renewal leading up to Easter, begins on Wednesday 5th March. The “Walk With Me” booklets, containing daily reflections for Lent, are now on sale in the church shop at St. Teresa’s, priced just £1. Also available are gifts and cards for St. Patrick’s Day and First Holy Communion. Please feel free to call in and look around.
The only weekday Mass at either of our churches this week is the Funeral Mass for Margaret Joyce Martin at St. Teresa’s on Friday 28th February at 11.30am. Apologies again for the still necessary inconvenience.
Synod on Synodality : What next? The Consultation and Assembly phases have now been completed. The Final Report has been approved by Pope Francis, and he has asked for it to be made available to everyone. You can access the document by searching on-line for “Synod on Synodality : Final Report. Pope Francis wants this method of meeting together, listening and speaking together, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to be the way the Church lives and works, embracing our differences and moving forward together. The Report is 65 pages long and worth reading. However, if you would like to know what is in the Report in simple terms, please come along to some presentation sessions to reflect on the Report and on how to take it forward as we start the”implementation phase”.
The sessions will last approximately one hour and will be held on Wednesdays 5th, 12th, 19th, & 26th February at 7 pm, at English Martyrs Hall, Hardhorn, Poulton (opposite the Miller and Carter pub). All are welcome.
Daily Reflections for this week
Just as there is an evil zeal of bitterness which separates from God, so
there is a good zeal which separates from evil and leads to God and eternal life. Monks therefore should practise the zeal with most fervent love so that they ‘outdo one another in mutual respect’. Let them bear, with great patience, one another’s weaknesses, of body or of character; let them vie in paying obedience to one another; let them exercise brotherly charity with a pure love; let them fear God; let them put nothing at all before Christ, and may he bring us all together to life eternal.
Scripture (1Peter 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.’
Tuesday (Martin Luther King: Commandments for protesters in Birmingham, Alabama)
1. Meditate daily on the teachings and the life of Jesus
2 Remember always that we seek justice and reconciliation – not victory
3 Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love
4 Pray daily to be used by God in order that all people might be free.
5 Sacrifice personal wishes so that all might be free.
6 Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7 Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world
8 Refrain form the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10 Follow the directions and movements of the captain on a demonstration.
Scripture (Luke 6:27-32)
But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse them your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and do not ask for your property back from anyone who takes it. Treat others as you would like people to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them.
Wednesday (Carlo Carretto)
I must do what Jesus – who brought God’s love to earth and communicated it to us – would do in my position. I must remember that the opportunities I have to suffer, to pardon, to accept are treasures not to be lost. My life is worth living if I can learn to transform everything that happens to me into love, an imitation of Jesus: because love is for living. When I meet someone who has caused me great pain, I shall love them and in loving them I shall transform the evil done to me into good: because love is for living. When I have to live with people who do not see things the way I see them, who say they are enemies of my faith, I shall love them, and in loving them, I shall sow the seeds of future dialogue in my heart and theirs: because love is for living.
Scripture (1 John 4:7-12)
My dear friends, let us love each other, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God’s love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his only Son to expiate our sins. My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love each other. No one has seen God, but as long as we love each other, God lives in us and his love comes to perfection in us.
Thursday (Paul Claudel)
Not one of our fellow humans, even if they wished, could fail us. In the most unfeeling miser, in the innermost being of the prostitute, in the foulest drunkard, is an immortal soul intent on keeping alive, but which, shut out from the light of day, worships in the night. I hear them speaking when we speak and weeping when I kneel to pray. I accept all this. I reach out to them all. There is not one that I do not need or cannot do without. There are many stars in the sky and their number is beyond my power to count, yet there is not one I do not need in order to praise God. There are many souls but there is not one with whom I am not in communion through this sacred spot in it that says: Our Father.
Scripture (Colossians 3:12-16)
As the chosen of God, then, the holy people whom he loves, you are to be clothed in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other if one of you has a complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you, now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, put on love, the perfect bond. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together in one body. Let the Word of Christ, in all its richness, find a home in you.
Friday (from the Prayer of Therese Vanier)
That oppressed people and those who oppress them, may free each other;
That those who are handicapped and those who think they are not, may help each other; That those who need someone to listen may touch the hearts of those who are too busy; That the homeless may bring joy to those who open their doors reluctantly; That the lonely may heal those who think they are self-sufficient; that the poor may melt the hearts of the rich; that the seekers for truth give life to those who are satisfied they have found it:
that the unloved be allowed to unlock the hearts of those who cannot love;
that prisoners may find true freedom and liberate others from fear:
that the hungry tear the veil from the eyes of those who do not hunger after justice; that those who live without hope cleanse the hearts of their brothers and sisters who are afraid to live; that the weak confound the strong and save them; that violence be overtaken by compassion; that violence be absorbed by men and women of peace; that we may be healed:
These things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us grace to labour for. Amen
Scripture (Luke 6:36-38)
Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap, because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.
Martin Bennett