Newsletter 18 June 2021
Hello again.
So were weren’t given the go-ahead to run amok after all. We persevere in our determination to keep ourselves safe and to be mindful of the safety of others as well, and with the help of God we will live to see the back of Covid. Our Bishops ask us to keep this Sunday as a Day for Life.
We have had messages recently about new laws which purport to allow assisted euthanasia, and do-it-yourself abortion. Both are against the will of God. But on a ‘Day for Life’ we should possibly remember the words of Jesus:
‘I am come that you may have life, and have it to the full’.
Jesus says:
‘Come, follow me’, and follow him on a voyage of discovery, to find that fuller life, and having found it, enjoy it for all eternity. ‘Seek and you shall find’!
On the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time the fishermen among the apostles are given an experience of the divine power of Jesus – ‘even the wind and the sea obey him!’ We pray in the words of the familiar him: “Save us, for still the tempest raves; save, lest we sink beneath the waves”. The first reading presents us with a niggardly four verses of the poem from the book about the Old Testament hero Job. Chapter 38 has God giving an answer to Job’s (quite justifiable) grumbling, reminding Job just who he is arguing with. He gives no threats; just makes Job realise how unreasonable it is to question the wisdom and power of God. The book of Job is one of the longest books of the bible (42 chapters), but just read chapters 38-39 if you can. Well worth the trouble if you want an uplift.
On Thursday there was a productive meeting with the parents of those children who, a year last March, had planned to make their first confession, and of course it had to be cancelled. At the meeting new plans were made, and they should all now be able to receive their first forgiveness and first Holy Communion before their summer holidays.
For the present we shall have to keep to the system of booking for places at Mass. Please try to phone 01925 752224 on Wednesday afternoons. Places for Saturday Mass seem to be more desirable, then the 10.30 Mass fills up. This week there are still places available at the 9.00am, (the Early Christians are in short supply!). Our system seems to work, and thanks again to all of you for your patience and perseverance, not to mention the happy sight of your (masked) faces each weekend.
God bless you all.
Fr Tony
