Fr Rory Writes

Continued….

The Tenth Station:  Jesus appoints Peter head of the church.

With the appointment of Peter, an uneducated fisherman, His work on earth is done.  With Peter at its head He commissions the church to carry out His work.  His mandate is clear “good trees bear good fruit, and by your fruits you shall know them”.  There is no magic Formula, and throughout the years there is a very mixed outcome.  So the commission given to the church will be the constant challenge until the fulness of time.  Again there is no magic.

“We love you Lord Jesus and we trust in you”

At the beginning of the first lockdown the divine office was a help and an inspiration to me, summed up in the hymns from Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal.

Come, Holy Spirit, live in us

With God the Father and the Son,

And grant us your abundant grace

To sanctify and make us one.

The Eleventh Station:  The risen Lord sends the disciples to evangelise all nations.

As His mission draws near to its end, Jesus makes it very clear that it is good for us that he should go.  John 16. 7.  “Yet you are sad at heart  because I have told you this, still I must tell you the truth:  It is for your own good that I am going because unless I go, the advocate will not come to you”.

We are very much like the early disciples, a work in progress and some would say without much success.  The question of vocations to the priesthood at this time and the great call of the Second Vatican Council leaves us if we are sincere “calling out for the Holy Spirit to come and refresh us, and the hierarchy.  From the second verse of the Hymn:

May mind and tongue made strong in love

Your praise throughout the world proclaim,

And make that love within our hearts

Set fire to others with its flame.

The Twelfth Station:  Jesus ascends into heaven to return at the end of time.

On His way Jesus said to them “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power from the Holy Spirit when He comes on you; and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth”.  Truly it is a time to be open to, indeed to implore the Holy Spirit to transform our lives.

Most blessed Trinity of love,

For whom the hearts of man was made,

To you be praise in timeless song,

And everlasting homage paid.

Let us really look forward with hope and confidence.  Next Sunday we will have two of our young parishioners celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation and please God, on Sunday 11th July at St George’s Church and Sunday 18th July at St Wilfrid’s Church we will have celebrations for our return to life in our parish.

Alleluia, Alleluia

Give thanks to the risen Lord

Alleluia, Alleluia

Give praise to his name.