29 November – 1st of Advent
MASS INTENTIONS THIS WEEK
Parishioners
Holy Souls NDL
Peter Broome RIP
Foundation Mass
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PARISH NEWSLETTER
THE CLOSING OF OUR CHURCHES & OPENING FOR PRIVATE PRAYER
The latest restrictions announced by the government last weekend mean that our churches can no longer open for services / masses.
However, we are able to open for private prayer, with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament each week as follows:
Sunday 29 November : 11am to 12 noon
Our volunteer stewards will be on hand to help with sanitising and to guide you to your place.
You will not be required to book in advance (unlike for Mass)
Please note that the main doors will be left open to allow for proper ventilation – you may wish to dress warmly!
OPENING FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP – 5 / 6 DECEMBER
We will be opening for public Mass on Saturday 5 December (5pm Vigil) and Sunday 6 December (11.15am). These are the only times when church will be open. There are no weekday Masses. It is still essential that anyone wishing to attend should reserve their place(s) by 3pm on FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER at the latest. Please ring the Parish Office / email. Please note the deadline is 3pm on Friday.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ‘NORMAL’ RULES STILL APPLY: No candles may be lit, face masks must be warn at all times, social-distancing is vital (2m), no moving around church to talk to people and the church doors will remain open throughout, to allow for ventilation.
CHRISTMAS MASSES: Further information regarding Mass times and reserving places will be available next week on the website / via email / telephone.
MASS ON SUNDAYS
Don’t forget that Masses will continue to be live-streamed and televised for many months yet, so you can still take part in Sunday worship and the Act of Spiritual Communion will continue to be an important part of people’s worship for the foreseeable future. Please remember that the Sunday obligation remains lifted. This is especially important for those over 70 and those with underlying health issues, who may be wary of attending public events.
If you have any queries or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
READINGS FOR 29 NOVEMBER
1st Reading: Isaiah 63:16-17; 64:1-8, Oh, that you would tear the heavens open and come down.
Psalm 79, God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, We are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealedGospel: Mark 13:33-37, Stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming
Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Let us see O Lord your mercy, and give us your saving help. Alleluia!
Communion antiphon: The Lord will bestow his bounty and our earth shall yield its increase
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION FROM ‘OUR FAITH ON SUNDAY’ – 29 NOVEMBER
There is a story, maybe apocryphal, about Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Bing was a very wealthy man, but one day, Bob said to him, “Bing, you can’t take it with you.” Bing replied, “If I can’t take it with me, I don’t wanna go.”
We all know that we can’t take it with us and yet often, we live as if we could. There is only one certainty in life: death. In today’s gospel, Jesus warns his disciples of this certainty and of the fact that we never know when death will come. For this reason, it is advisable to ‘stay awake.
What does Jesus mean by this expression? He means that we should live our lives in such a way that we are always ready, spiritually, when death comes.The saints are people who thought frequently about death, not in a morbid way but in a ‘healthy’ way. They lived so that whenever they were called from this life, they were ready, with their suitcase packed, as it were.
And what was in the suitcase? Not material goods, but all the acts of love and kindness they had done for their brothers and sisters in their life on earth.
THIS WEEK’S GOSPEL REFLECTION FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE
This reflection is from Chris Thomas of the Irenaeus Project.
I had been University Chaplain for about five years. It was a pressurised job with lots of demands and certainly during term time not a lot of time for rest. One particular Sunday I was preaching whilst holding a pencil in my hands. As I preached, the pencil broke, and I couldn’t go on. I started to cry and had to leave Mass. I was in the throes of a deep depression.
Events moved very quickly after that. My friends intervened and I found myself sitting in front of one of our bishops who told me that I had two options. The first was that I could take control and find myself someone to help me, or the Diocese would find me someone to talk to. I was not about to let others take control, so on advice from someone I found myself a therapist.
I can still remember the first day that I drove to Chester to see her. I cried all the way there and nearly backed out, twice turning the car round and starting for home. Somehow, I arrived outside the house where she practised and eventually found myself sitting opposite a warm kindly woman. She looked at me and said, ‘Why have you come?’ Abigail was put into my life to help me through the darkness. Her sharing with me helped me to see things differently and make the changes that I had to make in my life. I was challenged to let go and move on and see things differently. Often, she would ask the question, “Where is your God in this?” I was moved to a deeper level of faith and personal awareness because of her.
Most of us will have had encounters with people that have changed our perceptions, enabled us to move on to a new stage in life. The Gospel is essentially about an encounter. It’s an encounter with another person, it’s an encounter with love. It’s an encounter that changes us and begins the process of transformation with in us. It always strikes me that whenever there is a real encounter with Jesus, change takes place. There is new awareness, new awakening and new sight. It seems to me that the call of the Gospel is to be open to the gift of meeting the Lord who is always present. That’s the transforming moment. The moment of meeting is the one which revolutionises our inner being and that’s a present reality. That’s the reality of the Kingdom of God. The kingdom isn’t about the future when we get to heaven, but about the present moment and living that moment to the full, even the moments that are sad and painful.
In the Gospel we’ve listened to Jesus urging us to keep awake. Firstly, he illustrates that invitation with some Old Testament images of Noah and the flood, and then with familiar images of women grinding corn, one taken and one left. What’s that about? Going to hell if we’re not ready? Having to live a good moral life to appease God, who only likes those who live in that way? No! It’s typically rabbinic language, going to an extreme to make a point. Yes, it’s pointing us to the future when the Lord will return, but for me It’s to do with being open to the grace of this moment; the moment of meeting the Lord, and so living in the Kingdom, because of his power and his love that we receive. That can’t happen if we’re caught up in the past or the future. It can only happen in this moment. It’s a call to live in the present moment and meet the forever coming God.
I think Advent is a great time for reflecting on the present moment. This is because it is the time of waiting that the Church invites us into. You can’t really wait in the past or the future. You can only wait in the here and now, and if we wait with joyful hope in this moment, then the Lord most surely will come.
PRAYER INTENTIONS THIS WEEK
For the Christian Church throughout the world …
that we all grow in our appreciation of all that the Incarnation means for us.
Lord hear us …
For those finding continuing lockdown restrictions particularly challenging …
may they find compassionate listeners readily available and experience a deeper sense of connectedness.
For carers who look after loved ones who are terminally ill …
that they may find strength, courage and consolation in their difficult task.
We pray for those awaiting operations who now have received extended waiting times …
that they will be given the support they need during that waiting time.
For those grieving the loss of a loved one after a long period of illness …
that they may be supported by family and friends and know the peace of God’s loving embrace.
Amen
Take a few moments to receive and reflect on this poem by Rowan Williams, a former Archbishop of Canterbury.
Advent Calendar
He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind has flayed the trees to the bone,
and earth wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth opens on mist,
to find itself arrested in the net of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red December sundraws up the sheet and penny-masks its eye
to yield the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come,will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
A PRAYER FROR NATIONAL GRIEF AWARENESS WEEK: 2 to 8 December:
A prayer to pray before listening to grief
Loving Lord,This is a deep moment of privilege and trust
I’m being welcomed to be alongside another
as she or he opens a broken heart.
Grace me with a listening heart,
so that I may catch hold somehow
onto what can’t be put into words just now.
Let me be a living hug over the phone,
a real presence.
Let that be enough.
Amen
POPE’S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR NOVEMBER: We pray that the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence may always serve mankind.
THE ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.
OFFERTORY DONATIONS DURING THE LOCKDOWN
Many thanks to generous parishioners who have sent in donations to our churches. Your thoughtfulness is very much appreciated.
Instead of putting money in offertory envelopes each week, those who are able to make an offering are asked to complete a Standing Order Mandate for your bank, from the parish office. We can email the document to you, if you wish, so that you can print off, complete and send to your bank.
Alternatively, you may still wish to write a cheque (payable to ‘Ss Peter & Paul Church Mawdesley’) and post to the presbytery with a covering letter and one offertory envelope for gift aid purposes.
MASSES ONLINE WILL CONTINUE TO BE STREAMED INDEFINITELY
Locally, there is St Clare’s, Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood: www.saintclares.co.uk which streams Mass daily at 10am. Please follow the easy links on the website.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en Pope Francis
https://www.churchservices.tv/whats-on-now/ Great selection of Masses and other Church services https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/tv-lourdes/ Mass and daily at 2pm, the Rosary in English
https://www.livemass.org Extraordinary Form (1962 Missal)
Use the website links to EWTN, those who have Sky can tune in on Channel 588, or the Archdiocese to access daily Masses
On the radio: Catholic Radio Channel 0147
Also, you may wish to try the Pray as you Go phone app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.foxcode.prayasyougo&hl=en
PRAYERS from the Archdiocese, for Stations of the Cross etc: https://www.liverpoolcatholicresources.com/
Please email the Parish Office with details of any other online services you know of that may help parishioners at this very difficult time. We will try to include them in next week’s Newsletter.
SYNOD 2020 – PARISHIONERS’ CONSULTATION by EMAIL / POST – FINAL FEW DAYS! :
Please return all the sheets that you’ve marked up to either presbytery by 30 November, so that we can collate them all and give a final report to the Synod Office. Please make sure your voice is heard!
You can of course do this on line directly via the Synod Office at www.synod2020.co.uk
ORDER YOUR FUNDRAISING JOINT PARISH CALENDAR NOW!: Don’t forget to place your orders (email or phone) for the calendars. Calendars are being snapped up already! The proceeds will be split between our two parishes and the amazing work done by Mary’s Meals, to feed children in undeveloped countries.
Price: £10 each (cheques payable to ‘Ss Peter & Paul, Mawdesley’).
CHILDREN’S LITURGY – SEE THIS NEW INITIATIVE! ‘The Mark 10 Mission’
This is a brand new project created by a small team of young lay people to share the Gospel with children. The video episodes are completely free and have been used in many primary schools across the country each week since September. Please click on the link below to see the latest episode (Series 2 Ep2) which delivers this Sunday’s Gospel, gives a short reflection, leads the children in prayer and then concludes with worship.
https://www.themark10mission.co.uk/theepisodes/seriestwo
The Mark 10 Mission team is passionate to see the Gospel shared with children and to help them grow in their relationship with Christ. The website is updated each Friday morning with a new episode, so happy viewing!
HELPING PRISONERS’ CHILDREN AT CHRISTMAS (PACT): PACT is launching Operation Elf, with the support of Caritas Westminster and other Dioceses. Last year PACT was able to collect 3,000 toys and books for the children of prisoners. This year is more challenging but it is still possible to help: Please buy a book token to the value of £10 that can be sent in a Christmas card to a prisoner’s child – preferable National Book Tokens that can be purchased online from bookshops. Deadline: 30 November. Please send your book token to: ‘Operation Christmas Elf’, PACT, 29 Peckam Road, London SE5 8UA. Your generosity will help even more children to feel loved and remembered.
CHRISTMAS FOODBANK: Given the hardships facing so many families in our area this year, we would like to collect Christmas food items as soon as churches can re-open (hopefully at the beginning of December). Many of us, over the next few weeks, will be putting an extra ‘Christmas’ item in our food trolleys eg mince pies, chocolate logs, Christmas cakes (please remember to check the sell-by dates!) etc, to help families and especially children to have a bit of joy this Christmas. The deadline is Sunday 13 December.
ORDER TRAIDCRAFT CHRISTMAS CARDS: Cards can be viewed online: https://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/christmas/charity-christmas-cards
NOVEMBER LOTTERY WINNERS:
Mr M Gunning, Croston
Mrs J Harrison, Croston
Mr B Smith, Heskin
SENDING CHRISTMAS CARDS TO JERUSALEM: Last year, many parishioners joined together to send Christmas cards to our ‘partner’ parish of St Jospeh’s in Jifna. Fr Johny Bahbah was delighted to hear from us and his parishioners have asked him to pass on their thanks, appreciation and blessings to everyone for their kind thoughts. If you would like to send a card again this year, you can be assured that it will make a lot of people very happy. Please select a small card (for ease of posting) and write your message inside, saying that you are from Ss Peter & Paul. Address it to ‘Fr Johny Bahbah, St Joseph’s, Jifna and put it through the presbytery door by Monday 7 December. All the cards will then be parcelled up and sent off.
NATIONAL GRIEF AWARENESS WEEK – 2 to 8 DECEMBER: The Archdiocese has a number of resources available to help those who would like to support anyone dealing with bereavement and loss. Please use the following link to find these resources https://www.liverpoolcatholicresources.com/bereavement
HELP DURING THE PANDEMIC
It is important that we all follow the rules for our Tier 3 (Very High Alert) area in order to protect all age groups, but especially the most vulnerable.
QUICK GUIDE
No mixing of households / support bubbles indoors
Maximum of 6 in parks, public spaces (not private gardens)
Cafes and restaurants closed: takeaways / deliveries only
Avoid travelling out of the area (apart from work / education commitments) and reduce journeys
No overnight stays
Work from home if possible
Churches are open but no mixing with anyone outside of a household/bubble
It is essential to continue to observe the ‘basics’: hand hygiene, face masks, social-distancing – and lots of good ventilation – at all times.
You can find details of current measures on Lancashire County Council’s website https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/coronavirus-updates/coronavirus-restrictions-in-lancashire/.
Further information can be found on the Government website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-covid-alert-level-very-high.
The Council webpage also has guidance and the link to the application form for residents who have been asked the self-isolate by NHS Track and Trace and could be entitled to financial support. Please share with members of your household who you think may be entitled to this financial support:
https://www.westlancs.gov.uk/more/emergencies/coronavirus/track-and-trace-support-payment.aspx
The NHS National Volunteer Responder Programme is still running until at least December – go to https://nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/services for further information
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES OR NEED ANY HELP, PLEASE CONTACT FR ANDERS AT THE PRESBYTERY IN TARLETON ON 01772 812242, OR EMAIL THE MAWDESLEY OFFICE.
WITH EVERY BLESSING FOR THE COMING WEEK