St Teresa & St John Southworth Churches, Cleveleys
Fr Chris Cousens—Phone: 853325
Rev Bernard Ward (Deacon) (Tel: 858346)
Enquiries for St John Southworth: Phone: 853340
29 June 2025
http://www.st-teresas-church.co.uk
Email: st.teresas.cleveleys@gmail.com
Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity Number 23433
Sunday : Sts Peter and Paul
Contents: Gospel
Notices
Reflection
Gospel: Matthew: 16:13-19
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put the question to his disciples, ‘Who do people sy the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and other Jeremiah or one of the prophets. ‘But you, he said, ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied. ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So now I say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’
Reflection : Eternity – A Ring of Confidence
Our life with God is a journey, sometimes uphill, other times level, through light and shadow, to the fullness of eternal joy.
It is a journey, sometimes gentle, sometimes strenuous, through doubt and faith, to the fullness of eternal life.
It is a journey, sometimes solitary, other times accompanied, through isolation and love, to the fullness of eternal friendship.
It is a journey in which we are never really alone. There are those around us now, and those who have gone before. Saints Peter and Paul are two of those, and we remember them today. They discovered an eternal message amongst all the hardships and worries of daily life. Like them we can live that message if, like them, our lives too are founded on the One who came to share his joy, his life, his friendship – Jesus himself.
Fr. Chris’ Golden Jubilee on Saturday, 12 July 2025. To mark the occasion and celebrate the day, the Parish Council have organised a “a bit of a do”. The event will start with Mass at 5 pm. Please note that there will not be a 6.30 pm Mass that day. After Mass there will be a celebration with food in the Parish Hall. If you wish to attend the celebration please put your name and contact number on the sheets at the back of church. A buffet and refreshments (tea and coffee will be provided). Please note, there is a limit to the numbers we can have in the Hall.
There Is A Day of Renewal At St Clare’s Church in Fulwood, Preston PR2 9HH on Saturday 28th June, led by Archie Cameron.
Lancaster Diocese Centenary :To celebrate the centenary of our Diocese our Deanery (local group of churches) has organised a family event on Saturday 21st June 2025, 1-4 pm at St. John Vianney Parish, Blackpool. It is hoped that each parish will help to make it an enjoyable day, with entertainment, food, and games. Please see the notice in the church porch.
Tom Holland has organised a Fundraiser for Trinity Hospice and Brian House in memory of his wife Mary, Please see the notice in the church porch.
Church Grounds, weeding and tidying Monday, 30 June, 2 pm. Our usual group of volunteers are very welcome for an hour or two. All newcomers are also welcome, just turn up at the church door, and bring your own tools, if possible.
Gift Aid now is the time of year for those who kindly use the Parish Gift Aid envelopes for the weekly collection to renew. Steve Laird asks you to see him at the back of church this weekend. Please ensure that all donors paid sufficient tax in the 2024/25 tax year. There is an obligation to ensure that your data is up to date and accurate. Twenty-five pence is reclaimed for every pound donated.
Reflections for this week
Monday (Henri Nouwen)
How can we live in the world and not be destroyed by it? To live in the world and not belong to the world summarises the essence of the spiritual life. Hardly a day passes in our lives without our experience of inner or outer fears, anxieties and preoccupations. Still it is possible not to belong to these powers, not to build our dwelling place among them, but to choose the house of love as our home. This choice is made not just once and for all but by living a spiritual life, praying at all times and thus breathing God’s breath.
Scripture (Psalm 119:33-34, 42-47,51)
Teach me, Lord, the way of your will, and I will observe it. Give me understanding and I will observe your Law and keep it whole-heartedly. Give me an answer to the taunts against me, since I rely on your word. Do not deprive me of that faithful word since my hope lies in your judgments. I shall live in all freedom because I have sought your precepts. I shall speak of your instructions before kings and not be ashamed. Endlessly the arrogant have jeered at me but I have not swerved from your Law.
Tuesday (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
No one should be surprised at the difficulty of faith if there is some part of your life where you are consciously resisting or disobeying the command of Jesus. Is there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, some hope, perhaps your ambition or your reason? It is now time to take the bull by the horns and say, ‘Only those who obey believe. You are trying to keep some part of your life under your control. Somewhere in your heart you are refusing to listen to his call.’ Only those who obey can believe, and only those who believe can obey.
Scripture (Luke 9:57-62)
They met a man who said to Jesus “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered ‘Foxes have their holes and birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another to who he said ‘Follow me’ replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ But Jesus answered, ‘Let the dead bury the dead; your duty is to go and spread the kingdom of God.’ Another said ‘I will follow you, but first let me say goodbye to my people at home.’ Jesus said once the hand has been laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.’
Wednesday (Oscar Romero)
A Christian’s authenticity is shown in those circumstances in which following the gospel supposes a multitude of ruptures with the tranquility of an order that has been set up against or apart from the gospel. It is much easier to keep on following the many easy lords set up as idols of the moment: money, power, prestige and so on. More than ever is there need for prayer united with a genuine will to be converted, prayer that out of intimacy with God cuts one off from the confused clamour of life’s shallow experiences, a will to be converted that is not afrais to lose prestige or privilege or to change a way of thinking when it is seen that Christ insists on a new way of thinking more in keeping with the gospel.
Scripture (John 17:13-19)
Jesus said to the Father, ‘I have passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world. I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from evil. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in the truth.
Thursday (A Carthusian)
We want God, and so we love him, and we know the consequences and the conclusion. We do not think enough of this, and when we do we soon forget it. This is the great reality that should hold the whole of our attention; and it is in the light of this truth that we should look at and appraise everything here below. It has always been our conviction that God was calling us to live this truth with particular intensity. The deep interior anguish which results from this conviction is reserved for those souls whom God is calling to a higher life. God keeps them almost continually aware of the sheer nothingness of all that is around them, in order to detach them form it, so that he may take possession of them more readily.
Scripture (Ecclesiasticus 51:15-18,20)
My foot has pursued a straight path, I have sought wisdom ever since my youth. By bowing my ear a little, I have received her, and have found much instruction. Thanks to her I have advanced; glory be to him who has given me wisdom! For I was determined to put her into practice, have earnestly pursued the good, and shall not be put to shame. I have directed my soul towards her, and in purity have found her; having my heart fixed on her from the outset, I shall never be deserted.
Friday (Carlo Carretto)
Faith is a new dimension at work in each of us, one which does not start from reason, one which, while not contradicting reason, surpasses it infinitely because it can reach God. Abraham is the ancestral head of all those whose lives enjoy this new dimension, who accept the risk and the consequences, who consider themselves to be exiles on earth, perpetual nomads, who are not satisfied with what they can see but look for the invisible God, who learn to find him everywhere and who obey him.
Scripture (1 John 2:3-6, 15-16)
In this way we come to know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ without keeping his commandments is a liar, and truth has no place in them. But anyone who does keep his word, in such a one God’s love truly reaches its perfection. This is the truth that we are in God. Whoever claims to remain in such a person must act as he acted. Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone does love the world, the love of the Father finds no place in them, because everything there is in the world – disordered desires of the body and of the eyes, pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world.
Martin Bennett