Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord…May they rest in peace! Both books of the Maccabees teach us that eternal life belongs to those who have lived for the Lord and of the necessity to pray for the dead. We are all imperfect and need healing from the results of our sins, even if those sins are forgiven. The wounds of sin do not just go away because the sin is forgiven. In life we ask the Lord’s healing and when our lives have ended we will depend on the prayers of those still living to continue to ask God to heal the wounds we have inflicted on others and ourselves as a result of our sin; in other words there needs to be healing for the consequences. of our sins. November is the month of the Holy Souls. We do them a disservice by presuming, no matter what their lives may have been like, they must be in heaven. It is a disservice because they need our prayers and need us to keep the memory of their goodness alive and before the Lord. The Books of the Maccabees tell us that it’s a good thing to pray for the dead, this we do especially this month. Let us pray that they be healed and be admitted into the perpetual, healing and eternal light of the Lord.
There will be a Service for the Commemoration of the Dead in church on Sunday 17th November at 3pm. All are welcome to join us especially those who have lost in the past year.
PARISH CHRISTMAS COFFEE MORNING in the parish centre on Saturday 23rd November between 10am and 12 noon. Meet Santa in his grotto and there will be tombolas, stalls and children’s activities. Tickets on sale after weekend Masses or pay on the door – £1 to include drink & mince pie.
No longer lost for today salvation has come to this house! Sometimes we can feel as though we are just going through the motions of living a proper Christian life. Perhaps in such moment today’s Gospel can help us. When we walk in through the doors of the church, we are taking steps to try to get a fresh glimpse of Jesus. Our walking through the church door can be like Zacchaeus climbing the sycamore tree to get a good view as Jesus passes by. Like Zacchaeus we don’t expect Jesus to notice us. We certainly don’t expect Jesus to single us out from the crowd; but discreetly, He does. He stands beneath the tree we have climbed and He calls us by name; He invites us to join Him. He wants us to be at one with Him, and with ourselves. When we feel lost in a crowd, Jesus is there, watching and waiting for us to come to Him. If Jesus seems distant to us, it’s usually because we are not hearing His call or because other things are getting in the way and blocking our view. Let’s ask Jesus to rid us of any distractions that prevent us from seeing and listening to Him.
George Airey will be giving a talk after the Gospel at 10am Mass on Sunday 4th November. George completed the Camino (with Marian) in memory of her late daughter Sophie who took her own life in December 2018. George has selected some beautiful images and created a poster and calendars to raise awareness of, and funding for PAPYRUS, the national charity devoted to the prevention of young suicide. Please support their work through the purchase of a beautiful gift! Thank you.
White Peace Poppies will be available at Masses this weekend. The tradition started in the 1930’s when war widows and others wanted future conflicts to be resolved without violence. The net cost of a poppy is 60 pence. Any extra money raised will be sent to the Peace Pledge Union.
Let us see, O Lord, Your mercy and give us Your saving help! The parable in today’s Gospel hits home with all of us. Sometimes, we can have an overwhelming feeling that we are just not good enough; yet we are
PIANO CONCERT with Fr Manny Gribben, University of Lancaster Catholic Chaplaincy, Wednesday 30th October, 7.30pm. Refreshments provided. Free entry with retiring collection for Castlerigg Manor Youth Service.
The Amalekites challenged the Hebrews to a decisive battle. Moses watched from a distance. His brother Aaron and his companion, Hur, stayed with Moses. As long as Moses arms were raised holding his staff – the power of God – the Israelites were winning; when his arms came down, the Amalekites were winning. The position of his raised up arms is an ancient one of prayer. As Moses remained united to God in prayer, God’s power prevailed. He couldn’t do it alone; he needed the support of others; even with help, it took all Moses had to persevere. The gospel also, humorously, demonstrates perseverance in prayer. Nobody could tell the unjust judge what to do until he meets this widow, she wouldn’t give it a rest! She knew she was right; she wanted justice. She badgered him night and day. The widow kept pestering the judge for a just decision. Moses kept his arms raised in prayer until the Israelites won. Jesus says the most important thing about prayer is to pray continually. So let us keep raising our arms to God in prayer, and keep pestering God. He always listens and always loves us.
ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN: GOD KNOWS ME AND CALLS ME BY HIS NAME:
20th October is WORLD MISSION SUNDAY and there will be a second collection for Missio, Pope Francis’ charity for overseas mission. Today is an opportunity to support the missionary work of the Church through prayer and offerings. The collection will go directly towards helping people in areas of poverty across the world.
Luke 17: 11-19 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered one of the villages, ten lepers came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to him, ‘Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.’ When he saw them he said, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ Now as they were going away they were cleansed. Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. This made Jesus say, ‘Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.’ And he said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’
THE PRISONS WEEK PRAYER 13th -19 Oct 2019
We have been trusted to look after something precious; guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit.We have many gifts to be looked after and used; three of them make us Christians. The first comes at our baptism when we were gifted with the Life of God; we need to guard this Life. We can’t let ourselves be influenced by the immorality that destroys the Life within us. The second great gift is the Word of God. The Bible is God’s Word; we need to guard against treating it as a self-help book. It is God telling us about Himself, His Life, and how we are to live His Life. The third great gift is the Eucharist; Jesus Christ transformed bread and wine into His Body and Blood and entrusted us with this Great Mystery. We need to guard this mystery against those elements within ourselves that can downgrade the Eucharist into a pious religious act. The Eucharist is the source and the summit of our faith. It is Jesus Christ. Jesus came for all people; He commissioned us to go out and proclaim the Kingdom of God to the whole world. We pray today for the grace to guard these gifts and to use them in proclaiming His Kingdom.
Extraordinary Month of Mission: Pope Francis has declared that October 2019 will be a special month of prayer and action to strengthen and grow God’s mission and the Church. This is the work of Missio, his charity for overseas mission, supporting the Church where it is too poor to support itself, training local clergy and helping children in need.
Look and See! St Luke’s gospel is a gospel of compassion – the lowly being raised up. Today we are challenged by the parable of Dives and Lazarus. St Luke is not defaming those who have worked hard for their position in life, but rather challenging everyone to recognise the responsibilities their position in life demands. The Rich Man, now in hell, lifts his eyes and for the first time sees Lazarus as a person. Perhaps he’d noticed Lazarus in stinky, dirty clothes begging, as he opened his front door to welcome his dinner guest. He may have called the police to complain about the vagrant at his door. All he saw was a hungry man; and he didn’t even give him the scraps from his table. He’d never seen Lazarus because his possessions had blinded him to those around him. The first time he saw Lazarus it was too late. What do I do? Do my eyes look away if I meet someone who might be in need? Do I make rash judgments? Am I more concerned with what I have done and what they failed to do? Jesus calls us to see by having faith in Him not in our possessions or status. Today we ask Him to open our eyes.
