As we hopefully will be returning to normal parish life, there is a need for relevant checks to be carried out, i.e. updating DBS checks and online training.
We will need more volunteers to help, so these checks will be part of the process of restoring life to our parish after Covid.
Confirmation: On the Feast of Pentecost we hope to have two candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is helpful, happy and to be well celebrated.
Continued…..
“With the help of the Stations of the Resurrection”
Church of St Thomas More, Seaford, BN25 1SS
The First Station: Jesus Is Risen. “We love you Lord Jesus and we trust in you for we know you are risen from the dead and live in us”.
“Isn’t that providence Maura”. The number of times I heard these words in our kitchen when growing up was often. They coincided with a visit from my auntie when she came to stay with us for a while. They now stay with me as a very positive response to life. The visit of the early disciples to His tomb, opens the door to great hope and confidence that a new life is open to everyone. Belief remains the key to opening that door, and Jesus chastises his disciples for their lack of belief in Him. Let us try to keep open the doors of faith.
Alleluia, Alleluia. Give thanks to the risen Lord. Give praise to his name.
The Second Station: Peter and John arrive at the empty tomb. “We love you Lord Jesus and we trust in you for we know you are risen from the dead and live in us”.
Peter finds it hard to keep the doors of faith open, and in his difficulties he returns to his day job which is fishing, we will meet up again with him when he returns to his day job. Then Jesus will appoint him “thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church”. Fear of the irrational and unknown is very much a part of the human experience. It stopped John entering the tomb. We all know this fear of the irrational, so help us Lord to conquer our fears and anxieties. Help us to live lives of greater hope and service.
Alleluia, Alleluia. Give thanks to the risen Lord. Give praise to his name.
The Third Station: The Risen Lord appears to Mary Magdalene. “We love you Lord Jesus and we trust in you for we know you are risen from the dead and live in us”.
She stood there crying as she looked into the tomb. The words “Woman why are you crying?” did not make her realise who He was. But when He said “Mary” her eyes were opened.
We like Mary Magdalene, all suffer grief, shock and sadness when we witness death. Mary had seen Jesus die. The risen Lord must have looked very different from the tortured person on the cross, but when Jesus spoke her name, Mary knew Him.
Jesus you speak all our names, you know each and every one of us. You call us each by your name: help us to recognise your presence.
Alleluia, Alleluia. Give thanks to the risen Lord. Give praise to his name.
This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Easter and is called Good Shepherd Sunday. It is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood, the Diaconate and to Religious Life. The earliest Christians saw Jesus as the fulfilment of the ancient Jewish dream of a Good Shepherd.
The late Billy Graham, the televangelist, once said in a TV interview: “Pope John Paul II lived like his Master the Good Shepherd, and he died like his Master the Good Shepherd.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus claims that he is the Good Shepherd and explains what he does for his sheep.
The Prayer for Vocations which Tessa and I use, is in the form of a Novena from 16th to 24th each month and originates from a promise I made over 20 years ago to a nun who was making her Final Profession, at which Tessa and I were present. It is “Lord Jesus, Word made flesh, you who said to us that if you do not become like little children you will not enter the Kingdom of God. Teach us to follow in your footsteps, humbly and simply. Send into your Church the Priests, Deacons, Religious and lay people needed to make you better known and loved throughout the world. Amen.
Please join us in saying this prayer if you can. There may be copies of this prayer in our churches as we have used it in the past and I know some parishioners may have a copy in their handbag, back pocket or prayer book.
The requiem mass for David will be offered on Friday 23 April at 12 noon. If you would like to attend, please contact Lulu on 01323 846509 – there are six spaces available. Burial afterwards at Hailsham Cemetery.
CAFOD: Thank you for your generous donations to CAFOD’s Family Fast Day during Lent. We featured Marian and her son Svondo in Zimbabwe in Lent 2018. The community vegetable garden that your donations helped provide is growing well and during the pandemic the family has survived on the vegetables. Your support has also helped to provide soap and handwashing stations in the garden and in family homes. This is just one of many long-term development projects that CAFOD has funded with the money from that Fast Day. Thank you for your steadfast support.
During Divine Mercy Sunday, Father Rory welcomed into St George’s Church three new Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. The Commissioning took place after the Lord’s Prayer, with a lovely ceremony conducted by Father when he invited them to make their commitment to this important ministry. It was a very appropriate day to make such an undertaking, as we celebrate the risen Christ and are “united, heart and soul”. The beautiful flowers and the Easter arrangements on the sanctuary lent a poignant touch to this important event in the life of our church.
I came across this story this week. I thought you might like it. It does give one some food for thought!
There was once a little boy who always wanted to meet Jesus. One day he was walking home from Sunday school. As he went through the park, he noticed an old woman sitting on a park bench. She looked lonely and hungry, so he sat down and offered part of the chocolate bar he had been saving. She accepted it with a smile. He gave her more of the candy, and she shared a can of root beer with him. They sat together in a very friendly manner, eating and drinking and smiling at each other. When the boy got up to leave, he reached over the woman and gave her a big hug. He walked home smiling. His mother noticed his big smile and happiness on his face and asked, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” “I had lunch with Jesus. And she has a great smile,” he said. The old woman returned to the small apartment she shared with her sister. She too was smiling. Her sister asked her why she was so happy. “I just had lunch with Jesus. And he is a lot younger than I expected,” she said. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word.)
Continued…
Christ has died. Christ is Risen. Christ will come again.
Finally He will come in Glory. In the meantime He commits to us in many ways, especially in the Scriptures, but above all in the Gospels. The great story at this time is when He joins the disciples on their way to Emmaus. This was read on Tuesday, very appropriately and powerfully by Deacon John at Dorothy Blake’s Requiem Mass. “So he went in to stay with them. Now while He was with them at the table, He took the bread and said the blessing; then He broke it and handed it to them”. Their eyes were opened and they recognised Him but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other “did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” Luke 24. 28-30.
For us this is a very special time of opportunity. In our preparations during Lent an obvious point of reference was the Stations of the Cross. This then provided the appropriate background to our experience with the coronavirus and all of life’s journey with its crosses and trials. These are common in every age and an unavoidable part of life. As mentioned before, my grandfather died of the flu which killed millions of people after the first world war. Another event which dramatically brought home to me the fact that in every generation there are hardships in life, due to episodes such as the virus we are enduring today. The threat associated with this virus reminds me of the plight of a family who came to Battle Road, Hailsham at the same time as evacuees like Dorothy, who moved to Hailsham from London. This in turn brought to mind another very difficult illness – tuberculosis. The mother of this family died of it; my own father suffered from it shortly after the war. By the time of his illness a treatment – Penicillin – had been discovered which, as my dad said “for those who were fortunate, this treatment brought them back from the brink of death”. We are fortunate with the vaccination process going so far, so very good – a big thanks to God.
Please God, we will return to a more normal life with its great challenges. This coincides with the resurrection and the new life of the early church. The Stations of the Resurrection which have been recently introduced and particularly encouraged by Peter Robinson, who like many great servants of our community died recently and was a great loss to us, may inspire us with a new lease of life.
We will begin next Sunday with the Stations of the Resurrection. The first one will be ‘Jesus is Risen’. We love you Lord Jesus and we trust in you. For we know you are risen from the dead and live in us.
Thank you for your generous donations to CAFOD’s Family Fast Day during Lent. We featured Marian and her son Svondo in Zimbabwe in Lent 2018. The community vegetable garden that your donations helped provide is growing well and during the pandemic the family has survived on the vegetables. Your support has also helped to provide soap and handwashing stations in the garden and in family homes. This is just one of many long-term development projects that CAFOD has funded with the money from that Fast Day. Thank you for your steadfast support.
