Forthcoming Events
Services:
Feria Thursday 9th June 2022 10.00am
Parish Mass 12th June 2022 9.30am 
​Coffee Mornings
Tuesdays from 10.00am everyone welcome

​Pentecost Message
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire
and lighten with celestial fire
Thou the anointing Spirit art
Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.
 
You may recognise this opening verse of a beautiful, ancient hymn which may be sung at Pentecost or at any occasion when the Holy Spirit is especially invoked.  These might include Confirmation and Ordination, but also the Coronation of kings and queens.  A couple of days ago I watched some footage of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, from 1953, more than a decade before I was born.  It was a moving service, especially at the point of the anointing, when that hymn was sung, originally known by its Latin title Veni, Creator Spiritus.  It continues:
 
Thy blessed unction from above
Is comfort, light and fire of love
Enable with perpetual light
The dullness of our blinded sight.
 
The hymn was sung as our Queen prepared herself for her anointing, and all those present prayed for the gift of the Holy Spirit:
 
Anoint and cheer our soilèd face
With the abundance of Thy grace
Keep far our foes, give peace at home
Where Thou art guide no ill can come.
 
I saw how the anointing took place away from the cameras, as a golden canopy was placed over the monarch’s head.  It was a deeply personal moment and an encounter with the Holy Spirit, without whose aid there would be nothing except limited human strength.
 
I imagine that Queen Elizabeth has never forgotten that moment all those years ago.  It is likely to have served as a source of strength for all the events she has lived through and all the times - good and bad - that have affected our nation over those many years.  There are certain special moments that can inspire us for a lifetime.  It is deeply personal, but the grace that is given is not just for us alone.  It is given so that we might make a difference in the world, just as our Queen has touched so many people’s lives over those 70 years.
 
As a priest, I have never forgotten the laying-on of hands and anointing, nor have I forgotten the sense of smallness that contrasted with the weight of the calling.  I’m sure it is the same for any other priest.  If that is how that moment of anointing felt for me, then how much more so for our Queen.  After all, there are far more priests than there are kings and queens.  It is a lonely vocation indeed and that moment of anointing with the Holy Spirit would be a reminder that there is a far greater power at work here – one that sustains and inspires and strengthens – a strength that could only come from God.
 
I wonder how those first apostles must have felt when they were in one room on that first Pentecost.  There they heard what sounded like a mighty wind from heaven and become aware of a warmth and light like tongues of flame resting upon each of them.  They could really only describe this experience of the Holy Spirit in terms of its effects.  These apparently ordinary men were making themselves understood to complete strangers of different languages.  The devout men were amazed, not least because they couldn’t get their heads around how these country bumpkins from Galilee were able to do the things that they themselves had never achieved.  They thought they were under the influence of alcohol, but it was in fact a different kind of spirit that was empowering them.  Anyone who has felt themselves unequal to their calling can look to this as a reminder that you do not have to be born special.  It is the Holy Spirit that enables ordinary people to do the extraordinary.
 
Before Jesus was crucified, he spoke of the promise of the Paraclete – the one who is sent to be alongside us.  The word “Paraclete” is often translated as “Advocate”, as we see in our gospel passage from St John.  An advocate is someone who speaks up for us, or who pleads on our behalf.  It is also connected with courts of law, where a lawyer – an advocate – speaks on behalf of someone else.  I have seen the advice given to people who decide to represent themselves in a court of law: “Don’t do it!”  There are people who know what to say and how to say it – to speak the words that we cannot find ourselves.
 
Jesus told his disciples that they would be witnesses in his name.  They were not to be afraid about what to say when the time came.  In St Luke’s gospel, Chapter 12, verse 12, Jesus says to them: “… the Holy Spirit will teach you at the hour what you ought to say.”  They went on to amaze themselves by going out into the world and proclaiming the word of life, bringing a welcome message of forgiveness and opening up spaces in people’s lives where the Creator Spirit might flood in.  Jesus had promised them that when he was no longer physically there to tell them what to do and how to do it, he would be with them in a new way.  They would perform even greater works in the power of the Spirit.  They were not disappointed.
 
You don’t have to be a king or queen or a priest to be anointed with Holy Chrism and with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Most of us are too young to remember our baptism, but perhaps we can remember Confirmation.  Maybe we can cast our minds back to that awesome moment when we are told: “God has called you by name and made you his own.  Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit.”
 
Jesus has told his disciples, and he tells us, that the Holy Spirit would remind us of all that he has taught us.  The Holy Spirit overcomes our fear, removes the divisions that keep us apart and puts a new heart within us.  We are still limited by our own weakness and we each have our own particular gifts and calling.  But through all of this, the Holy Spirit that we celebrate at Pentecost is our inspiration, our strength and our guiding light.  Through that gift we become witnesses and apostles to reflect to the world the presence of Christ among us.  We and others then begin to glimpse possibilities for our humanity and for our world that we would never have dreamed possible.
 
Queen Elizabeth makes no secret of her trust in God and of the faith that continues to inspire her after all these years.  The anointing and the invocation of the Holy Spirit at her Coronation continue to give the strength and endurance to live out this singular vocation.  Whatever our own particular gifts and calling may be, today is a day on which we thank and praise God for giving us the gift of his Holy Spirit, to dwell with us and to show us the way.  In the final verse of that wonderful hymn:
 
Teach us to know the Father, Son
And Thee of both to be but one,
That through the ages all along,
This may be our endless song:
Praise to Thy eternal merit,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  Today the whole Church proclaims: “Christ is Risen!”  The traditional reply to this is: “He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!”
   But let’s go back a moment to the gospel reading from John.  At the centre of this story is a Jesus-shaped hole.  All that the disciples first knew is that he was not there: there was no sign of his body and the stone had been rolled away from the tomb.  There was an empty space except for the linen cloths which lay on the ground.
   Despite all this emptiness and absence, we are told that the disciple who first went into the tomb “saw and he believed.”  Something about that scene must have triggered his memory, otherwise all he would have seen would have been that empty space. 
   How we see things often depends on our state of mind.  In the darkness and emptiness of a tomb, the disciple saw the beginning of a story of faith brought to its fulfilment.  It might seem to us a strange way to announce that Jesus was alive.  Perhaps we might think that if we had been Jesus, one of our first actions might have been to creep up on the chief priest and frighten him out of his wits.  Or maybe we might go up to the disciples who deserted him and say: “I told you so!”
   This is not the way Jesus chose.  His disciples begin to see him once again, but in the least expected ways.  “Seeing” is a word that rings through all the resurrection stories.  But ever since then we have been asked to believe without the evidence of our own eyes.  Believing in these distant events can be difficult.  Believing in the difference it has made can be hard too, whether we look at the world, or the church, or at our own lives.
   Where there should be faith, there can sometimes be an empty space, rather like the scene that confronted those first disciples.  On Good Friday, I was listening to a meditation on the radio, where a priest was describing the experience of her son taking his own life.  She spoke of the emptiness, the “gone-ness” that she felt when she saw his familiar possessions in the house.  He was not there and there would always be a space.  But she also spoke about how she had been able to connect with some of his friends and to offer them something of the care and support that she could no longer give to her son.  Nothing could replace him and the scars would remain, but there was life once again.
   In every word of forgiveness, in every good action that is done in someone’s memory, we see a sign that points us towards the resurrection.  Good Friday is still a reality, but Easter did not happen despite Good Friday – it happens because of it.  Through the Cross comes life.  As Christians, our faith calls us to do what St Paul encourages us to do in the letter to the Colossians: to seek the things that are above, even as we live our lives in this world.
   As we look at our world we can see plenty of empty spaces and absences.  We see the terrible losses people are still suffering in Ukraine.  Perhaps we are reminded of our own losses too.  There is no easy way to explain these things away.  But in the darkness and emptiness, people of faith and of goodwill are reminding us that Christ is risen.  They do this not by just saying the words, but by living lives of forgiveness, of compassion and of hope.
   As we look at the empty spaces in our own lives, we have a choice.  We either focus on the loss and on the ending, or we see the signs of a new beginning.  Sadness and loss will always be a part of human life, but what we see makes all the difference.  The hope that arises in our hearts is the fruit of the Resurrection of Our Lord.  Jesus is inviting us to choose life.  When that light of Christ enters our lives then the world looks different and we ourselves are changed.
   Christ is risen because love is stronger than death.  The powers of darkness have done their worst, but the love of God has overcome them all.  In the risen life of Jesus, we too are raised to life.  We can look to the time when all tears shall be wiped away and when everything that is good and beautiful in the lives we live shall be brought to perfection.  Jesus lives, and we live in him, now and for ever.

We begin Holy Week on a note of celebration with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Despite being acclaimed as a king, Jesus makes sure that he doesn’t play up to the people’s expectations of power.  He enters the city on a donkey to fulfil the words of the prophets, but also to make a mockery of earthly power.
   We see how the celebrations begin to turn darker as we hear the words of the Passion according to St Luke.  The crowds become fickle and the cheers turn to jeers.  The religious authorities become determined to do away with him because he is prepared to speak truth to power.  In the end the Roman authorities, fearing a rebellion, send him to be crucified.
   Throughout this week we witness how the one who is Lord and God is subjected to the worst that the world can throw at him.  Yet, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, we also see how he met that rejection and abuse with gentleness and refused to play the same game.  He trusted only in God.
   On Maundy Thursday we come to see how Jesus gave the example of sacrificial love and of servanthood.  We also see how he came to be denied and rejected by those who were closest to him.  Then on Good Friday we journey with him to the Cross and to his words of mercy: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
   There is a time of waiting and of preparation, before we commemorate that first Easter, when the disciples first became aware that the life that seemed to have been destroyed was still with them.  Hope would rise again and love would triumph.
   We live in a world where there is much violence and where the voices of good people often seem to be drowned out by hatred.  We live in a fickle world, where commitment is often laid aside for convenience or for personal gain.  Holy Week reminds us that despite the worst of our human nature, God’s love will overcome that darkness within us and around us.
   We are invited to walk the way of the cross with Jesus – the path that leads to eternal life.  In the meantime, let’s learn how to serve our King.  In the words of St Andrew of Crete, we are invited to lay ourselves, instead of palms, at the feet of Jesus.  In serving him we love both God and one another - and love is stronger than death.

Forthcoming

​EventsTwo of our readings today include Weddings.
In our first reading we talk about a wedding between Israel and God.
As Israel returns from exile in Babylon, God forgives and forgets the past and calls Israel his bride “for the lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding. The relationship between God and Israel has been changed.
And in our Gospel reading from John, we talk of the wedding at Cana in Galilee
This is a wedding that both Jesus and his mother have been invited along with Jesus’s disciples.
The main story though, is on Jesus and his Changing of water into wine. Not just a few bottles but six large stone water jars, each holding about 30 gallons, in my reckoning that’s equivalent to about 900 bottles of wine. (What a party! ).
Of course the real reason that this wedding at canna makes it into John’s gospel is not for the wine and the party, but because it was the first miracle performed by Jesus, he performs his first of many more miracles to come, and his disciples had witnessed it. He had revealed his glory, this event would Change how they saw Jesus, and he would now begin his campaign a campaign that would eventually take him to the cross..  And we know now just how much this has changed the world we live in.
Both the Weddings in the readings are about change, they are about new beginnings.
Change is usually for the best, but it is not always easy. Ask any parent when their first child is born whether change is easy, their lives are turned upside down with sleepless nights, feeding, continuous nappies to change, and all the other situations that happen when a new baby enters into their lives. But ask them if they would change what they now have for what they had before and I am sure that most if not all of them would say no.
The marriage of two people is perhaps the most intimate of personal relationships we can have, these two people are changed a change that will mature, as time goes by, ever deepening and more fulfilling.  This change is mentioned in Genesis “Therefore a Man leaves his Father and Mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh” (G2:24). Two joined together in wedlock becoming one flesh. Two become one (I am sure there is a song dying to come out here) ,Even the relationship between mother and child cannot equal it.
And so if we can see such positivity in change why is their always a temptation to try and resist it?
Some years ago Aldi supermarkets ran an advert campaign (other supermarkets are available) they showed you a leading brand and then an Aldi cheaper equivalent and the caption would be “I like this one but I also like this one, I like change” showing that the cheaper one was just as good as the leading brand was. ( I think the most memorable of the is set of adverts was the old lady holding up a branded box and non-branded box of teabags and saying my Husband likes these and he also likes these but I don’t like tea, I like Gin.)
Now I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to food brands I like my cornflakes with the rooster on the packet, my rice crispies need snap, crackle and pop,and my cans of beens need to be endorsed by a million housewives every day. I was not keen on the Aldi equivalents and the same went for soup, butter, bread etc.etc.
My children a lot younger then, were quick to pick up on this and they would start picking up various brands whilst in the supermarkets, and would find it hilarious to try and mimic me by saying” I like this one but I don’t like this one, I don’t like change” this is still a standing joke in our house to this day.
All a bit of fun, but actually I suppose like many I was to a degree opposed to change, I liked things the way they were.
 And we can see this in society today all the time. And I don’t just mean the old man that must have his breakfast at 7:30 every morning, or the neighbour who gets upset that the local post office is closing at 5:30 instead of 6:00pm. I would imagine you all know people that are set in their ways and resist even these minor changes.
But these are not the sort of changes we should be concerned about.
We resist changes being made in our own interests, like the changes we are asked to make in order to try and slow down the spread of corona virus.
 We watch on as our planet faces one of the biggest environmental crises in its history. But we refuse to see or accept any need for change foolishly believing it will sort itself out.
Even as global warming becomes blatantly obvious we continue to turn a blind eye.  “there’s no need to change, nature has a way of sorting things”
We fail to see the need for change as thousands of animal species face extinction or have their habitats destroyed to provide for our ever demanding consumption.
We are not prepared to share our wealth and way of life in order that others may be brought out of hunger and poverty.
Governments continuously need to change, countries continuously need to change, we continuously need to change and our attitudes to these ongoing topics need to change
It is the rule of life, the cells in our bodies are constantly changing and renewing, the seasons must change
Change is not all bad, change can be good, Change is good. Like a good marriage there will be ups and downs. As we make these changes not everything will always run smoothly,
 Change is by no means easy and we could be in for rough times but eventually it is usually for the best. Maybe our generation will not live to see the benefits, but future generations, our Grandchildren, possibly even our own children will.
 Since the beginning of time we have been changing and adapting. The Bible repeatedly tells of change,
 just a couple of weeks ago we celebrated an event that changed our very relationship with God; we welcomed God in human form as a fragile baby. The word became flesh.
Today as we celebrate Mass, Bread and wine will be transformed (changed) into the most precious body and blood of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. And we eagerly and reverently approach his alter of  to consume that precious body and drink that precious blood as we strive to be “changed” to become more like Jesus, to become better Christians.
In a few more weeks we will enter into lent when we will prepare ourselves throughout the Lenten period, yet again preparing  for a life changing event, and we shall live out this event as we enter into holy week. That small helpless babe we welcomed into the world is now going to once again, change our futures, he will go to the cross totally innocent and without sin of his own, but he will take with him all the sins of humankind and he will pay (for us)  the ultimate price.
 But we as Christians know that his death was not the end, conquering death he will arise again victorious changing deaths grip over us forever, death will no longer have any claim on those of us who have believed in Jesus.
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
However hard it may be to embrace the changes we will need to make over the coming years, we must all think of the future generations, and we must remember the changes made for us by God the Father, Son and spirit.
And most of all we must continue to trust God and his mercy and know that his love for us will be the one thing we can rely on that will never change.


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